Summer Learning Can (and should!) be FUN!

Nadine Levitt, CEO & Founder of WURRLYedu, Author of My Mama Says Inside Me Lives A Village

This year seems to have seen a lot of kids fall behind in terms of academic progress, though exactly how great the learning loss was, is difficult to ascertain since a lot of school districts opted out of standardized testing this year. However early data indicates that it was significant (especially in math). Perhaps this was due to less instructional time, less personalized learning, greater absenteeism and for many families (particularly in the lower socio economic bracket), and a lack of access to technology, wifi and other learning resources. But perhaps it is also due to a lack of balance between the mind and body. 

Professional Athletes have long valued the concept of optimizing the mind-body connection, but we don’t always talk about it in an education setting. But we should.

Everybody’s mental health and wellbeing (including that of our children) has been heavily taxed this year, and countless studies have shown that anxiety, depression, and stress overload are inhibitors to learning.

I recently had the pleasure of sitting down with Amanda Hill from NBC Maine, about the issue of learning loss and summertime learning, and here’s what we had to say:

Airing on this link and on NBC Maine News Center at 7:00pm EST on Tuesday August 10th

Watch Interview Here

By optimizing the mind-body connection, you can make learning a goal this summer. The trick is to find something your child is passionate about, and then leverage that to teach something! For example when my kids asked me if they could start a Youtube Kids channel, I agreed, as long as they first wrote a full business plan, with a story arc, and then recorded and edited their first 3 episodes. (They are still working on that!)

There are so many activities that require reading, writing, math and science, like cooking, counting, pointing out patterns, building or playing board games like Scrabble, Banangrams, Proof!, or Rummikub.

Some tips that might help you achieve that balance are:

• Keep it fun, and leverage whatever your child is passionate about!
• Timing matters! Consistent but quick activities will greatly develop skill (think 30 minutes every weekday!)
• Balance out screens and no screens, active with creative play!
• Keep a well-being centric approach! If your kids are fighting you on reading every day then don’t push it! You will only squelch their love of reading. Instead, use an activity that forces them to read (like cooking or watching the TV with no sound but subtitles!)
• Celebrate the micro-goals – you want to ensure that your child’s confidence is growing as they learn, so that they believe they can and will succeed.

Need help thinking of things to do? Below is a list of 50 amazing activities, tools, resources and just things to try with your child, so that summer break allows them to reset and refuel for the coming year!