According to the Harvard Graduate School of Education, "On average, students lose approximately 2.6 months of learning in math over the summer — and teachers have to give up weeks of class time, or more, to make up for that loss."
The rate of summertime-math-loss continues to grow by the time your student enters middle school.
Teach Learn Grow: The Education Blog adds, "By the summer after seventh grade, students lose on average a whopping 50% of their school-year gains in math."
Summer learning loss is so commonplace that it even has a nickname: the summer slide. Yikes.
So why does it happen?
Simply put, because most of us don't practice math outside of the classroom.
From the Harvard Graduate School of Education, Joanna Christodoulou says, “If you try to imagine a bedtime math routine, as you might for reading, the idea of winding down by completing math equations doesn’t elicit... interest. The issue isn’t that engaging math activities are not available outside of school, but rather that, it is easy to overlook the presence of math in everyday activities like measurement in cooking, calculation when dealing with money, or distance while driving."
-Sounds like we need to find someone to teach us those "math activities," right?
Mathnasium of Red Deer has got you covered! Time to introduce our fabulous Mathnasium math instructors. These hand-selected math tutors are here to offer an engaging array of math activities to your student all through the summer. We have all the best puzzles, games, blocks, fraction pieces, and other manipulatives to keep your student fluent in math. Plus, keeping your child connected to math throughout the summer will build their confidence for next year's curriculum.
One satisfied parent noted, "My daughter went to Mathnasium last summer and was able to test out of resource for math. I give all credit to the time she spent learning at Mathnasium. To keep her on track we did Mathnasium again this summer. We love it!"
So rather than submit to that "summer slide," let's imagine your child prepared for (maybe even excited for) their math class next year. Come give Mathnasium of Red Deer a try!