American schools were traditionally designed to
fit the needs of farmers. Children were released from school in late
spring to help with planting and in fall to help with the harvest.
Although today only 3% of our population makes their living in
agriculture, this calendar still remains the standard.

As a result, exhilarated school children are
freed from their academic entailments in June. Parents may not be as
thrilled. Along with finding sitters and keeping kids safe, summer
learning loss is a concern. Studies have proved that this loss is
especially prevalent for students with special needs or of low social
economic status. Math and spelling skills are most affected - possibly a
result of the lack of opportunities to practice. So, let’s find some
opportunities!
Summer school programs are a valuable
intervention for academic enrichment and acceleration. Unfortunately,
most Bay Area summer school classes have been canceled because of the
lack of funding. There are many other commercial summer programs, but
most of them cost money. If you are interested in finding one near you, check in with your local library, YMCA, or community center.
If you are unable to finance a formal summer
program but still want to create opportunities for your children to
practice academic skills, there are many no-fuss, homespun ways.
Number Sense
Playing “I-spy” with numbers in the newspaper or a magazine
reinforces number recognition. Ask your young ones to find the numbers
in their address, their age, the ages of their siblings, parents, or
their birth date and phone number.
Practice reading lists of numbers from left to
right by perusing the stock market section. Using stock quotes can also
facilitate reciting, writing, adding and subtracting larger numbers.
To bolster percentage and decimal proficiency,
check the weather section in your newspaper or online and check climates across the nation and world.
Sports fans can acquaint themselves with football, baseball and hockey
statistics.
Reading and Writing Competence
Even for Kindergarteners, finding the letters in
their name should be easy. To make it more challenging, have them
distinguish between capitals and lower-case letters and locate basic
words (ex: cat, mom, love).
Comprehension improvement, vocabulary development
and sequential understanding can be supported through cartoon strips.
Cut them out, mix them up, and have your summer students put them in
order. Or select five pictures from a magazine and create a story to
go along with the pictures.
Play a more advance version of “I-spy” and have
older kids find news stories about government officials, editor’s
opinions, weather reports and want ads.

Clip some examples of advertisement and see if
you and the kids are able to find the secret messages hidden in the
propaganda. Also identify the target audience. It's not as easy as you
might think.
For some practical life skills, go through coupons and have the family guess the prices of various products.
Don’t forget to get physical. Whether it be
dancing, skipping, swimming or biking, enjoy the nice weather and stay
both mentally and physically active. Your brain and all your other
muscles will benefit from these eclectic workouts this summer.