Good Summer Tutoring Plan Can Help Ward Off the Dreaded "Brain Drain"

It may be hard to think about summertime as an opportunity to maintain your child's academic progress, but the summer "brain drain" is more prevalent than you might think. According to a study by Duke University’s Dr. Harris Cooper, a leading expert on summer learning loss, long summer vacations “break the rhythm of instruction, lead to forgetting, and require a significant amount of review when students return to school in the fall.” In fact, according to Cooper’s study, students’ overall achievement test scores drop by about one month, on average, over summer vacation. Skills in mathematics and spelling usually take the biggest hits, with math skills suffering almost a 2.6 month loss in achievement. This can lead to significant struggles when the school year starts up again in fall.   Suffering the most are children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, who are presented with less opportunities to practice math and reading skills over the summer months than their more privileged peers.   Their reading comprehension skills suffer the greatest, and their losses add up to a 2 year achievement gap by the time they enter their middle school years.   But there are steps that parents can take to help their children learn and even get ahead over the summer months!  The following summer tips and strategies can help transform the break from structured learning into an opportunity for students to sharpen their skills through fun and interactive ways.  

1. Take frequent trips to the library and register your child with a library card.  University of Florida’s Richard Allington notes that the best predictor of summer reading loss is a lack of books at home and limited access to library books, so keep a good selection of high interest, grade-level appropriate books around the house.  Schedule a consistent “reading time” daily for your child.
2. Attend thematic programs at the library.  Libraries often host a great variety of summer programs for kids that celebrate reading.
3. Talk to your child’s teachers and ask them what your child will be learning next year at school.  This way you can tie in family trips with next year’s curriculum to create a more meaningful hands-on experience. For example, if your child will be studying a unit on the civil war, plan a visit to Gettysburg. You can even check out audio books from the library to listen to on your road trip!
4. Give your child a gift card to a bookstore, or give books as gifts.
5. Find ways to incorporate math skills into your summer plans. This can be as simple as asking them to help plan a road trip by estimating how long it will take to arrive at your destination, how much gas you will need to get there, and budgeting for the trip. You could even play fun  math-fact games in the car or airplane while traveling and offer fun incentives and rewards for correct answers.
6. Consider Summer Tutoring:   Tutoring services, such as Club Z In-home Tutoring, can help children catch up or get ahead with one-on-one tutoring in the home.  Take advantage of the summer months to remediate or accelerate your child in areas like reading comprehension, mathematics, writing or SAT/ACT test prep.  Club Z! even offers programs in music and study skills (with an emphasis on note-taking strategies, reading comprehension skills & prioritizing deadlines) that will help your child start the school year off right.

  For more information on how to make the most of your child’s summer, call Club Z! In-Home Tutoring Services. Club Z! provides one-on-one, in-home tutoring in all subjects pre-K through adult. To reserve your summer tutor, and ensure that you child doesn’t lose any academic momentum, call Club Z! at 800-434-2582!