Summer Fun, Summer Learning

By Terry Ann Williams-Richard

 Many students, families, and teachers are already singing…school’s out for summer! However, beware of the summer slide. This is especially important to remember due to the ongoing pandemic. The summer slide isn’t a dance or an amusement park ride.  It’s the loss of educational gains some students experience when they do not read or participate in other educational activities during summer break. Character building; career and entrepreneurship exploration; academic enrichment; and developing a plan are areas with tools and strategies you can use to continue your child’s learning success. Yes, you can still help your child succeed in learning, even during a pandemic.

Character Building begins with a careful examination of personal attitudes and beliefs.  Getting along with others, responsibility, respect, and trust are among the positive character traits that contribute greatly to living our best life and dreams becoming real. Getting involved in volunteering, community service projects, attending church and Vacation Bible School will provide additional opportunities for your child to observe and build strong character.

Career and Entrepreneurship Exploration involves discovering different options.  Learning more about what others do through reading, seeing, talking and listening, aids your child in crystallizing a possible aspiration.  Talents, skills, abilities, interests and curiosity can spark the direction of a “what I want to be when I grow up” search. Knowing what skills, training and preparation are required for a targeted career can encourage better performance in school.   Check out  https://www.mynextmove.org/

Academic Enrichment means ensuring education is a top priority and academic preparation is high quality.  Evaluating academic strengths and weaknesses and then striving for improvement will expedite the move ahead.  Consider getting tutoring services to support and build your child’s confidence and academic skills.  The website https://www.factmonster.com/

is full of games and other enrichment activities for all academic subjects and grades k-12. The Ohio Department of Education and your state’s Department of Education websites have valuable resources on state testing, the academic content and common core standards.  

Developing a Plan means writing down goals with deadlines and doing the work to make it happen.  If your son, daughter, or mentee wants to make better grades, help him or her set goals to do so. If a child wants to be a doctor he or she can visit hospitals and volunteer to help others.  If a child wants to be an entrepreneur he or she can begin to write down ideas for a business plan and even begin to offer a product or service now.  When a plan is set in motion the dream becomes vivid and before you know it you will get there.

While summer fun is in full gear, along with following health and safety protocols, make summer learning a top priority. Be safe, stay healthy, and be encouraged. Keep reading, exploring, playing, singing, and even dancing.  Just be sure to skip the summer slide and keep making progress even in a pandemic..

Read more in Yes, You Can Help Your Child Succeed in Learning and in Life! Parent & Child Journal. Get your copy of  my other books and services for summer reading and building academic skills and overall confidence. Visit https://yeswithpes.com/my-books/