Preventing Summertime Brain Drain

Well, summer is flying by and I haven't been keeping up with this project. I can't believe it is July already!

It is important for children to have some review through the summer. As a former teacher I can tell you that when the students returned to school in August, it was like they had lost a grade's worth of material through the summer. You always spent September, and sometimes part of October, reviewing material they should have already known. Since I homeschool a struggling learner, it is especially important that we try to keep what he learned for third grade fresh in his mind.

I purchased a Grade 3-4 "bridge"-book, a workbook that reviews concepts from the previous grade in preparation for the next grade. The one we have is published by Evan Moor. I like the books by this publisher. I'd used some of their materials when I was teaching in second grade. They can be great supplements to use in your lessons. The activities in the book are very short (15-20 minutes a day) and provide means for the child to self-monitor independent reading and to reflect on what they might have learned throughout the week. Each week's activities cover topics in reading comprehension, grammar, handwriting, math, problem solving, and geography.

I've also been encouraging my husband to randomly quiz both the boys on things that they learned last year. We try to not make it obtrusive. If we are at a store or read about something in a book that relates to something they've learned, then my husband or I will ask them a question about it. The little one is learning colors, shapes, numbers, and letters. He loves to tell you he knows the letters or numbers on signs. Our older son likes to show what he knows too. So a single question about why the town might have erected that statue in front of the courthouse could lead to him telling you all about U.S. military history.

We are still going on field trips. They are a bit more informal than those we went on during the "school year." Instead of having a formal lesson and writing reflections about what was learned, I might read them a story or talk to them about what they might see or learn and then after the trip I encourage them to tell me about their favorite part and something that they learned on the field trip. The boys still have a great time and learn a lot from each trip.

Games are great. My oldest son loves to play board games. Kids actually learn a lot from games.

Even if you don't purchase a workbook or do mini-lessons with your child, just interacting with your children. Encouraging them to help you figure amounts at the grocery store, to talk to you about prior knowledge before reading a book or what they read about in the book, to play games as a family. All of the these things can foster those connections in the brain that keep the essential knowledge from getting buried deep in their brains. So, instead of spending a month or more reviewing, you can delve right into new, exciting material when you start lessons in the fall.