WORDS BY SARAH MCCOSHAM
Preventing Summer SLIDE How parents can keep the learning going all summer long.
As parents, we wear many hats. This spring, parents were asked to wear yet another hat: teacher. For many parents, distance learning was a struggle; we felt like our teaching efforts just weren’t enough. And now, we’re in the thick of summer, with the eponymous “summer slide” serving as a big, ominous elephant in the (class) room. We made it through spring homeschooling, and now summer is here, so… now what? We talked with local educators to better understand the summer “slide” and get tips on how to continue learning over the summer… and it’s a lot easier than you might think!
Summer learning 101 Simply put, the ‘summer slide’ is a decline in academic abilities and skills that occurs over the summer when school isn't in session. The summer slide happens even in the most ‘typical’ of years -- but this year, this phenomenon is even more of a concern, since kids have effectively been out of school since mid-March.
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swOHIOparent.com I July 2020
“Given this year’s predicament, it's important for parents to be proactive in continuing to keep their child’s skills fresh,” says Alyssa Hoffman, a third-grade math and science teacher at Maple Dale Elementary. However, Hoffman adds that summer learning doesn’t have to be super regimented. “Anything that is keeping students’ brains engaged and using critical thinking skills is great!” she says. Chelsie Hoskins, a high school English teacher at Cincinnati Public Schools and adjunct faculty member at Miami University, adds that, in addition to academics, parents should also focus on their kids’ socialemotional well-being. “It is important to remember that children are dynamic entities that can absorb and retain skills and information with ease,” Hoskins says. “Promoting a caring, open environment in which students feel equipped to ask questions while staying safe is, in my opinion, the most important thing parents can focus on this summer.”
Here are a few ways parents can encourage summer learning:
Read every day Reading is one of the easiest ways to keep kids engaged and learning through the summer. Most educators recommend at least 20 minutes a day of reading, and this can be anything from e-books and games to even recipes or instructions.
