Keep Your Child Learning This Summer

Why is Summer Education Important?

Studies have shown that the average student loses about 3 months worth of previously learned information over the course of summer.  Without some form of education and structure, children are also more likely to become undisciplined and restless during summer months.  When returning to school in the fall, these things can lead to difficulty retaining new information, lack of focus, and lack of motivation.  However, by making a few simple lifestyle adjustments these consequences can be eliminated and come fall your child can start the new school year ready to succeed!

Habits that Hurt

• Excessive Television Time- Too much TV watching is linked to obesity, memory loss, a shorter attention span, and increased violence in children.  It is important to set limits on how much television your child can watch and what they can watch.  Familiarize yourself with TV Guide ratings so you can make informed decisions and come up with a TV agreement between you and your child.
• Unstructured Time- Although everyone needs a little free time, too much free time causes boredom in children.  This boredom can lead to reckless and dangerous behavior.  Make sure your child is active and engaged in constructive activities throughout the summer months.

Habits that Help

• Make Learning a Game- Games like Monopoly, Scrabble, and Pictionary sneak in math, phonetic, and creative skill usage in a non-obvious way.  Play these games with your child to help them keep their skills tuned throughout the summer.
• Encourage Outdoor Activities- Outdoor activities not only get your child moving and playing creatively with other children, but you can turn simple things like a family bike ride into a nature lesson.  Take a ride on a bike trail and point out different plants and animals to your child, explain to them what the different species do and how they contribute to the environment!
• Enroll in an Online Course- Having your child take just one academic e-class throughout the summer will keep them disciplined, motivated, and focused on school, making the transition from summer to fall easy.  One course isn’t time-consuming and can help your child get a jumpstart on their classmates come fall!
• Visit Your Local Library- Once a week take a trip to your local library and have your child pick out any age appropriate book.  Check the book out and read to them (or have them read to you) a few chapters or pages each night.  Do this every week throughout the summer to keep their phonetic skills up to par and to bond with your child!
• Sign Up for Bible Study- A great use of summer free time is having your child connect with God and explore their relationship with Him on a deeper level.  Contact your church to find out what options they have for your child.

Remember This…

At the end of the day it’s not necessarily HOW your child is learning that’s important, but THAT THEY ARE LEARNING that matters.  Encourage your child to continuously grow and develop to help them become lifetime learners.  We would love to hear what you think about these ways to continue your child’s education and to hear any other creative ideas you have!

Smart Toys for Every Age

This article was taken from a section of a greater post you can read here from KidsHealth.com

Big Kids: How They Play

Elementary school-age kids are accomplished in ways they never were before. They’ve grasped an understanding of the world around them and are now moving toward mastering skills that once challenged them, like catching a football or braiding a friend’s hair.

This also is the time where talents and interests take hold — a 4-year-old who enjoyed story time may grow to love reading; a 5-year-old who listened to music might want to play piano.

Physical abilities, like large and fine motor skills, are being refined. Children learn to ride two-wheel bicycles and glide on skateboards. Arts and crafts become more intricate, and a child might spend hours weaving friendship bracelets or drawing comic strips.

Peer relationships take on more importance, and your child might be more interested in playing with classmates than with you. But remember that even as your child matures, you are still the most important playmate — so try to carve out some one-on-one time. Family game nights are one way to get everyone together.

And now’s the time to try new adventures, such off-road biking, that kids couldn’t do when they were younger and need your supervision to do safely now.

Smart Toys for Big Kids

• Jump rope. By skipping rope with friends, kids learn to take turns and get along with peers. All that jumping, and the coordination it requires, encourages large motor development and problem-solving skills.
• Card and board games. Card games like “war” or “crazy eights” and board games like checkers or chess teach about strategy, turn-taking, negotiating rules, and fair play. Encourage cooperation and help your child learn to manage the emotions that come with winning as well as losing.
• Musical instruments. Learning to play the piano, violin, guitar, or another instrument encourages listening and fine motor skills and helps build attention skills.
• Science toys. Chemistry sets, binoculars, telescopes, or other toys that promote discovery and problem-solving help improve math and science skills, and help develop imagination.

The Perfect Toy: You

A baby staring at a mobile; a toddler stacking blocks; a pre-schooler painting with watercolors — all are activities that can be done independently.

