Simplify Summer Learning
It’s easy for parents to join in the frenzy of anxiety about that dreaded “summer slide” that some students experience over summer vacation. We fear our students will forget everything they learned over the school year and won’t be ready for the school year ahead. If you are like me, you may combat these fears by setting up unrealistic schedules and goals for your student.
Even though our intentions are good, this anxiety and pressure can sabotage our best efforts and even negatively impact our student.
I wonder what it would feel like if we slowed down our frantic and anxious plans to “get ahead in math” or “move up a grade level” this summer? What if we opted for something more simple, realistic, and attainable?
Here are few ideas to simplify those summer learning plans and expectations:
Simplify the Amount: Spend just 20 minutes a day for 3-4 days a week doing a math game, activity, or lesson. If you are having fun and take longer, great. If not, count 20 minutes a success!
Simplify the Time: Look at your calendar and choose a few weeks where you won’t worry about doing a math lesson or activity at all! Maybe it’s the week you are on a road trip or when family is visiting. Another great time to not worry about math work is the first couple of weeks in summer when everyone is adjusting to new routines.
Simplify the Planning: Take 15-20 minutes at the start of each week to jot down a list of each day’s math activity or lesson. This is especially helpful for me. If I don’t sit down at the beginning of the week to make a quick plan for math, I will not be ready for our math time and will likely skip it altogether because I feel too distracted and busy in the moment.
Simplify the Goals: Choose one goal for the summer. Maybe it’s to learn about one math concept and spend your math time playing games and doing activities around that one concept.
My goal for my daughter this summer is to work on some basic algebra concepts. Notice my goal is to “work on” some algebra concepts. I can’t control if she masters the concepts, but I can set the goal of providing the time, materials, and instruction to help her. Our plan is to utilize Steve Chinn’s Maths Explained algebra lessons because they are easy to watch and provide practice activities after the videos. This also simplifies the planning process! We may also utilize the videos in Dr. Schreuder’s algebra tutoring class for additional help.
My plan is to keep it simple, realistic, attainable!
P.S. If you need help deciding where your child’s learning should focus this summer, please join my Dyscalculia Base Camp. I can help you figure out where to begin and what books and materials you can use at home or with a tutor.