Use this Summer Holiday to Get Ahead of the Curriculum

The summer is a great time for students to take a rest from their busy schedules. And while this is good for them, their lack of learning over the summer leads to a phenomenon known as summer learning loss. The National Summer Learning Association at Johns Hopkins University in America found that students lose as much as two months of reading and maths ability they gained from the previous term over the summer holidays.

Not only do students lose skills over the summer, they also waste four to six weeks at the beginning of the new term trying to catch up. If your student utilises just a couple of hours a week to brush up on their maths and reading abilities, they will not only retain the academic gains they made over the previous term, they will also be able to move ahead. This is especially helpful for those students who are struggling to keep up.

Learning can be Fun

You don’t have to do serious schoolwork to keep their brains sharp over the summer. Get your student to read books they actually enjoy. Buy books, order them online or borrow them from the library. Encourage reading, no matter what form that takes. If your student is more interested in manga, anime, comics and magazines, that can be a good source of practice too.

You can also practice other kinds of reading like recipes or instructions for DIY projects or manuals for new equipment in the home.

Work with a tutor

This is a wonderful way to help your child to keep their brain working over the summer, but it can really help those who are struggling to fill in the missing building blocks. Students who want to go up a grade or improve their marks to get into college / university can also utilise this time to expand their knowledge.

At Tutor Doctor we can come to your home, at a time that is convenient to you, and help your child to learn in a fun and interesting way. Tutors should not only help with the curriculum work, but should also develop your child’s executive skills.

These are skills like organization, time management, task initiation and the ability to focus that will be invaluable in their academic careers. This will help them to be independent learners for life.

When student’s grades improve, their confidence does too and this means they are more likely to pay attention in class and participate in the classroom experience. They are more likely to try new things and allow their natural curiosity to find new ways for them to learn.