But don’t underestimate your role. After all, it’s you who put up the mobile, turned it on, and encouraged your baby to follow. It’s you who first showed your baby how to stack those blocks. And when you sit side-by-side with your kids and paint, color, or read a story, you give them the attention they need to build their self-esteem and feel loved and secure.

Toys are a tool to help kids develop, but it’s parents who nurture that growth.

Staying Involved In School

Most parents don’t have time to be fully involved in their child’s education, but it’s important to be consistent about communicating with your child and your child’s teacher to put together an accurate picture of your child’s academic experience. By talking with both, you can ensure that you’ll be able to support your child as effectively as possible.

Everyday Tips for Parents

• Do: Ask what your child thinks of her or his school—some have a strong attachment, while others feel uncomfortable or unattached. Ask your son or daughter which part of school is his or her favorite. (Don’t be surprised if your younger children answer “recess” or “lunch.”)
• Ask: How Was School? Read your child’s school newspaper or the community newspaper to keep up-to-date on what’s happening at school. Instead of asking your child “How was your day at school?” every day after he or she gets home, talk about some of the issues you’ve come across in the paper.
• Make Time to Connect: The lives of teens and preteens change with dizzying speed, so you’ll have to ask questions if you want to keep up. Make time to connect over a favorite meal, in the car, or on a walk so that the conversation can flow into what’s really going on.
• Ask a Teacher: If your child is reluctant to talk about school, try talking to her or his teacher; if there is a problem in the classroom, your child’s teacher can fill you in on the details.

• Do: Ask what would make the school experience more enjoyable, and see if there’s anything you can do to help. The more your child enjoys going to school, the more engaged he or she will be.

Stay Involved in Your Child’s Education

Download Ideas for Parents: Staying Involved in School.

5 Easy Ways to Encourage School Bonding:

1. Do: Encourage your children to participate in before- and after-school activities to maintain school involvement outside of the school day. These programs are not always well-publicized, so check with your school office to find out about opportunities.

2. Show Some Spirit! As kids start to become more aware of their school colors, consider investing in school T-shirts, sweatshirts, and pajamas (if you can afford it). Another option is to buy plain t-shirts in your school’s colors, or to get shoe laces in those colors from your local craft store.

3. Attend Events: School involvement isn’t limited to just students. Show your support of your child’s school by reading the school newspaper, attending concerts and sporting events, and encouraging your child to attend social events, such as prom and homecoming dances.

4. Celebrate! If your child enjoys school competitions, celebrate big events such as state championships, music festivals, speech tournaments or other less traditional forms of school involvement.

5. Stay Involved: Stay involved in your child’s education by participating with her in service projects (such as food or book drives), attending parent-teacher conferences, and volunteering in the school district.

This post came from ParentFurther.com. Visit their blog here.

Note-Taking Tips

Today’s tips on note taking come from TeensHealth.org. You can read more where this came from by clicking here. You can listen to the audio version of this post by clicking Listen. To read this post in Spanish, click the icon below.

Carlos and Cecilia were both straight-A students in middle school. But now that they’re in high school, Carlos finds himself relying on Cecilia’s notes to do well on tests. He also finds himself wondering how Cecilia manages to take such good notes.

Note-taking is a skill that can help you do well on all your schoolwork — everything from taking tests to researching a paper. But unfortunately, most schools don’t have classes that teach you how to take notes. So here are some tips.

Write down key facts. If you have a teacher who writes notes on the board, that’s a bonus: You can copy them down. If not, write down the most important points from class. Does your history teacher mention the date of a key Civil War battle? Does your English teacher give examples of Shakespeare’s use of dramatic irony? Does your math teacher go over a particular formula? Write it down!

It can take some experimenting to figure out what information really is helpful, so keep trying and don’t give up. Different teachers do things differently. For example, some teachers may mention lots of dates and facts in class but only write the key ones on the board. Other teachers may not write anything down, but they may repeat a certain date or piece of information. That’s a clue that it’s probably important. After a while, you’ll get to know a teacher’s style.

Don’t overdo it. Don’t go crazy taking notes, though: You’ll be frantic if you try to write down every word that’s said in class. And if you focus too much on getting your notes right, you might miss important points. Some people actually learn better by listening, writing down a few key points, and then going over the material after class when they have more time.

