REDUCING THE ‘SUMMER SLIDE’

It is well known that many children, especially those from families with limited financial and transportation resources, lose about 2 months of schooling during each summer vacation. That loss compounds year after year ultimately leaving the children many months or years behind their more affluent peers.

That need not happen, and it is not necessary to attend often expensive focus camps or excellent programs such as those available through OMSI and other organizations.

Let’s start with reading since literacy is directly correlated with future social, personal and occupational functioning. The science is clear that children benefit when they are read to every single day beginning in the first months of life. In the school years and during summer vacation, we can provide informal reading experiences such as that of reading a recipe while helping in the kitchen or reading labels while grocery shopping

Finally, if we expect children to maintain reading skills during the summer, we adults should not be so uptight about what the children read as long as it is child appropriate. Let the kids select the books. Exercise books and the classics which teachers and middle class parents think are so great just don’t cut it with kids. A biography of a pop or sports figure that is read is a lot better than an unopened biography of Thomas Jefferson. A spring book fair at the school or park might be an idea for our neighborhood to consider.

With math, opportunities abound in the kitchen (think, doubling a recipe, calculating the number of ounces in ¼ cup, etc), workshop (measuring, calculating how many screws are needed), and garden (planning how many plants to place in a row given the spacing requirement and row length). Younger children can acquire a number sense while setting the table for meals.

These are just a few thoughts for us to consider.      Next month: Head Lice

David B. Bell, M.D., Ph.D.

Rose and Dr. David B.Bell are the owners of Second Time Around Boutique Shop.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 9th, 2010 at 3:39 pm and is filed under Family / Kids, Health and Wellness. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.