I’m over at Make It Better magazine talking about “How to Avoid the Summer Slide.” <\/a><\/p>\n

When writing the article, I interviewed Sue Kick, an elementary school principal in Wilmette, IL. What she said about ways parents can prevent the summer slide surprised me. I expected her to stress the importance of reading, but instead she said that most parents have a good handle on that and need to do a bit more in the realm of science and math when school is not in session.<\/p>\n

Even more surprising were her other two recommendations:<\/p>\n

1) make sure kids have unstructured playtime; and<\/p>\n

2) stop overscheduling children.<\/p>\n

She explained that the skills kids learn when playing on their own, including teamwork, negotiation, and creativity, are every bit as valuable as those in a book, and summer is the perfect time to develop and hone them.\u00a0 Those are skills that cannot be found in a summer workbook.<\/p>\n

Yes, letting your children play outside, without you, is a way of fighting the summer slide.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Read more about what a veteran teacher of ten years suggests, including a list of recommended apps that are great for summer learning, and how other families are approaching the summer slide here.<\/p>\n

I’d love to hear what your thought are on summer brain drain and the summer slide.<\/p>\n

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE: Easy ways to encourage summer reading<\/a><\/p>\n

Please like Mom Factually on Facebook<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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