Parents Education Corner: What’s the Summer Academic Plan?
Summer is finally on the horizon. I remember sometimes being almost more excited about school being out for the summer than the kids. The day-to-day routine was finally getting a break, which meant we were getting one, too. The before- or after-school obligations were on pause for some of us and ramped up for others. I used to plan our family vacations a year in advance to get the best flight and hotel deals for our family of six or to work around my husband’s active duty schedule before he retired. That was no easy task. Some years, the summers were open and without structure.
Other years, there was too much going on, and it flew by, and the back-to-school commercials were playing, and we felt like we missed out somehow on our summer break. Vacation and sports training plans are in full effect. You’ve planned them for months, and now the time is finally here. Did your student’s school year end as successfully as he or she hoped or planned? If not, what are the next steps?
Academic bumps in the road can upset the apple cart, and adjustments have to be made. Are we going to pretend things don’t need to be addressed, or are we going to weave in an academic plan to better prepare our students for the next school year? It’s important to address the elephant in the room, if you will. If the grades weren’t what they needed to be, it is important to set your plan of action to fill those gaps during the summer break and prepare for a successful start to the new school year in the fall.
Here are a few things you can do to improve reading comprehension, math facts, etc:
Pick a book to read and discuss as a family. You can have your student write about their favorite part of the book. Check sentence structure, grammar, and spelling together. Look up words your student doesn’t understand.
Have math facts flashcards for addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. You can practice on road trips, on the plane, on the train, at the beach, at the lake, at your grandparents’ house, etc.
Have your student do a couple of pages each day in a Summer Bridge Book (get one at a local bookstore or online) for the upcoming grade.
Use free online resources to review subjects like Algebra, English, and SAT prep on khanacademy.org or collegeboard.org for PSAT and SAT prep, or to search for college information.
Ask your student’s teacher or counselor if they have any resources.
Just as important is keeping the students who did reach their academic goals engaged to avoid learning loss that comes if you do absolutely nothing all summer long. The recommendations above can also help keep the student on grade level or even get ahead for the next school year.
I remember thinking, as we went from AAU track meets up and down the state of Virginia, that the money and time spent, although a sacrifice, was the same money we needed to allocate for tutoring and additional academic help.
It is important to prioritize the student part of the student-athlete, so that if they are able to play their favorite sport in college, they can meet the rigor of college academics. I’ve learned over the years that children need to learn to accept those bumps in the road, seek help and guidance to address them, and improve. Self-advocacy is a soft skill that will take them far.
