Learning tools you will use with your kids this summer to help them get ready for the next grade?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"
I'm still not buying any of your workbooks."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Rising 1st grader and preschooler. We will go to the pool. We will use sidewalk chalk. We will bake cookies. We will read books to each other. We will sing songs. We will dig for worms.

All of these are learning tools. Or did you mean drill-and-kill worksheets and/or edu-tainment electronics? We will not be doing any of those.

I highly recommend "The Good School," by Peg Tyre. All children lose skills during the summer. The average is one month's worth of learning. For math, it's 2.6 months of learning that is forgotten. And that's for middle class and higher, who come from families who have the time and opportunity to do things like dig for worms and read together. It's much worse for kids from lower SES households or those with other challenges.

Another point I found interesting was the history of a summer break over the years. I always thought it was due to kids' having to help out on rural family farms, and that is true to some extent. But some of it was so urban kids could get out of the city (Pre-AC days) to their summer homes. None of it is due to what best promotes learning and retention.

Reading with your kids is probably enough to retain literacy skills. But some "drill and kill" is likely necessary for math skills.

The pool is great for gross motor skills. We can also play around with math and science: physics, solid/liquid/gas, and basic addition, subtraction and multiplication based on a 25-meter pool. Buying snacks and getting change at the snack bar also reinforces math and money skills.

Sidewalk chalk is good for fine motor. We can read about sharks and draw a life-sized one, using the tape measure to talk about units of distance. Little guy can work on letter/number recognition while I play Hangman with the bigger one or help him figure out what 194,280,345,622 minus 187,884,203,117 is.

Cooking and baking are terrific activities to practice sequencing, fractions, and reading the recipes, plus social issues like sharing and turn-taking. We can make foods from different countries and talk about similarities/differences.

Digging for worms lets us talk about environmental science: the food chain, pollutants, diversity. We can measure our captives, graph them, read about them, draw pictures of them and even see whether they prefer the tomato plants to a pile of dead leaves.

I'm still not buying any of your workbooks.

This! This is why it's called summer VACATION. Kids need to decompress and have fun. Reading to--or suggesting good books for-- our kids is great too.

[Anonymous]

One of my kids has needed remedial help for a few years so we keep that up in the summer. During previous summers my kids have done Handwriting Without Tears, reading and spelling, and always math, because those were the subjected that needed attention. This summer we'll continue daily math and for the first time science. Honestly if we didn't have to do it I probably wouldn't have started but IT WORKS and they really don't mind it. We get it done in the mornings.

[Anonymous]

What I love on DCUM are the people who feel the need to come into a forum on a topic that for they are NOT interested and put down others. I guess it's that need to feel morally superior or something. Maybe we're feeding their anxiety. If so, don't read this!

Back to the topic: I have never been really very disciplined about summer. Yes, we are a family that can afford to do different enrichment activities including all that were mentioned. I am though thinking about my children's summer learning more in a more focused way this year as they are entering transition grades. I want them to get off to smart start in September.

There is research to support the idea of some academic loss after of a long break from school. I am not really advocating for a shorter break (I love summer), but I think to augment their activities with a little math, reading and writing, will serve them well. Keep on posting ideas and websites. I am taking notes.

[Anonymous]

Will do Handwriting Without Tears to learn cursive and also going to going to do a "learn to type" - I know opposite ends of the spectrum!

[Anonymous]

My kids will continue with a little formal schooling during the summer months (a wonderful tradition in our household) in addition to their various sports and other activities

[Anonymous]

I have kids that are good students, but struggle with reading. Summer is a blessing to slowly work on reading with them. During the school year , its really hard to do it with homework and activities. Frankly, they are tired after school so practice isn't that effective. In the summer, they are fresh each morning. They do independent reading, but also a lot of reading a lot out loud with me. I work hard to pick great books of all types (fiction and nonfiction including science books). We are very disciplined about reading daily - 30 to 45 minutes a day. They make huge progress over the summer and it builds up their confidence so much that they talk about it. They are great at math, but we still do a little math fact practice each week so they retain it - less than 15 minutes a week.

Agree with pp - if its part of your tradition/routine, its not much. They have a very laid back summer compared to their peers (pool/beach/sports).

[Anonymous]

To the poster that is anti summer work besides pool etc. I think you are doing great stuff with them, but they are still very young. I highly doubt if your child were struggling with something like reading or algebra during the school year that you would say "oh fuck it" let's go to the pool, they will do better come September. If you are then, it's sad for your children.

[Anonymous]

Just found this topic again. Is everybody ready for summer! Got your plans together. Any more please ideas share.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Rising 1st grader and preschooler. We will go to the pool. We will use sidewalk chalk. We will bake cookies. We will read books to each other. We will sing songs. We will dig for worms.

All of these are learning tools. Or did you mean drill-and-kill worksheets and/or edu-tainment electronics? We will not be doing any of those.

