One of the biggest problems with the traditional school year is the long summer break. During that break, many students do not continue to make academic progress. The three places that students fail to continue their forward progress are math, reading, and spelling. Some students lose as much as two months worth of knowledge in the three month summer break. Upon returning to the regular classroom, the first weeks and months of school are spent regaining and reviewing the knowledge that the students lost over the summer. By then, the school year is in full swing, and the push is on to complete a years worth of learning in the remaining time until the next summer break. Does this seem like a crazy cycle to you?

It certainly does to me!

The first year we home schooled we started second grade in January. My child was so hungry for knowledge, we finished second grade by June. And I was so proud of us, and what we had accomplished, that basically took the summer off. When we started back to home school in the fall, just like public school students, my daughter had “forgotten” stuff that I know she had learned. It was so frustrating, that I took a look at the way we did things, and we started year round school. We had shorter, but more frequent breaks all year long. Because it is so hot and humid in the summers where I live, I decided that we would continue working on school during the summer, and take breaks in the spring and fall, when the weather was more agreeable. And that is how we have done school for the four years that we have been home schooling.

For parents with children in traditional schools, or who home school, but adhere to the traditional school calendar, have no fear, there are ways to help your students retain the knowledge they have gained. Skills that are leaned by repetition, such as math and spelling , are the ones that are first lost, and easiest to maintain. Parents can use summer bridgework books, or other workbooks for math, but students will see that as work, and they are supposed to be off for the summer, right? Well, there is a way to get them to continue reviews, and not make it seem like school.

What am I talking about? GAMES! Kids love computer games. Here is an example, Unscramble is a game where their spelling words are given to the child in mixed up order, the child then has to pull letters, and rearrange them to form the spelling words. Random math games are another way to help your child stay in practice with multiplication tables, and other math facts that are learned by repetition. Math and spelling words games are two places that you can really find grade level appropriate computer games. Some places even let you make your own spelling lists so it is possible to tie the games directly to the summer reading list. Don’t forget that reading is another place where students need to stay in practice. Most local libraries have summer reading lists that are level appropriate. Then take vocabulary and spelling words from those books, place them in spelling games like Unscramble. As a parent you are helping your child stay up on their skills, yet you are not making them do drudgery repetition. These are just a few ways to beat the summer learning loss.

Words, words, words. Whether it is spelling words, or vocabulary words, increasing your child’s usable vocabulary is very important in fifth grade, and into middle school. There are lists in many books and workbooks that will help your child learn to spell better. Additionally, there are many resources online where you can find spelling and vocabulary lists. Recently, I mentioned math vocabulary. For fifth graders and students in middle school, learning math vocabulary will make it easier for them to understand the explanations of their increasingly more complex math. Some of the online sources also allow you to import your own lists, as well as view lists of spelling words imported by other parents and students. The more words you can expose your child to the better chance they have of becoming a good speller, and a fluent reader. It is important that you don‘t consider time spent on vocabulary or spelling words to be unproductive time. Consider that middle school is a time when your child will be building the vocabulary that he will be using for high school classes and college entrance test exams. Being able to spell many words, and being able to recognize and define many words will serve him well as he starts reading more difficult books, and as you ask him to write longer and more complex papers. You might also find that increasing the sheer number of words floating around in your child’s head increases and improves their spoken vocabulary as well. Be willing to help with pronunciation if necessary. One other way to increase your child’s vocabulary is to read to them. You might think that they are too old for this in middle school, but reading to them does several things. It allows them to be unplugged for a while, it builds memories, and it gives them something to talk to you about. I know that my child still asks to be read to, and on a regular basis she will stop me and ask to see a word that she hears read. Words, vocabulary, spelling…memories, and topics for discussions, can your child learn too many words?

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I know I have mentioned before that my oldest daughter applied to go to Cyber Academy which is part of our public school system.  Well we are awaiting for the call to say she has been accepted.  In the meantime she has decided to start a blog about this whole experience of going to school.  Writing has not been her strong suit and I am partly to blame.  When it came time for a writing assignment her brain would shut down and I would cave in and let her skip it.  My bad!  In preparation for the blog and just to simply help her with school she will be staying with the homeschool writing curriculum.  She has already improved so much.  She is such a go-getter I know she will succeed in this new endeavor!

I have mentioned before my 12 year old daughter maybe going to a cyber academy next year.  We went to turn in her application and she was informed you will take a placement test and need to write an essay.  Her eyes were big as saucers!  The word test and essay in the same sentence made her “freak out!”  It took some smooth talking to calm the nerves. 

She reads like crazy!  She walks around the house reading…like she is going to miss something if she puts the book down.  Rick Riordan seems to be her favorite author at this time in her life.  All the Greek words did throw her off some, but has helped her build her vocabulary.  We have had long dinner conversations about the Greek Gods.  I know more than I ever think I need to know about the them matter of fact.  So I got to thinking.  Why not have her practice essay writing on a subject she is comfortable with.  So the assignment is what is your favorite Greek God or Goddess.  I sure hope this help builds her confidence and lightens her anxiety of writing an essay.

We all want a homeschool curriculum that helps our children learn. Each homeschooling family defines educational success in its own way. Most would say teaching to their child’s learning style is key. For my family, an excellent educational foundation in reading, writing,  and arithmetic is essential.

There are the visual learners (pictures, what they see), the auditory (listening, talking) learners, and the kinesthetic (physical, hands on) learners. Most of our kids don’t learn solely via one learning style. Many learn from a combination of two, or maybe even all three learning styles. Homeschool curriculum is expensive and most of us don’t have a ton of money to spend on it; buying a homeschool program like a “school in a box” curriculum for a certain grade level and finding out it doesn’t work is a major disappointment and a huge financial loss.

Interactive homeschool curriculum is one that many kids take to quickly, and it has elements in it that teach to all three learning styles; it fits in with the interactive games today’s kids play and is part of learning in the 21st century. My son, David, has benefited greatly from an online homeschool curriculum; it brought the visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learning methods under one umbrella which is perfect for him, since he learns all three ways.

Even better, you can usually get a trial period for these curricula; if it doesn’t work out for your child, you’re under no obligation. That’s good news during these economic times.