Search Results for: blog summer brain drain

5 Tips for Staying Safe this Summer

Posted on by

Summer vacation is in full force. The kids are out of school and many families spend time outdoors enjoying themselves. While you and your family are out and about, make sure you are following these summer safety tips. Summer Safety Tips Prevent Playground Injuries The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says that emergency departments in the United States treat more than 200,000 children ages 14 and younger for playground-related injuries. Check to make sure the surfaces under the playground equipment are safe, soft, and well-maintained. Before letting your child run and play, take a minute to make sure the … Continue reading →

Summer Science

My 7-year-old daughter channels Bill Nye the Science Guy on a daily basis. I don’t blame her; growing up, I constantly tried to recreate Mr. Wizard’s experiments in our garage, much to my mother’s chagrin. Since school left out for the summer my mad scientist has stirred up a bunch of weird-looking concoctions from various benign ingredients she found around the kitchen. However, last week she actually got to experiment with real science projects thanks to our “friends” who help staff a Parks and Rec summer program. If you are looking to prevent brain drain this summer consider the following … Continue reading →

Summer Reading Series: Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons

Summer and learning. For most kids, the two don’t go hand in hand. Fortunately, if you disguise the lessons with a fun-filled feline adventure, you can likely avoid summer brain drain. That’s where Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons comes in handy. The eye-popping picture book written by Eric Litwin and illustrated by James Dean combines reading, math, music and slew of helpful life skills in a delightful tale featuring a laid-back cat with a passion for wearing button-down shirts. Thanks to Pete’s panache for crafting catchy tunes your kids won’t even realize they are getting schooled in … Continue reading →

Summer Reading Series: Secret Agent Splat!

“Cats rule and dogs drool!” If Splat the Cat were old enough to drive himself to the mall, there’s no question he’d feature that phrase on a personalized tee. Only, you won’t find the dog-loathing kitty doing much shopping in Secret Agent Splat! Rather, the newest book in the Splat the Cat series finds our furry feline friend channeling his inner Sherlock Holmes to solve a mystery involving missing duck decoys. Just when you thought you knew everything about Splat, his supportive family, and his unlikely friends, author Rob Scotton unveils yet another deep, dark secret. This time we learn … Continue reading →

Summer Reading Series: Amelia Bedelia’s First Vote

The economy, job growth, health care, contraception, and foreign policy don’t mean much to first and second graders. However, give them the chance to vote on whether or not they can run in school hallways, eat ice cream sandwiches for lunch or take a field trip to the circus, and all of a sudden, learning about elections, voting, and democracy is cool, yo. Score another win for Amelia Bedelia. The pint-sized politico channels her inner activist in Amelia Bedelia’s First Vote. If you are looking for a light summer story that’s heavy on humor and will surely help prevent seasonal … Continue reading →

Preventing Summer Brain Drain

The school year is winding down for millions of students across the country, and while most kids are thrilled to be getting a much needed break from studying, some parents are hoping that summer vacation doesn’t lead to brain drain. Summer learning loss is nothing new; however, it is avoidable. While most parents think summer school is the key to keeping their kids at the head of the class, there are a slew of other activities that can help preserve lessons learned in the course of an academic year. My daughter would rather give up TV and eat nothing but … Continue reading →

DIY Summer Camp

Spring break wraps up today. Tomorrow it’s back to school; much to my second grader’s chagrin. After nearly two weeks of vacation all I can say is… I’m not prepared for June. Spring break gave us a taste of summer and now I know why area day camps filled up in February. As in the second month of 2012, nearly a half-year away from the start of summer vacation. Parents around here don’t fool around when it comes to getting rid of their kids when school is out. I mean immersing their children in valuable summer enrichment programs designed to … Continue reading →

Summer Tutor or Taking a Break?

Some families use the summer season as an opportunity to catch up on academics or brush up on educational skills and subjects. Others go in for the traditional “break” from scholastic stuff and use summer as vacation time. But, what is best for the child and how can you decide what is best for your family situation? In our area of the country, it seems that summer school has become the trendy thing for all sorts of kids. When I was young, summer school used to be something that was reserved for students who were really struggling or who had … Continue reading →

Summer Learning Lost

Posted on by

In a recent article by Families.com parenting blogger, Myra Turner, she discussed the dreaded summer brain drain that many teachers complain about when school is back into session. Myra is exactly right. Research shows that students lose over two and one half months of information over the summer vacation. This research finding came about through testing students at the beginning of summer vacation and repeating a test over the same material at the end of summer vacation. The information is not mysteriously drained from each child’s head as he or she sleeps at night. The simple fact is that without … Continue reading →

Thoughts on Summer Tutoring

Posted on by

In many cases parents consider hiring tutors for their children during the summer. While having your child attend tutoring during the summer can be helpful and beneficial to his or her education career, it is not always appropriate or necessary. Before hiring a tutor over the summer for your child, consider why you feel that the tutor is needed. Did your child struggle with his or her course work during the previous school year? Did you choose tutoring over having your child be retained? Did a teacher suggest tutoring for your child? Does your child have a learning disability? If … Continue reading →