I highly recommend "The Good School," by Peg Tyre. All children lose skills during the summer. The average is one month's worth of learning. For math, it's 2.6 months of learning that is forgotten. And that's for middle class and higher, who come from families who have the time and opportunity to do things like dig for worms and read together. It's much worse for kids from lower SES households or those with other challenges.

Another point I found interesting was the history of a summer break over the years. I always thought it was due to kids' having to help out on rural family farms, and that is true to some extent. But some of it was so urban kids could get out of the city (Pre-AC days) to their summer homes. None of it is due to what best promotes learning and retention.

Reading with your kids is probably enough to retain literacy skills. But some "drill and kill" is likely necessary for math skills.

The pool is great for gross motor skills. We can also play around with math and science: physics, solid/liquid/gas, and basic addition, subtraction and multiplication based on a 25-meter pool. Buying snacks and getting change at the snack bar also reinforces math and money skills.

Sidewalk chalk is good for fine motor. We can read about sharks and draw a life-sized one, using the tape measure to talk about units of distance. Little guy can work on letter/number recognition while I play Hangman with the bigger one or help him figure out what 194,280,345,622 minus 187,884,203,117 is.

Cooking and baking are terrific activities to practice sequencing, fractions, and reading the recipes, plus social issues like sharing and turn-taking. We can make foods from different countries and talk about similarities/differences.

Digging for worms lets us talk about environmental science: the food chain, pollutants, diversity. We can measure our captives, graph them, read about them, draw pictures of them and even see whether they prefer the tomato plants to a pile of dead leaves.

I'm still not buying any of your workbooks.

Why didn't you just help OP out by explaining this instead of just trying to set up the thread for an argument about workbooks? Your first answer was not at all responsive to the question and wasn't the slightest bit helpful. These are some great ideas though. I hope you don't also spend the summer teaching your children to be rudely superior when someone asks for advice, as this issue may come up in all of these settings as well, and it would be great to use those opportunities to teach your children to help people without belittling whenever possible.

[Anonymous]

Handwriting Without Tears
BrainQuest workbooks and flashcards
Tons of reading
Focusing on the Core Knowledge Series to touch on history, art, music, geography, and science appropriate to my son's grade level. It's a guide for me to know what he should be learning, and it's easy to incorporate the concepts into fun activities. A visit to Wings of Fancy can be the science lesson. The map on his wall to plot out our day trips and bigger vacations can be his geography lesson. The visit to Williamsburg can be the history lesson. And so on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Rising 1st grader and preschooler. We will go to the pool. We will use sidewalk chalk. We will bake cookies. We will read books to each other. We will sing songs. We will dig for worms.

All of these are learning tools. Or did you mean drill-and-kill worksheets and/or edu-tainment electronics? We will not be doing any of those.

I highly recommend "The Good School," by Peg Tyre. All children lose skills during the summer. The average is one month's worth of learning. For math, it's 2.6 months of learning that is forgotten. And that's for middle class and higher, who come from families who have the time and opportunity to do things like dig for worms and read together. It's much worse for kids from lower SES households or those with other challenges.

Another point I found interesting was the history of a summer break over the years. I always thought it was due to kids' having to help out on rural family farms, and that is true to some extent. But some of it was so urban kids could get out of the city (Pre-AC days) to their summer homes. None of it is due to what best promotes learning and retention.

Reading with your kids is probably enough to retain literacy skills. But some "drill and kill" is likely necessary for math skills.

The pool is great for gross motor skills. We can also play around with math and science: physics, solid/liquid/gas, and basic addition, subtraction and multiplication based on a 25-meter pool. Buying snacks and getting change at the snack bar also reinforces math and money skills.

Sidewalk chalk is good for fine motor. We can read about sharks and draw a life-sized one, using the tape measure to talk about units of distance. Little guy can work on letter/number recognition while I play Hangman with the bigger one or help him figure out what 194,280,345,622 minus 187,884,203,117 is.

Cooking and baking are terrific activities to practice sequencing, fractions, and reading the recipes, plus social issues like sharing and turn-taking. We can make foods from different countries and talk about similarities/differences.

Digging for worms lets us talk about environmental science: the food chain, pollutants, diversity. We can measure our captives, graph them, read about them, draw pictures of them and even see whether they prefer the tomato plants to a pile of dead leaves.

I'm still not buying any of your workbooks.

This is us too. No workbooks. I want my kids to really enjoy their summers, get some tans (and don't jump on me about the risks, am aware of them and take precautions), strengthen their bodies and their minds through different activities, not through workbooks.

[Anonymous]

No workbooks or school work here either during the summer. I don't really care if they lose a month as we don't chart their scores or progress. None of my kids struggle academically and if they did we might need to do it differently but given the kids we have - no academics over the summer. Our prep for the next school year is ensuring they are relaxed, stress free and full of good summer memories.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Will do Handwriting Without Tears to learn cursive and also going to going to do a "learn to type" - I know opposite ends of the spectrum!

Not really. Both skills help get thoughts from head to paper without interference from undeveloped muscles (hands).

[Anonymous]

There are some that equate a vacation with non-intellectual activities. These individuals don't buy workbooks but live on the couch during the summer.