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Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Break From School A Great Time To Keep Kids Engaged, Learning
By Debra Dominguez-Lund
For the Journal
Julee and Patrick Martell don't mind if their 8-year-old son, Noah, and their 5-year-old daughter, Aubrey, check out movies, watch TV and play games all summer.
As a matter of fact, the Albuquerque parents are encouraging their children, who attend Albuquerque Christian School, to do so. That's because the Martells say there's an educational twist to it all.
“We borrow educational DVDs from the library, such as 'Eyewitness,' and we own many simple card and board games that require math skills, such as UNO, Phase 10 and dominoes, as well as vocabulary builders like Scrabble and Boggle,” Julee Martell said. “Noah is a huge 'Jeopardy' fan and also enjoys watching 'Wheel of Fortune.'
“We also create our own version of 'Jeopardy' and play it as we run errands, and the kids learn a lot from it,” she said. “Children learn all the time, even when they are unaware they are learning. We try to keep summers fairly unstructured academically, but at the same time keep their minds stimulated and excited to learn new things.”
The Martells, educators say, are on the right path to making sure their children have fun and keep learning during the next two months so they don't forget everything they learned during the school year.
According to a study by Duke University, 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.”
Officials from Albuquerque Public Schools and Club Z! In-Home Tutoring Services agree that parents need to provide fun learning opportunities over the summer so students don't suffer “brain drain.”
“Set summer reading goals for your child and encourage reading and writing every day,” APS spokesman Rigo Chavez said.
The Duke University study found that overall achievement on student test scores drop by about a month, on average, over summer vacation. Skills in math and spelling usually take the biggest hits, with math skills suffering almost a 2.6-month loss in achievement.
The study concluded that children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds suffer the most, with fewer opportunities to practice math and reading skills over the summer than their more privileged peers.
Their reading comprehension skills suffer the most, and their losses add up to a two-year achievement gap by the time they enter their middle school years.
But you can help.
Keep your kids active by taking them to local libraries and museums. Encourage them to draw, paint, sing, dance, play games and ride their bikes or swim for exercise.
“Drawing can help students visualize shapes in the world around them — this is an important skill for geometry and other higher-level math,” Chavez said. “Playing games can also help with math skills as you keep score or count your money after a game of Monopoly.”
Check on what what your child will be studying next year and tie the material into family activities or trips, Club Z In-home Tutoring suggests.
The group also says parents should consider summer tutoring services for getting their child remedial or accelerated help in areas like reading comprehension, mathematics, writing or SAT/ACT test prep.
Kristin Leigh, educational services director at Explora! Museum, said fun learning activities include planting vegetables, collecting rocks, tracking the weather and visiting community theaters.
When going to the library or a museum isn't an option, the Martells turn to playtime at home.
“I buy fun workbooks throughout the year with science experiments — the weirder the better — as well as word searches and word puzzles to keep their minds busy using logic and problem-solving skills,” said Julee Martell, who also spends her time teaching her children fractions by baking with them and whose husband reads to them nightly.
“We try to keep their minds stimulated but also allow them to enjoy their summer and just have fun being children, using their vivid and fascinating imaginations,” she said. “Children are natural learners, and I often just encourage and motivate my kids to learn more about each one of their passions, and we take it and fly.”
No-frills summer learning n Sit on the front porch. Take turns telling each other stories about the things you see: dogs, people walking, an old tree. Use five-minute limits and make sure the story has a beginning, middle and an ending.
n Go on a penny hike. At each corner, flip a coin: tails go left; heads go right.
n Bake cookies with your child. Wrap them and take some to a neighbor.
n Make a list of errands to run. Give the list to your kids and let them decide the order in which to run the errands as well as the shortest and fastest way to get around town.
n Make memories. Help your child decorate a “summer memory” box made up of items that will be reminders of fun times and anything learned during the summer.
n Take a nature walk. Later have your child draw or write about what he/she experienced.