Summer Brain Drain

Why do we believe it’s important for kids to keep practicing math when they could be relaxing and enjoying long summer days during their school break?

It doesn’t matter if your child excels in math or struggles with it — summer learning loss spares no one! If kids do not keep applying their new skills, they will be worse at all subjects at the beginning of the new school year than they were at the end of the last one. And research shows that it’s the math skills that are affected the most.

Without regular practice, kids quickly forget a lot of what they have learned. Teachers know this all too well, and the first weeks of every school year are dedicated to just resuscitating last year’s skills!

What can we do to make sure that kids don’t regress over long summer breaks?

As parents, we can keep kids’ learning continuous by practicing at home. It is an amazing opportunity to spend quality time with the kids. It sends the message that learning is important, and it does maintain and may even advance their math skills during the breaks! The key is consistency. It may not be easy to find big blocks of time in your busy schedules. But t even as short as 15 minutes after dinner 3-4 times a week, or half an hour on the weekend mornings can make a difference. As long as you practice regularly, there will be a positive effect. Any practice is infinitely better than none!

Also, you may use opportunities in daily life to practice math skills in addition to the scheduled time. When you take the kids grocery shopping, talk about weights, amounts and prices. Cooking together is an excellent time to discuss fractions and ratios. On road trips, talk about speed, time and distance. Show the kids how you personally use math in your everyday life, at work, or when you play your favorite games or sports. It all helps to reinforce what they learn and makes those skills relevant to their life.

Teaching your own kids is very rewarding, but sometimes it can be tricky. Some kids have a hard time perceiving their parents as teachers; they push back, complain, and soon everyone is frustrated and upset.  As one friend said: “I can be either a mom or a teacher, but not both!”

We, the founders of G.A.M.E., both have experience with teaching our own kids, and we understand the struggle! That’s why we came up with the idea of a summer Math Club to help fellow parents in the same boat. We use a combination of exercises to help kids retain their math skills, along with fun games and activities to apply and reinforce those skills, and build in mathematical reasoning and logic. And doing it with other kids keeps the lessons fun and motivates the students to learn more. Find more details and sign up at our Summer Break page!