Five Myths about Summer Learning

July 13, 2021
Education, Learning Gaps, Preparing for the School Year, Summer Learning and Activities

Five Myths about Summer Learning

“All Work No Play Makes Jack a Dull boy!” What other time is best to express this proverb, like Summertime? Everybody loves summer, but children enjoy the summer holiday the most. Once children leave school for the summer holidays, they want to explore a lot of things. Being the hottest period of the year, they enjoy ice creams and favorite fruits as they engage more in outdoor activities. Some of them spend time on video games, TV watching, touring, and on social media, among other entertaining activities. But, while they may enjoy all the fun outside school, they do not want to forget everything about school.

Student’s achievement scores declined over summer vacation by one month’s worth of school-year learning.

At Kids on the Yard, we believe that the summer vacation is an important time for children to decompress from the school year by having good old-fashioned fun! We also believe that the world was created beautifully designed so that children can desire, create, pursue, make, and be their own heroes. Besides playing and enjoying, summer is a good time for children to bridge their learning gaps and cover things they did not understand during normal school sessions. Summer learning programs accelerate kids’ learning while giving them ample time to understand challenging topics.

Unfortunately, the summer learning and programs are surrounded by several myths that include the following:

MYTH 1: Kids Should Not Learn During Summer to Recharge

People believe that long summer holidays are supposed to help children recharge and rest after spending a lot of time in school. However, rather than bringing the feeling of rest, a summer vacation causes academic malaise and boredom. Long ago, before modern utilities, summer seasons were scorching, making it hard for children to learn hence the long necessary summer breaks. This is nevertheless not the case today, meaning that children can continue with learning. Therefore, you can enroll your child in a summer learning program to continue learning during the summer period. At Kids on the Yard, we shall offer your child learning and mentally stimulating activities that will help to retain their routine and grow their intellect.

Another recent randomized trial of students at risk of summer loss effectively improved the reading scores of third^3rd grade) and fourth^4th graders (but not first^1sd or second^2nd graders), with effect sizes of .21 to .29.^[1] The text messages included tips on resources available to students over the summer, ideas for activities to do with children, and information about the value of particular summer learning activities.

MYTH 2: Summer Tutoring is For Academically Weak Kids

For the longest time, summer learning was reserved for kids with poor grades or some learning gaps, but that is not the case anymore. Students today enroll in summer learning to be ahead of others, get a competitive advantage and eventually achieve better grades. Summer learning also helps to reduce the loss of skills that occur when children spend too much time away from school. Besides learning difficult subjects, students can advance their skills and study their favorite subjects in a more relaxed environment.

MYTH 3: Kids Need Summer Rest

This myth is untrue, considering that a child’s brain is continuously growing; hence it requires learning and constant stimulation. While your child should have enough time to play and enjoy during the summer vacation, this does not need to stop learning. Your child also does not stop having a routine and can enjoy summering learning through enrichment subjects such as STEM and STEAM projects. At Kids and Yard, STEM and STEAM are primary ways to develop your child’s 21st-century skills. You can also include games and outdoor learning since it is great for your kid’s body and mind. For instance, you can engage your child in outside science experiments or have a chalkboard outside to solve mathematics problems.

MYTH 4: Kids Do Not Want To Learn During Summer Holidays

Most parents think that their children want to rest during the summer holiday and do not want to engage in learning. The myth is not true because summer learning if initiated properly, can be real fun! Kids love to explore and are always curious. Hence learning is never a problem. You can involve your child in math games, reading challenges, and educational cartoons to improve their grades. Please take advantage of the long summer holidays to enroll your child in some of our unique and personalized programs at Kids in the Yard to help him achieve academic success.

Summer loss also undoubtedly increases the amount of time teachers have to spend “re-teaching” last year’s content, likely contributing to the repetitiveness of the typical U.S. curriculum^[2]

MYTH 5: Summer Refreshes Students for the Fall Learning

While students may spend the entire summer holiday away from school, that does not mean that they get ready for learning in the Fall. Studies show that too much time away from school causes students to lose about 20 to 30% of their learning momentum. Rather than getting recharged for the fall class, the students will get bored of school programs and schedules after summer. However, a few hours of learning every week can keep your child’s brain alert. Enrolling your child with our programs at Kids on the Yard shall help maintain their learning momentum and prepare them for a new school year.

FOOTNOTES and REFERENCES:
   Kraft, M.A., & Monti-Nussbaum, M. (in press). Can schools empower parents to prevent summer learning loss? A text messaging field experiment to promote literacy skills. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/mkraft/files/kraft_monti-nussbaum_2017_can_schools_empower_parents_to_prevent_summer_learning_loss_annals.pdf 
  Polikoff,  M.S.  (2012).  The  redundancy  of  mathematics  instruction  in  US  elementary  and middle  schools.  The  Elementary  School  Journal ,  113(2),  230-251. https://web-app.usc.edu/web/rossier/publications/66/The%20Redundancy%20of%20Math%20Instruction.pdf

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