Ask. Don’t be afraid to ask the teacher to repeat something you miss. If the teacher’s going too fast, chances are your classmates will also be relieved to hear the information again. If you don’t want to ask in class, see your teacher afterwards. It’s much easier than wondering if you got the notes right as you study.

Compare. Keep your notes handy when you’re doing your reading assignments. Compare what you wrote with what the readings say — you may even want to add to your notes as you read.

Going over your notes with a friend and comparing what the two of you put down can help reinforce what you’re learning. It also can help you remember information when it’s time for the test. And going over your notes will alert you and your friend to any errors.

Copy. Depending on how neat your handwriting is, you may want to recopy your notes when you get home. If you’ve taken notes in a hurry, you’re more likely to figure out an unreadable word or sentence on the day of the lesson than you are weeks later when you look back over your notes in preparation for a test.

Organize. Keep notes for each subject in one place so you can find everything easily when it comes time for a test. That may mean keeping a notebook or section of a notebook for each subject as you take notes in class.

Some people combine the copying technique with organization by using just one notebook for class notes and then copying these notes into a notebook for each subject when they get back home. The trick to making this technique work is to be sure you actually do it regularly. If you don’t, your notes will be all over the place and things will get totally crazed when it’s time to study for the test.

Good note-taking requires extra time and organization. It may help if you think of the time you spend reviewing notes as an investment. For example, if you decide to recopy your notes each evening, you’ll probably have less time to watch TV or IM friends. But you’ll save time later when it comes to studying for the actual test.

Note-taking gives your mind a chance to absorb the material it needs to learn. Not only can this help you to do better on a test, it’s also a great confidence booster when you’re studying and find yourself saying, “Hey, I remember that!”

Encourage Learning: Summers, Weekends, and After School

This post comes from ParentFurther.com. You can see the post on their site by clicking here. Visit their blog here.

Times when your child is out of school, like weekends, holiday breaks, and summer vacations, don’t need to be times spent away from learning. Researchers are finding that too long of a break (particularly during the summer) can be detrimental to kids’ academic achievement. Encouraging your kids to participate in learning activities during their free time is an effective way to support academic success. Kids don’t have to study textbooks to learn; read on to find out more about how your kids can learn when they’re outside of school.

Did You Know?

• Good summer programs can help kids improve their reading, develop math skills, increase high school graduation rates, make kids more likely to stay in college, and increase their college employment rate.¹
• Between kindergarten and sixth grade, the decrease in summer reading causes a gap between low-income and middle-income students of up to 18 months.⁵ By the end of middle school, the cumulative loss has expanded to two or more years.⁶
• 80% of the achievement differences between low-income and middle- to high-income students may occur because of summer reading loss.⁷

So, what can you do? No matter what your income level, encourage your kids to keep reading, and to keep learning during out of school times.

• Simple tips for encouraging kids to read >
• Easy ideas for finding effective summer programs >

Balancing Academics and Serious Illness

This post comes from our friends at KidsHealth.org. For more information, visit their website here. For the audio version of this blog, click here to Listen.

When your child has a serious or chronic illness, it’s hard to think beyond the next treatment. While health is the first priority, education also is important. You’ll want to help your child stay on top of schoolwork as much as possible and plan for when he or she can return to school.

Not only does staying connected to school bring academic, cognitive, psychological, and social benefits — it’s also your child’s legal right. Under federal law, kids with disabilities are entitled to educational support, and your child might qualify for free services under theIndividuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).

With a little planning and a lot of communication, you can help your child balance treatment and academics.

Plan Ahead

First, talk to your doctor about how long your child is likely to be away from school and whether the treatment might interfere with concentrating, doing homework, and meeting deadlines. Are there side effects that might have an academic impact? What does your doctor recommend when it comes to attendance, tutoring, or studying?

Then talk to the teachers and school staff, and encourage your child, if well enough, to do the same. It may be necessary to set a reduced schedule or shift due dates for papers and tests. With your help, your son or daughter can work with teachers to help plan the workload. The more notice teachers have, the easier it will be to come up with a flexible solution.

Some kids who spend a lot of time away from school or in the hospital have Individual Education Plans (IEPs). These are customized goals and learning strategies created by the teachers, school psychologists (or other specialists), and counselors.

