Sometimes, it is true that anything that has a good side has a bad side too. The summer break has really great benefits. The most common one is that it gives students an opportunity to rest and relax after the school year. However, nobody seems to be talking about the little disadvantage that also comes with it.

The negative side of the summer break is that it causes what is called “summer learning loss” in students. According to Wikipedia, summer learning loss, or summer slide, is the loss of academic skills and knowledge over the course of summer vacation in countries that have long breaks in the school year. Isn’t it frightening to know that students lose about 20 percent of their school-year gains in reading and 27 percent of their school-year gains in math during summer break? Of course, it is!

“If you don’t use it, you lose it.”

This is actually how the brain works. Once students stop making use of the information that they have learned, they begin to forget them. However, we wouldn’t want the summer learning loss to spoil the fun of summer for your kids, so in this article, I’ll be sharing 5 interesting ways that you can help your kids avoid the summer learning loss.

1. indulge in a lot of reading.

Reading keeps the brain active. It also helps children to learn, explore, and find areas of interest. Reading is an amazing way to spend time during the summer period because it can be done right at home! Thanks to the internet, your kids can get access to thousands of books with just a single click.

2. Watch educational movies:

Nobody said kids can’t watch movies during the summer break. In fact, there are a lot of educational movies that kids can learn from during the summer break. It could be biographies of iconic men and women, documentaries, science movies, fictional movies, and even cartoons.

As a parent, all you have to do is ensure that your kids are able to pick valuable lessons from these movies.

3. Hire a tutor:

It’s necessary that students have tutors by their sides during the summer break. Tutors help students to revise what they have been taught in the previous academic session and to also prepare for the coming academic sessions. When students are engaged with tutors during the summer break, it helps them to be super ready for the next academic session!

4. Register for summer programs:

Attending a summer program is the most effective way through which your child can avoid summer learning loss. This is because summer programs create a mixture of fun and learning to help children explore new areas of interests.

During summer programs, children are able to gain knowledge and learn new skills that prepare them for the real world. Due to how fast the world is advancing, it is necessary that parents equip their children with the right knowledge and skills, and this summer period is the perfect time to do that.

Here at GATE Academy, we have a summer program coming up. It’s the 5th edition and it’s going to be the best so far. Students who have attended our summer programs in the past have benefited so much from it.

This year, our summer program is going to be virtual and we’ve added new programs! To find out more click here. And to register, click here.

I believe that you now know what summer learning loss is and how to help your kids avoid it.