Summer Slide is the tendency for students to lose some of the achievement gains they made during the previous school year. Think of it like a muscle: if kids stop exercising their “academic muscles” for two months, those skills can get a little rusty.

The Fast Facts of Summer Slide:

• The Impact: On average, students can lose about two months of reading and math skills over the summer.

• The Cumulative Effect: These small losses can add up year after year, making the first few weeks of a new grade much harder than they need to be.

• The Good News: It doesn’t take much to stop the slide! Just a little bit of consistent engagement keeps their brains sharp

3 Simple Ways to Keep Skills Fresh:

1. The 20-Minute Rule: Encourage your child to read for just 20 minutes a day. Whether it’s graphic novels, mysteries, or sports blogs - it all counts!

2. Real-World Math: Turn grocery shopping or cooking into a math game. Have them help with measurements, calculate discounts, or estimate a total bill.

3. Explore Together: Visit a museum, a local library, or even a park. Curiosity is the best antidote to academic rust. Pick up a postcard from where you visiting and let them write to a family member or friend, or save for their memory book, to add in that extra time of writing and thinking about what they experienced.

The Goal: Summer should be about rest and fun, but a little “brain play” goes a long way in ensuring your child walks back into school in August feeling confident and ready to soar!

If you are looking for a more structured system, Wit and Whimsy is here to help.

See our Summer Soar Lab offering a customized 9 week curriculum that takes less than an hour a day to let them soar this summer.