IEPs take a child’s individual needs into account. Under the IDEA, kids who qualify for an IEP will receive one at no cost, in addition to receiving free support services (such as a tutor) to help them reach educational milestones.

IEPs can be requested by you or anyone on your child’s education team.

Seek Out Hospital-Based Support

If your child will be spending long stretches in the hospital, ask a doctor, nurse, or child-life specialist about onsite schooling. Many hospitals provide this service free of charge to their patients.

The two most common types of educational support include bedside schooling and classroom schooling. Typically, bedside schooling is for children who are too ill to leave their hospital rooms or have weakened immune systems due to chemotherapy. Other kids who are well enough might be educated individually or in small groups in an onsite hospital classroom.

Licensed teachers who are K-12-certified in a variety of subjects and special education work intensively with students to make sure that they don’t fall behind in their studies. To stay on track, hospital-based teachers work closely with teachers from a child’s school to maintain curriculum continuity and ease reentry into the classroom when the child is well again. School is scheduled around medical tests and therapies, and always takes a child’s medical condition and strength into consideration.

Whether your child is being educated at school, in the hospital, or at home, remember that getting better is the main priority. So be realistic about what he or she can handle. Kids may feel an unspoken pressure from parents, teachers, and themselves to continue with schoolwork, and this anxiety could hurt their recovery.

Stay Connected

Maintaining ties with classmates and teachers can help your child maintain a sense of normalcy during this difficult time. Your child might even be able to listen to a lesson or join a class over the computer. Programs nationwide offer free or low-cost laptops for use in the hospital; check with your doctor or medical staff to see if this service is available to you.

In addition to academic isolation, your child may feel cut off socially from friends and classmates. Online social networking sites, email, instant messaging (IM), text messaging, and talking on the phone can help kids stay connected. Also consider encouraging a letter-writing, email, or care package campaign from classmates — you might even set up a collection box at school where they can deposit notes and pictures. Arrange for visits from your child’s friends and, if your son or daughter is up to it, take the group out to school plays, sports events, classroom parties, and other social gatherings.

Staying connected will make for a smoother transition socially and academically when your child returns to school after treatment.

Supporting School Success

This post comes from our friends at ParentFurther.com. To read more from them, click here. Visit their blog here.

Every child’s needs are different, but it takes more than just being smart to do well in school. Support academic success at home, and help your child succeed in school with these simple tips.

• Instill good study habits,
• Instill a love for reading,
• Instill a commitment to learning.

Everyday Tips

• Start at Home: School success starts at home. Create a homework center, a specific area in the house (such as an office desk or the kitchen table) where your child can do homework each evening. Make sure that it’s stocked with enough supplies, such as pencils, erasers, paper, a folder or two, and a calculator.

• Do: Sit with your kids when they’re doing homework. If you have work you need to do for your job, bills to pay, or some other project, do it while your child is doing her homework, and let her know that even adults have homework. Model what it takes for school success by staying focused and not leaving until you’ve accomplished what you set out to do.

• Encourage Critical Thinking: Help your child with his homework, but make sure that you’re not doing it for him. Your role is to help him succeed in school by asking questions, giving examples, and assisting him in learning concepts, not giving him the answers. Critical thinking skills are crucial for doing well in school at every age.

• Stay Involved: Work with high school counselors, teachers that know your child well, and your teenager to create an academic schedule from ninth to twelfth grade that challenges her and deepens her school success skills. Do: Keep your teenager growing (without boring or placing too much pressure on her) so that she gradually masters skills that will be useful for doing well in school and beyond. After each semester, talk with your teen and make necessary adjustments to the schedule to make sure that it is still appropriate.

• Interests are Important: Encourage your kids to find books that excite them. Don’t overlook graphic novels, comic books, magazines, or other types of reading that may not interest you, but interests them. The point is to keep them reading, which promotes school success. Talk to them about what they’re reading on their own and in class, and ask which books they like and what they’re learning.

• Give the Gift of Reading: Books make great gifts, and young teenagers often enjoy advice-about-life books such as It’s Our World, Too: Stories of Young People Who Are Making a Difference by Phillip Hoose or Growing Up Feeling Good by Ellen Rosenberg.