Summer can be one of the most wonderful times of the year. Students and their families find more time to unplug and lean in for uninterrupted family time. Sun-kissed skin, barbecues and long, hot days are the unofficial signs that summer has arrived.
But how can your family enjoy summer without falling into the summer slump? That’s the term to describe the gap in education between June and August each year that causes some students to regress in testing scores. And how can parents find the proper balance between unplugged time and screen time in the summer, when students are likely to spend more time on screens gaming, watching movies and video chatting with friends? How much screen time is too much?
Keep reading
At end-of-year conferences, educators share with parents various ways to maintain their child’s sharpness and readiness for the following school year. At the top of the list is summer reading.
Your student might hate to hear it, but reading is the best way to ward off the summer slump. How can reading take place in a meaningful but fun way? Educators and researchers say the key to reading growth is daily practice, ideally 30 minutes each day.
That might seem like a tough sell, but just like education, reading takes place everywhere and doesn’t always look like sitting and turning paper pages. Reading can be fun! Reading can be listening to a reader's theater episode while sitting in a blanket fort with siblings and friends. Reading can be listening to an audiobook during a car ride to the park to play. Reading can be taking turns writing creative stories with a friend, reading each other’s versions and acting out the characters. And don’t forget about story times and all the fun summer programs taking place at your local library.
One of the most important pieces of reading is vocabulary and language growth. Developing a child’s vocabulary can happen without ever opening a book. Learning new and unfamiliar words happens by simply listening. Try out a family game night of Absurd Words, Same, Same But Different, Categories or Charades. These games are certain to produce a whole lot of family laughter — and vocabulary growth.
There are many resources available for audiobooks. Some free and easily accessible ones include Epic, the Libby app through your local library, Storynory and PBS Kids Read-Along.
Make the best of screen time
These apps and others offer screen time of the best kind — enriching and educational And there are plenty more. Programs such as Lexia, Prodigy, IXL and Khan Academy are just a few. Gaming can also be great for visual motor integration, fine motor skills, processing and hand-eye coordination. And video chatting encourages social interactions with peers.
Screens can also take us to places we might not visit otherwise. The K-12 Skills Arcade’s “2024 Summer Games” has an array of activities to keep students engaged in a fun way. Online virtual tours can take your student inside the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History or the Louvre in Paris. The San Diego Zoo has dozens of live cameras to watch the animals and a library of educational videos. NASA broadcasts live events online and offers a vast kids’ section of STEM-based videos.
These digital resources are helpful and useful tools when used in moderation — and always with adult supervision. The key is to find what your student is interested in and what motivates them.
And remember: education in the summer might not look like sitting at the table with a computer or a textbook. But education is still transpiring. Visiting a museum or a national park in person this summer? That’s history class. Sending your student to a local painting workshop? That’s art class. What about baseball camp, basketball camp or other sports and agility camps? Those are classes designed around physical education and teamwork. Education happens everywhere.
So here’s to another fun summer of long, hot days making memories that will last well beyond the season. Splashing in the pool or lake, catching fireflies, watching fireworks, reading and listening to books, taking camping trips and, of course, a little bit of melted, sticky, marshmallows are what summers are made of. Cheers to summer learning and fun.
Jennifer Wodrich joined Arizona Virtual Academy and Insight Academy of Arizona in 2017. She has supported K-12 students and families in various roles, including as family academic support liaison, advisor and community engagement specialist.
