Use It or Lose It: Preventing Learning Losses Over the Summer

School is the only time in a person's life in which children (and teachers) have several consecutive months off. When thinking of this in terms of learning, it is not ideal. Especially if your child has any learning difficulties or poor learning habits. If we think of the brain as a muscle, it needs frequent exercise and engagement. Like most muscles, if you don't work them out, they will begin to lose strength and endurance. The best athletes work out in the off season. Most successful adults are constantly challenging themselves by learning new things and expanding their knowledge.

Unfortunately, most studies show that students between the ages of 5 and 18 can lose anywhere between 20 and 40% of learning gains over the summer. Several factors contribute to these losses such as enrichment opportunities, parental support, access to information and instruction focusing on memorization rather than learning. Since we cannot change school schedules (not yet anyway) we will have to focus our attention and effort on ensuring children continue to exercise their learning muscles over the summer.

1. Daily Habits: Weather the summer, spring or winter break or even weekends, we should ensure our children build good learning habits which should include some kind of reading (e.g., magazines, manga, graphic novels, fan fiction, books, etc.), doing something that is mildly challenging (e.g., learning or practicing something that is not too easy like an instrument or strategy games) and use math in their everyday lives (e.g., cooking, using money, etc.)

2. Short and Sweet: It will be much more palatable for children to engage in any learning activities if they are shorter in duration and with choices. Reading for only 10 minutes a day has shown to limit any reading losses over long school breaks. Give children options of reading either in the morning or before bed. Have several reading options for them as well to choose from. This can also go for any summer workbooks (see recommendations below)

3. Practice What You Preach: When children begin to resist these practices, I often share that their parents should also be engaging in these activities as well as it is very good for their brain health and can prevent later cognitive decline. Think of having set times each day or night in which everyone in the family is either reading or doing something that activates their brains.

4. Know Your Child: Some children will need more practice than others based on their learning aptitude, memory and school demands. If your child already reads all the time, ensure that they are also practicing some math for math is truly a "use it or lose it" subject. Children with learning disabilities will often require more remediation but in shorter intervals so they might perform better by completing small chunks of learning tasks. If your child is already practicing reading and math over the summer, ensure they engage in social and physical tasks as well.

Logically, summer breaks don't make sense other than giving children more opportunities to play and spend time with peers in unstructured settings. Because of technology, parental fears and income inequality, many children are not benefiting from summer breaks but are instead losing many of the skills they've gained throughout the school year. Take the mentality of an elite athlete and instill that upon your child as their brain truly is the most important muscle in their body.

Great Resources

Florida Center for Reading Research Provides free reading activities for children between Kindergarten and Fifth grade on phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension

IXL Online activities in reading, math, science, social studies and Spanish. Free version allows some practice and correction while paid version allows for more resources

David Krasky is the author of Raising Future Adults, a guide for parents to raise independent, socially mature, emotionally healthy children.