Before school ends in June, many parents request workbooks for their children in order for them to keep up with or to get ahead of their school work over the summer. This equating of workbooks with learning makes for a miserable summer for some children and may result in turning them off to true learning. Instead of making summer vacation a continuation of the school year, parents would be wise to use this time to interact with their children in creative and enjoyable ways which also help to develop the mind.
Research has shown that doing workbook pages does not help children read better. What helps children more is for parents to read to them.
Summer vacation is a good time to do this. Parents can read stories to children that are interesting to them but beyond their current reading skill.
After reading the stories parents should discuss them with the children.
One good system, is to read a long book over a period of time.
For example, "Alice in Wonderland" can be read chapter by chapter. Before beginning a new chapter, the parent can ask the children what happened so far and what they think will happen next. Children not only are learning that there are interesting things to read about in books but they are also learning how to use language.
During their vacation, children should not be pressured to improve their reading skills.
One of the most important things they should be learning about reading is that it can be a pleasure rather than a chore.
They should be reading for enjoyment.
This is best accomplished by parents providing material that is below their current reading level. Sometimes children are embarrassed to pick out "easy" books for themselves from the library but parents can do it for them.
I would not comment on the books chosen, just put them on the child's bedside table and after they have been read, simply provide more at the same level.
One of the most important things they should be learning about reading is that it can be a pleasure rather than a chore.
Children need a background of experience in order to understand the words they are reading.
These experiences can be provided in the summer.
There can be trips to the zoo, to the museum, to the store, to the library and to the park.
Parents can engage in a dialogue with the children about what they saw and what they enjoyed.
They might even want to keep a diary about their summer experiences.
There are also many ways to teach math concepts without using workbooks.
One thing you can do is to take children shopping with you.
Give yourself time to make it a learning experience. You could work out the shopping list together before starting out.
Talk about how many things you are going to buy and how much you are going to spend.
Ask your child which box of cereal is the best buy.
What are the ingredients and how much do they cost? Does the bigger box contain more ingredients? You might even teach something about nutrition and avoid buying the box of sugar cereal.
What about unit pricing? Plan on spending a certain amount of money shopping and let the child estimate if you are keeping within the limit.
You might bring a calculator with you so the child can keep track.
Let the child count the change you receive and determine if it is correct.
Obviously this type of activity takes more time than a quick shopping trip but it takes less time than helping a child with the passive task of a workbook page, and there is the fringe benefit of your taking the opportunity of interacting pleasantly with your child.
Card games also can fill many enjoyable vacation hours. They help build language, social skills, visual memory, numerical sequence, computation and number concepts. All ages can play the games and it helps build family cohesiveness.
Finally, do not forget board games.
They help children learn to follow rules, to take turns, and learn math skills. For young children there are games like Candyland and for older children there is always the old favorite, Monopoly.
The most natural, effective, and rewarding learning experiences are those which take place between parent and child. I encourage you to foster these experiences this summer and relax and enjoy your children.
First published in 1995
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