Summer vacation is almost here and many parents ask, “should I give my kids a break?” Many kids will spend their summer vacation focused on anything but schoolwork. While the break is an important time for families to relax, have some fun and energize themselves for next school year, it is also an opportune time for children to reinforce what they learned during the school year.
A John Hopkins study reveals that kids lose 2-3 months of critical thinking skills over the summer, with math skills being the hardest hit. As a result, they return to school with fewer skills than they had at the start of summer. The first 6 weeks of the fall semester are spent reviewing old material to make up for this loss. By end of grade 6, students who’ve experienced the “summer slide” over the years are on average two years behind state standards.
How to Beat the Summer Math Slide
Some things parents can do with their children to combat the learning loss include:
Bring up math in everyday activities such as during grocery shopping, you can talk about measurements and money.
Play math games like Allowance, Four Way Countdown, Blokus that rely on math skills. Use flash cards or even a deck of cards to practice multiplication and addition facts.
Enroll in a summer math program. Parents can rely on the experts to reinforce what their children learned during the school year. With regular practice throughout the summer, your kids will achieve more at the beginning of the school year and develop a stronger foundation of knowledge. Kids who participate in summer academic programs retain, and even increase their skills in those subjects.
​Mathnasium of Smyrna has been serving the community since 2009. We offer customized learning plans to help children throughout elementary, middle, and high school, with flexible scheduling for your convenience. To learn more about how we ca help you, give call today at (770) 436-4949
