YEA! Blog

Hi and welcome to YEA’s Education Tips Blog.  Today we are going to talk about simple things you can do to help your children maintain their

Science event at Mead Gardens

academic skills over the summer.  Let’s face it, if we let them, kids would languish all day long in front of video games, cell phones and Facebook : )  What can you do to make sure that they maintain a healthy balance between break time and academic time?

TIPS:

1.  Insist on 20-25 minutes of quiet reading time each day.  It works best if the entire family participates, when mom and dad model good habits, children are more likely to continue that habit throughout their lives.

2.  Spend a few times a week exploring applications of mathematics. Research shows that when a skill is seen as relevant to the child’s life, they are more likely to buy in, so the more real world you can make it the better the learning!

• a. Teach your child to manage money by giving them a practice check book and blank checks (there are many online sites that sell kids blank check kits)

• b. Buy books with number puzzles.

• c. Allow your child to cook with you, have them do the measurements, to make it more complex, manipulate the measurements so that your child has to do some basic conversions.

• d. Visit your local hardware stores for a schedule of kid’s building events.  Both Home Depot, and Lowes offer these events.

• e. Take advantage of your child’s desire to play video games, and locate some good math programs online.

3.  Promote writing skills by having your child write for 20 minutes each day.

• a. Give them a summer break journal, ask them to write about 1 great thing that happened each day.

• b. Take them on a nature hike and afterward have your child write a poem or short story about the experience.

• c. Pick an interesting picture off the web and have your child write a story about what is happening in the photo.

4.  Choose an educational camp for your child

• a.  Try to find one that immerses them in their environment and is a combination of subject areas.

• b. Choose a camp focused on an area where your child is weak, for example if they struggle in math, find a summer camp with a math focus…like an engineering camp or a robotics camp.

The most important thing to remember is you want your child working on their skills every day.  You want to make it fun and interesting.  Take lots of field trips and participate in local educational events when you can, use those as an opportunity to encourage reading, writing, math and scientific exploration.

Are you located in the Central Florida area?  If so, visit our website for more information on summer camps and education events hosted at Mead Gardens!  Hope to see you there!