5 Reasons Why Summer School is a Great Choice for Your Child

I’m Virginia-based school assembly performer Joe Romano. For the last 30 years, I’ve traveled across the United States delivering my Ultimate School Assemblies to schools in Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, and many more. Each month I write articles like this for busy parents and school administrators.

How Summer School Has Changed Over the Years

When I was a kid, summer school was where you went if you failed a subject. To a kid, going to summer school was a badge of dishonor. It meant you failed. And while some kids do need summer school to re-learn subjects they struggled with, it’s grown far beyond that.

Summer school is now a wonderful option for students of all kinds. Kids going to summer school get to experience new subjects, nurture their interests, keep their skills sharp, and much more.

Let’s explore some of the great benefits of summer school…

Summer School Benefit #1: Preventing the Summer Slide

Ah, yes, the dreaded summer slide! If you’ve never heard of the term before, summer slide is what happens to some kids who don’t read or study at all during the summer months. Because they are not using their brains, many kids ‘backslide’ during those months. When the new school year starts in the fall, both kids and teachers pay the price.

Kids pay the price because they’ve lost valuable knowledge from the previous school year. Teachers lose valuable time because the school year must start with reviewing material covered in the previous year.

Going to summer school can prevent these problems. When kids are actively learning and reading during summer school, they remain sharp and are much more likely to retain what they learned during the school year.

Summer School Benefit #2: Exploring New Interests

During the school year, children at every grade level need to learn and absorb specific material. During summer school, there are plenty of opportunities for kids to ‘color outside the lines.’ Summer school gives children the ability to try out subjects they may find interesting. They get to expand their horizons. Doing so gives them more opportunities to expand their knowledge base and find potential career options.

Summer School Benefit #3: Easing the Transition

For kids, moving up a grade level is serious business. New teachers, new classrooms, new classmates. It’s a lot of change. Transitioning is very hard for some kids. Going to summer school can help. Kids can keep their skills sharp over the summer and maybe even get a leg up on what’s coming the following year.

And transitioning grade levels is often more complicated. Kids transitioning from elementary school to middle school, for example, often feel even more stress. Now they are moving from one building to another. Or, if they’re at a central school, they are at least picking up a new designation. Now they are in middle school! Same with going from middle school to high school.

Summer school can help these children tremendously.

Summer School Benefit #4: More Learning Opportunities

Sometimes kids want to take classes during the school year but can’t because of their schedules. Despite wanting to take these classes, there simply is not enough time in the day. Summer school changes all of this. In summer school, kids often have more time to pick and choose which opportunities they want to follow.

Best of all, having these choices gives kids a feeling of control over their lives. Instead of being told exactly what to study all day every day, they can choose for themselves. The result? More responsibility and more independence.

Summer School Benefit #5: Work Through Difficult Material

Finally, summer school is still available for kids to master skills and subjects they struggled with during the school year. Even if they did not fail the subject, some kids benefit greatly from sharpening their understanding during summer school.

They enter the new school year feeling more confident about the subject moving forward. That equals less time reviewing material from the previous year and a better understanding of newer skills added to the subject.

Get Your Entire School Fired Up for Learning!

For any child to benefit from school at any time of year, they must want to learn. Want a fun way to get your entire school excited and ready to do their best? My fun and amazing Character Education school assembly “The Magic in You” is perfect! With jaw-dropping magic, join-in fun, and valuable life lessons, this school assembly will be the program highlight of your year! Contact me today for more details.