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Summer learning loss is a reality. Students take a three month break from academic rigor, and then, when they return to school in the fall, their teachers have to spend several weeks reviewing prior material.
If you were an athlete, training for a marathon, and you decided to take a three month break from your training, you would lose a chunk of your progress when you resumed.
Back in the day, when many families needed their children to work on the farm in the summer, our school system designed a calendar to accommodate the situation. In 2018, most children don’t work on the farm when summer comes. They play, socialize, stare at screens, and complain about boredom. Along the way, summer learning loss is occurring. The information that they learned over the prior school year is slowly leaking out of their ears, like a helium-filled balloon purchased at a carnival that is slowly dropping from the ceiling.
But wait! There’s hope! Your children still have you! You can keep their thinking skills honed. You can infuse their days with opportunities to learn, explore, and ask questions.
In an article of mine that just appeared on the American Psychological Association’s Education website, entitled How “unschooling” can help our children avoid summer learning loss, I provide some insights about how parents can give their children practice with the kinds of thinking skills that school work requires.
Notice that I am not suggesting that you break out some old textbooks, and force your children to do math worksheets, or summarize Thoreau essays. That would be torture! Summer is summer, after all. What I am suggesting is that parents who “unschool” their children have some practices that are worth considering.
You’ve all heard of homeschooling. Parents who homeschool their children do not send their children to school, but instead teach their children at home, usually using a pre-designed curriculum that the local school district has approved. Unschooling is homeschooling taken to a more radical degree. Unschooling is homeschooling with no pre-designed curriculum. Rather than follow a curriculum, unschooling relies on the belief that children are hardwired to learn, and that they learn most effectively when their attention has been aroused by natural curiosity.
The philosophy of unschooling relies on a trust in a child’s natural ability to learn, under the guidance of trusted adults who can capitalize on moments of interest in the child’s regular life. Hence, the goal of unschooling is to provide children with as many experiences possible, in order that they will encounter new ideas and develop new questions.
Now, most of you will not be unschooling your children any time soon. However, you may want to consider this philosophy as a guide for your summer. Take your children to the park, engage with them in creative pursuits, put them in situations where they will interact with people from different walks of life. Summer can be an opportunity – not just to fight off the dangers of summer learning loss, but also to deepen your relationships with your children. As you provide experiences for your child to learn, the conversations that will arise will create memories and trust.
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This post was previously published on www.drjohnrich.com and is republished here with permission from the author.
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We celebrate Gay Pride all year long. But this year, we’re doing some special programing for a large-scale campaign #LoveEqually. We’re looking for both sponsors and contributors. Check it out! https://t.co/tkraXFPxLL pic.twitter.com/X2FlBEZb8Y
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