Class is in session! While this may sound strange to read in June, there are thousands of students at this very moment still learning and engaging in educational material during summer vacation. We’ll detail why summer activities and learning over the summer months are so essential, in addition to how you can best make use of summer school in Sycamore School.
Avoiding the summer slide
We are complete advocates of waterslides and playground slides. They’re part of what makes summer so fun! But one slide to avoid during the summer months is that dreaded summer slide. It’s the loss that happens over the summer break of new skills gained during the school year.
On average, students lose approximately two months of reading skills and nearly three months of math skills during the summer break. This requires teachers to play catch-up in the fall before they can move on to new material. Fortunately, there are a variety of different ways families can help minimize the learning losses.
Many schools offer summer school programs to keep students engaged over the summer months. Having your students continue to sharpen their skills would do wonders for their development leading into the next school year. Local libraries often offer summer reading programs as well. There’s few better activities that ensure your students’ brains stay alert over the course of the summer than reading. And better news yet, it won’t feel like schoolwork for your bookworms.
Even if your school doesn’t have a summer school program, there are plenty of activities to do from home. Helping to cut fruits or vegetables in specific sizes. Measuring baking materials for cookies or brownies. Doing puzzles or crossword puzzles in the evening or when it’s raining outside. These are all simple yet highly effective activities to keep students’ brains working over the summer and minimizing the summer slide as much as possible.
Discovering new interests
One of the biggest benefits of summer school lies in its flexibility. Summer programs empower students to customize their education according to their unique needs and aspirations. Although some enroll in core grade-level courses, the summer presents a chance to delve into subjects that may be inaccessible during the traditional academic year. Students can immerse themselves in world languages or delve into electives like marketing, photography, animation, criminal justice, fashion design, forensic science, game design, medical terminology, sports officiating, and beyond. The summer offers an exciting opportunity to pursue intellectual curiosities and expand horizons.
Defeating boredom and apathy
It’s no secret that children thrive in routine. A structured environment keeps students focused and fosters self-discipline. The school year provides a consistent schedule and opportunities for social interaction. Not to mention, it frequently aligns with extracurricular activities that constructively occupy students’ time throughout the week.
However, summer vacation, spanning over two months, presents a prolonged disruption to this routine. Summer learning programs offer a solution, maintaining productive study habits while combating the inevitable ennui that arises after weeks of video games and television binging. By providing a structured yet enriching environment, these programs ensure students’ minds remain actively engaged.
How can Sycamore help?
Knowing the importance of summer learning, we pride ourselves in giving our schools opportunities to set up summer classes, programs, and camps all within Sycamore School. What’s advantageous about summer school in Sycamore is we will create a separate site for you. This way, if you have summer programs that don’t include students in your normal school year, this allows you to keep those students separated and avoid confusion.
A new site designed specially for summer school also opens the door for you to organize your site as such. You don’t have to worry about removing data, images, news articles, documents, etc., from the traditional school year. You have an open canvas to create classes, insert text and images, plan schedules, email families, and much more! A new site for your summer school gives you the freedom and flexibility to create a fun, interactive, and structured site that can be highly beneficial for your school every summer for years to come.
To learn more about incorporating a summer school program at your school, please schedule a demo to start your free trial today.
