Summer Learning: 6 Ideas to Support Your Struggling Student During the Break
You’ve probably heard of the “Summer Slide,” which refers to the decline in student learning that occurs over the summer break. The concern, particularly for reading and math, is focused on students potentially losing a significant portion of their prior year gains. It’s just one of the concerns that parents may want to try to counteract over the longer hiatus from school with summer learning activities and programs.
Of course, not all school struggles are related to learning. For some kids, anxiety related to loneliness, comparison, and lack of confidence can also play a role in a child’s enjoyment and performance in terms of participation and socialization.
Regardless of the reasons your student doesn’t like—or do well in—school, here are some tips to help support them over the summer. With some intentional activities, you might even make the fall transition back to school the best one yet.
#1: Prioritize Reading
Getting kids to read over the summer break isn’t just about helping to prevent the loss of reading gains that they made during the school year; it’s also about maintaining and even improving their reading fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension skills.
Reading also exposes children to new ideas, diverse cultures, and different perspectives, which can help them expand their knowledge and vocabulary. Growing knowledge and critical thinking skills can help better prepare them for the coming school year, not to mention give them interesting things to talk about with friends.
Not sure where to start? Head to your local library, where the knowledgeable staff can work with your child to find skill-appropriate books of interest.
#2: Engage in Fun Summer Learning Activities
You don’t need to use math flashcards or book reports to keep your child’s mind engaged throughout the summer. Look for simple ways to incorporate learning into everyday activities.
Consider baking together to provide opportunities for measuring, calculations, and instruction following. Turn grocery shopping into a math lesson by estimating and calculating prices, weighing produce, and discovering the best savings per ounce.
Turn car trips into educational (but fun!) experiences by creating a point-based system for reading signs, spelling things you spot on the drive, or even asking good questions! Let your child choose their reward when you get to your destination.
#3: Enroll Them in Personal Brain Training
Many personal brain training companies around the country offer summer day camps for kids and teens to help target and train their cognitive skills with fun mental activities, games and drills.
Unlike tutoring, which focuses on reteaching specific academic material that was missed the first time, personal brain training uses seven specific keys designed to target and boost cognitive skills. These are the core skills our brain uses to think, read, learn, remember, reason, and pay attention. Working together, they take incoming information and move it into the bank of knowledge that we use every day at school, work, and in life. When these brain skills are strong, learning is faster and easier—regardless of the subject.
#4: Explore Summer Learning Community Resources
Free or affordable community resources can provide a way for your child to keep their brain engaged over the summer while making friends, learning about good stewardship to others, and boosting their self-confidence.
Look for age-appropriate volunteering opportunities, summer enrichment programs, and local resources for kids offered by museums, historical sites, libraries, and parks.
#5: Consider a Summer Camp
While some summer camps have a specific focus—such as cheerleading, band, science, or soccer—there are plenty of options for those who don’t want to focus on a specific activity or sport.
Children who are struggling academically or socially may find that the fun, structured environment helps them thrive in ways that better prepare them for the return to school. Whether it’s a day camp or week-long overnight stay, these summer excursions are designed to help kids build social skills, boost self-confidence, and develop emotional resilience.
Your child may discover new interests, learn new skills, build independence, and meet positive role models. They may also get some “stealth learning” through arts and crafts, science experiments, nature walks, and star gazing.
#6: Focus on Friendships
Some children may not excel in school due to lack of participation or frequent absences due to anxiety over bullying or lack of friendships. Use the summer months to help your child build a friend circle with sleepovers, playdates, and other activities in which they can invite a friend (or several).
This may organically lead them to want to spend more time with peers, so try not to take it personally! Take some time to reevaluate any strict rules you may have found useful at the time (such as no overnights at friends’ houses) in order to weigh the benefits of socialization, independence, and self-confidence.
Summer Learning Goes Beyond Worksheets
This season can be a great opportunity for growth for your struggling student, academically and personally—no boring worksheets required. With your support and one great summer filled with learning, fun, and friendships, they may head back to school with a new sense of who they are and what they can achieve!
