Is Summer a Vacation from Learning?

Is Summer a Vacation from Learning?

Is Summer a Vacation from Learning?

By Dr. Meghan Benavides

The research is clear, students during the summer months experience significant learning loss. Let’s go through basic strategies that you can use with your family and students to prevent this learning-loss over the summer.

What is the Goal?

Anything you do with your students over the summer has to ride a fine line between student burn-out and total check-out. I think of summer months like the “tapering” phase of training for a marathon. Your goal is to maintain not build muscles. As much as possible, make whatever learning you do over the summer student-driven, fun, and rewarding. 

All Reading is Good Reading

Summer can be a great time for students to discover their passion for reading with high-interest books at their own pace. Some parents feel that to prevent learning loss, their students need to be reading challenging books about academic topics, but this over-pushing can have unintended side-effects and further burn out students. All reading is good reading, especially during the summer months. Baseball magazines, video game strategy books, fantasy, comic books, graphic novels, and more will all help prevent learning loss.

Logic and Number Sense

As students move into higher levels of algebra, geometry, and calculus, we tend to assume that these students have math facts covered and do not need to practice basic logic strategies. However, number fluency is one of the biggest areas of learning loss that happens over the summer. Keeping up with math skills does not have to look like worksheets or summer school. Play strategy board games or mathematical logical video games.

Revisit basic math skills if needed during the summer months. Even in high school, many of our students struggle with basic multiplication, division, fractions, decimals, and percentage skills. This difficulty is especially true for students who had to learn these basic skills online during the pandemic.

As a math teacher, would argue that at a basic level, all students should be able to do the following:

Entering middle school:

• Multiply multi-digit numbers
• Quickly recall multiplication facts
• Add / subtract whole numbers and decimals with ease
• Calculate the area and perimeter of a rectangle
• Correctly use long-division 

Entering high-school:

• Calculate the area and volume of any basic 2D Shape
• Calculate the volume and surface area of any 3D Shape
• Graph equations using y = mx+b
• Add, subtract, multiply, and divide fractions, decimals, percentages
• Convert numbers between fractions, decimals, and percentages with ease
• Use order of operations easily
• Do basic algebra 

Summer gives students a chance to catch up on what they are missing. If you reflect and find that your student needs serious remediation in these areas, it may be time to reach out to a professional tutor or coach. Contact us at BES to see how we can help.

Foreign Language

There are so many great pen-pal programs, study groups, and classes that students can go to during the summer to keep up their foreign language skills. In general, you want to give students the chance to “play” with language. The metro DC area is one of the most language-diverse areas in the world. Even eating at a new restaurant or visiting an embassy event can be a powerful language-learning opportunity. 

Most importantly, if you travel to a place where your student can practice their foreign language skills, push them to use it. When we avoid engaging in foreign languages when travelling it can subtly communicate to students learning a foreign language is not important “everyone speaks English.” Remember that most people want you to learn their language and want to practice with you if you do so respectfully.

Social Studies and Sciences

Beyond social studies and science themed summer camps, this academic area is the least likely to be practiced throughout the summer. If this is a passion for your student, try to find ways that they can play, build, and explore. So many of the scientists in my life spent their high school summers taking apart and re-building computers or dissecting insects under microscopes. Some of the businesspeople first learned about investing by taking a percentage of their summer job income and buying their first stocks. Your role as a parent in these situations is to be the bumpers, making sure that they are being safe while having fun and exploring passions.

Executive Functioning

Executive functioning is the most important area for your students to practice during the summer. If at all possible, students should be getting their sports bags, snacks, water bottles, work uniforms, and other gear ready for themselves. Summer is a low-pressure time to practice these skills. If they are late, if they miss the bus, or if they forget something at home, it is not as if they are missing out on core learning. 

Especially in summer, students should be managing their own money and leaning budgeting. There are a lot of benefits to joining the workforce as a teenager. Students learn what they are passionate about and what kind of work they would rather avoid. They can learn the value of each dollar and how budgets need to flex with economic changes. As a millennial who graduated high school and undergrad in the Midwest in the middle of the Great Recession, not only were my summer jobs essential in finding my ultimate career path, but they also taught me how to be resilient in difficult economic times.   

To some extent, learning loss during the summer is inevitable. However, you can make a difference by giving students chances to explore their passions and practice their weaknesses in low-risk settings.

Want support building executive functioning and academic skills year-round? Contact us at Bass Educational Services to see how we can help!