A teacher has shared a ‘mistake’ that parents make during the summer holidays and honestly, most of us probably do this.
The summer holidays are a much-needed break for kids. They have worked so hard during the year, from school to extracurriculars to playdates; our kids are busy people! So it makes sense that they would want to chill for a bit and recuperate for September, when they will be moving on to their next year of education.
And while rest is super important, there are other things that we need to consider over the summer holidays.
Mistake parents make during the summer holidays
As parents, we are often happy with this, especially if our children are meeting expectations educationally year-long. However, according to Jessica, a primary school teacher of over 15 years, expecting our kids to automatically be ready for their next year of schooling is actually a ‘huge mistake’.
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‘Is learning embedded or is it fragile?’ she asked. ‘Have our children had enough repeated exposure to maths concepts in the way their brain needs to strengthen those pathways so the information is retained?’
Sadly, this isn’t always the case because education usually focuses on ‘worksheets and rigid maths schemes’ instead of play-based learning.
Because of this, children often experience the summer slide, says Jessica.
What is the summer slide?
The summer slide, or summer learning loss, is a loss of academic skills and knowledge over the summer break, and it is especially seen in countries that have lengthy summer breaks.
‘Unbeknownst to parents, many children can lose a significant proportion of their learning in the [8 week] holidays,’ Jessica explains on Instagram.
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Parents often assume that our kids have ‘everything they need to thrive in their next year group’ when actually there can now be gaps (particularly in maths) thanks to the summer slide.
These gaps widen throughout the year and can make learning feel ‘really challenging’ for children and create the stress hormone cortisol in the body.
While filling in the gaps is totally possible, according to Jessica, preventing them makes things so much easier. The best way to do this is to ‘include the right activities that support brain development, i.e. multi sensory, play based activities’.
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How to prevent the summer slide
The teacher says that ‘drip feeding’ your kids maths learning through short ‘5-minute’ activities gives them the ‘best chance of holding onto this year’s maths learning ‘.
Then you will see ‘your child’s confidence and progress transform,’ Jessica told parents.
Some fun activities that kids and parents can do together that foster maths skills include:
- Building blocks or Lego
- Baking or cooking together
- Writing shopping lists and doing the grocery shopping
- Playing cards or board games
- Gardening
- Saving/budgeting pocket money together to buy a new toy your child wants
And not really maths related, but reading to and with your child should also be continued during the summer as much as possible, as it carries so many benefits.
Will you be taking this advice over the summer break with the kids?
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