5 Ways to Avoid the Summer Slide

The summer slide is the backslide many children experience each summer. With over two months without classes, kids begin to forget what they learned during the preceding academic year. It’s called the ‘summer slide’ because the lack of education leads to children’s knowledge base sliding backward.

How the Summer Slide Affects Your Brain

If you understand our physiology, this makes complete sense. What happens when you do not exercise? Your muscles get smaller. Your muscles get weaker. You can’t lift as much or run as fast. But many people forget that their brains are muscles too.

If you don’t use your brain, like any muscle, you’re not as ‘sharp.’ The old phrase “use it or lose it” has never been truer! And kids experience this ‘brain atrophy’ more than adults because their daily schedules change so much in the summer.

Unlike most employed adults (excluding schoolteachers and educators) who have a consistent schedule, kids often find themselves without much to do over the summer. Because the grownups in their lives have to keep working, kids often must fend for themselves for entertainment during the summer. Many kids don’t consider doing “unnecessary” studying during the summer months, leading to the ‘summer slide.’

How to Avoid the Summer Slide

The obvious solution to combating this problem is to keep kids’ minds active over the summer. While kids do deserve a break from intense studying over the summer, keeping the gray matter firing is key to avoiding this problem.

Fortunately, summer slide facts show the remedy is surprisingly simple. And it doesn’t take long, either. What is the solution? Simple. Get your children to read. That’s it. Reading every day will help reduce the effects of the summer slide.

Many experts claim that as little as 15 minutes a day of reading is all your kids need. But there’s a catch: surfing the internet on their phones or tablets doesn’t count. The best way to read is with real, honest-to-goodness books, whether real or on an e-reader.

Make Summer Reading Fun

If your kids aren’t used to any kind of structured learning during the summer months, you may encounter a bit of, uh, resistance. So, what does every good parent or teacher do? Make it fun! Turning summer reading into something kids look forward to is easier than you think.

 Here are a few ideas to turn what might feel like a chore to some kids into something fun they look forward to.

 1. Create a Summer Reading Reward System

Most parents understand the need to limit kids’ screen time. (Yes, you’re reading this article on a screen, but this isn’t mindless drivel like so much of the internet.) Most kids don’t want to give up their screen time.

Turn screen time into a reward for reading books. Allow a certain amount of screen time for every hour of reading. Because the children have to earn screen time, they’ll spend more time earning it than doing it. Double win!

2. Visit Your Local Library

If you feel comfortable going into public during this time of ongoing social distancing, your local library can be a wondrous place of magic, mystery, and fun! After traveling to schools in Virginia, Washington DC, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and now South Carolina, I have found that libraries have evolved far past what I experienced as a kid.

When I was little, libraries were a place to get books. Period. I loved to read, so going to the library was always a special treat. But libraries are so much more! They are local epicenters of what’s going on in your neighborhood.

Libraries have meeting rooms where chess clubs, LEGO groups, and other fun activities take place. And libraries are also host to the Summer Reading Program!

3. Join Your Local Library’s Summer Reading Program

Each year, libraries in the United States have a special summer-long program to encourage kids of all ages to read. Each year, the theme changes. Themes are set by the Collaborative Summer Reading Program or CSLP. One year the summer theme was sports. The following year, music.

Most libraries have contests complete with points systems, prizes, and all kinds of fun things. And many libraries bring in fun reading-themed shows. These programs highlight that year’s theme and fill kids in on some of the best books that fit these themes. It’s a great way to get your children involved with something fun that’s free and spurs their imagination.

 4. Start a Neighborhood Summer Reading Group

The reading fun doesn’t have to stop at the library! If you’re friendly with the other parents in your neighborhood, you can easily organize a simple Neighborhood Reading Contest. Award prizes for who reads the most pages in the summer. You’ll want to set reasonable goals based on kids' ages.

A first-grader should have different reading milestones than a fifth-grader. If your neighborhood is made up of kids in different grades, you’ll need to set age=appropriate goals. At the end of the summer, plan a fun reading reward party!

5. Make Summer Reading a Family Affair

My final suggestion for motivating your kids to read? Grab a book for yourself. The national statistics on how many adults never read another book after they finish school is alarming. Reading doesn’t just stimulate kids’ brains. It’s good for you too!

Reading doesn’t have to be a solitary exercise either. If you and your children like to do certain things together, you can each get books on that topic. If you play sports, get books on the history of that sport. Want to teach your kids life skills? Start cooking in the kitchen together. Learning new cooking techniques teaches self-sufficiency and encourages more reading.

Make Reading Magical

I love reading so much that I’ve even started a course to teach magic to kids. They’ll read instructions on how to do the magic, but they also learn valuable character education lessons at the same time. It’s an incredible course that combines the joy of reading with magic. Best of all, classes are available either virtually or live!

Click HERE for more information on my Discover Magic program.