Future Entrepreneurs Foundation Nurturing Our Future Leaders

a message from the Future Entrepreneurs Foundation

Future Entrepreneurs Foundation is a South Carolina based foundation focused on nurturing our future leaders.

Summer is upon us. The days are growing longer, the sun is higher in the sky, and the academic school year has ended. Children’s thoughts now turn to swimming, skateboards, baseball, and summer vacations. Unfortunately, for far too many kids, summer vacation is a time for forgetting. This phenomena, the “Summer Slide” in academia, has been long researched. In fact, a recent study from 2020 by the Northwest Evaluation Association[1], a non-profit research organization rooted in delivering educators with data about students’ progress, showed a 20% decline from their school year gains in third through fifth grade students' reading ability over the summer. The familiar saying, “If you don’t use it, you’ll lose it” still reigns true, and especially true with reading in adolescents. Kids who don’t read over the summer regress. Their hard-earned reading skills decline. Youth who manage to keep the rust off their reading, don’t suffer this “Summer Slide.” By reading and writing throughout the summer, they may even manage to improve in reading. Summer reading is easy to build into a family schedule, and most kids come to really enjoy it.

Our tutors shared insight about their summers: Ayushi, a high school senior, wrote:

The summer before my senior year, I was still unsure about what I would major in college. I signed up for a community college class on organismal biology. The class genuinely just made me excited to learn and it was worth it to take it over the summer because it helped me find my major in biochemistry. By taking classes over the summer, you are exposed to a variety of subjects and have the time to be more focused on the learning instead of the grade. By studying over the summer, you are also prepared for the upcoming academic year. If you are passionate about something, then try making it a research project over the summer. It is a fun way to be productive with your friends to accomplish something in what you are passionate about. My friend was very interested in environmental sustainability and climate change. She wanted us to raise awareness about the issue. We used the internet to research different aspects of climate change and put it all together in a slideshow in hopes to present it someday. We were invited to a mini TED talk hosted by the city, where the slideshow was presented and it informed the audience. My friend has gone on to publish more of her own research at the age of 17. By studying over the summer, you have the freedom to work on whatever you like, which allows you to be productive while working on something you like.

Srija, an undergraduate at the University of Pittsburgh, wrote:

Summer is such a fun time. I remember spending all hours of the day outside with my friends growing up, climbing trees, hosting shows, and skipping rocks. I think I most benefited from this relaxed atmosphere of being able to choose what I was interested in. My family encouraged my passions in baking, reading, and the sciences by allowing me this freedom. Kids benefit the most when given a choice. This is what I saw as I got older that my genuine interest in the processes of science class were not just for the grade, but for the true interest I had, the curiosity I maintained from the child-like awe I saw in the world. So truthfully, many kids will be averse to any kind of forced reading. Being open to their interests, maybe video games or superheroes, will get them excited to read. Allowing children to be children is a virtue we should respect. There’s only so much time that they can enjoy that.

Contact Future Entrepreneurs to enroll in our summer school program. You can register online at www.scfufureentrepreneurs.com or office phone (800) 913-8261.

Dr. Richard O'Malley, Florence 1 Schools Superintendent

5 Ways To Make Literacy an enjoyable part of your kids' summer:

1. Go to the library and borrow some books.

Take your children to the library once a week. Borrow as many books as the library will allow. Visiting the library regularly gives opportunity for fun reading.

2. Work with your child to pick out a good chapter book.

Find a good book to read with your children. This may be a book that you want to read to them, or for them to read to you. It can be hard to find time to work all the way through a chapter book during the school year, but it can be easier during the summer months. Also, ask your librarian for recommendations, or check out these great choices:

Kindergarten through grade 3

What Does It Mean To Be Kind? by Rana DiOrio There's Only One You by Deborah Hembrook, Kathryn Butcher

Grades 4-6

The Doctor With An Eye For Eyes by Julia Mosca Amazing Scientists: The Girl With A Mind For Math by Julia Mosca

Grades 6-8

Hidden Figures by Margot Shetterly, Winifred Conkling, Laura Freeman A Good Kind of Trouble by Lisa Moore Grades 9-12

Lies We Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley Same But Different by RJ Peete, Ryan Peete, Holly Peete

3. Schedule a daily reading time.

The summer can get boring for kids. Having regularly scheduled activities, like reading, helps with that boredom. Parents are often good at loading up kids’ schedules with things like soccer or swimming, which are great, but schedule in some quiet reading time too, they'll come to appreciate it!

4. Encourage book clubbing.

Some kids find reading to be lonely. There are things that parents can do to make it more social and fun for them. For instance, get your child and his/her friends to agree to read a particular book each month.

5. Set up a family reading time.

One night a week, try turning off all of the television screens, and encourage everyone to pick up a good book or magazine; 15 to 30 minutes. Not only does that create some good reading practice time for your kids, but it shows them that parents are into reading too, which benefits everyone. Modeling will always be more powerful than telling.