[Lifestyle] How to Help Kids Retain School Skills Over Summer

by Cherylyn Feierabend

       As I begin writing this week’s article, I’m thinking about my daughter. Today is her last day of kindergarten. I spent about three hours in her classroom yesterday helping and watching the kids review what they’ve learned over the past year. Some of them are reading at first grade level and some of them are excelling in the area of math. All of them have learned a great deal of new stuff! It’s amazing to see their minds growing and collecting all of this great new information. Tomorrow, however, they are free of the confines of school. Some of them will go on vacation, some of them will start swim lessons, and some of them will be going to summer camp or summer school to continue learning under an educationally designed curriculum. In a few months, they’ll head back to school. How much of what they’ll remember from all that they’ve learned is impossible to guess. But you, as a parent, have an opportunity to help your child retain some of the ideas and skills he’s learned over this last school year.
How to Help Kids Retain Math Skills
      Summer is a time for fun and vacationing. Kids look forward to summer all school year long. I know I always did. Everyone needs a break and going to school every day is kind of like having a job. Our kids get up every day and go to work. It may not seem like work to us, but I recall it feeling like it was back when I had to do it. So, though we want to keep our kids’ skills honed over the summer, I encourage you to keep it from seeming like a chore for you or for the kids.
      Math is one of the easiest skills to incorporate into a game. As a matter of fact, several well-known board games are great math skill builders. Candyland and Chutes and Ladders both involve counting and color-matching. These are great for pre-schoolers. For older kids, Monopoly and The Game of Life are great choices because both use money,  which is always great for teaching math skills. You can also have your children count the money in their piggy banks or help you with your shopping. Ask them, “If I use this 50-cent coupon to buy this two-dollar loaf of bread, how much will this bread cost?” Hey, that’s teaching math and economics all at once!
How to Teach Kids About Science and Nature
      When I was in school, science was my favorite subject. I loved everything about it! Take your little science or nature lovers outside. My daughter had been learning about how caterpillars turn into butterflies so when she caught some caterpillars we let her make her own butterfly garden. You can get kits at the store or just make your own!  Once the caterpillars turn into butterflies, you can set them free and watch them fly away. Visiting science museums and botanical gardens are other ways to have fun teaching your kids about science and nature. Zoos also provide tons of science and nature learning opportunities. So while you are checking out your favorite wildlife, be sure to read those little signs next to their habitats. Check your local or not-so-local resources and visit some of these places over the summer.
How to Teach Kids Art
      If you make reading a fun together activity that you share, your child will have a positive outlook on reading and will want to read.Art is probably the one subject that you will find in absolutely every aspect of your life. Everything in our world is somehow artistic. That’s my opinion anyway. We start when our children are just learning to speak. “What color is that car? What color is the wall? Do you see something green? Is that a circle or a square?” We see colors and shapes in everything and kids love to point them out. How about the older kids? Do they see a hexagon, octagon, or dodecagon? Keep a big drawer or cabinet full of art supplies. Let your kids’ creativity flow with sidewalk chalk, fingerpaints, coloring books, or blank papers. Give them glue, stickers, clay, and popsicle sticks. Bake cookies together and let them decorate the cookies and take them to their friends. Then after they help you clean up, take them to a museum of art or to a local kids’ theater for a play or musical. You’ll get your double duty dose of learning while your child learns to appreciate the fine arts. They also get to learn how to be patient and behave appropriately in those types of venues.
      How to Read with Your Kids

       My final topic is one I’m sure you all expected! Read! Read! Read! Not surprised? I didn’t think so. Read to your kids every day. When they start reading on their own, have them read to you. This is a special time in both of your lives. Read books, signs, newspapers, magazines, and cereal boxes. My daughter loves to read the Sunday comics. In fact, she loves to read anything and everything. If you make reading a fun together activity that you share, your child will have a positive outlook on reading and will WANT to read. I remember a tip I heard once that turned into one of my favorites. When parents are out running errands, they often offer their child a treat for behaving properly. I recommend offering to buy them a new book instead. That helps build their libraries and encourages them to appreciate their books more because they earned them. As parents, we can never stress the importance of reading too much. If you haven’t picked up a good book lately, I recommend you do that too. It is summer and what better time to get lost in a great book?
     That’s it for now. Thanks for reading.