Have you ever learned a skill and, after leaving it unused for a while, forgotten how to do it? Almost everyone would answer yes to this question. That is what the summer slump is for students. They spend most of the year in school and then, when summer comes around, it all stops.
For them, this is a fun time off to be with friends and have the worries of school removed from their lives. But often, during this time off, they are slowly forgetting the things they spent the whole school year learning. This makes it difficult for students and teachers alike when the school year starts up again. According to Oxford Owl, the summer slump forces teachers to have to review lessons during the first several weeks back to school rather than beginning the new curriculum.
The COVID-19 outbreak caused many schools to close or switch to remote learning methods. This extension of summer and change in the learning environment makes combatting the Summer Slump from home even more important. What is traditionally a six week break has turned into months. Not to mention, many students have found remote learning to be more difficult and makes it harder for teachers to provide their usual educational support.
Brookings published an article that explains the summer slump and how COVID-19 presents a unique circumstance that may result in the COVID-19 slump. An estimated 45.1 million students, between Kindergarten and 12th grade, were out of school due to the pandemic. This has caused the “summer slump” length to extend while also adding a level of stress to students and parents that can further impact academic performance negatively.
As parents, there are ways to address the summer and COVID-19 slump and stop your child from losing the knowledge they gained from the previous school year. There are educational camps and at home curriculum lessons that can keep your child active during the off months.
According to the American Educational Research Association, students experience greater losses in math than reading during the summer months. Based on this, STEM Sports® believes it is critical to keep students active and learning during this fast-changing pandemic. STEM Sports® is offering free sample lessons of our curricula that you can implement with your child at home. We offer STEM Baseball, STEM Basketball, STEM Football, STEM Golf, STEM Soccer, STEM Softball, and STEM Volleyball. This wide variety of sport offerings makes it easy for you, as parents, to find a sample that caters to your child’s interests.
Success in STEM is largely dependent on exposure, consistency of that exposure and confidence. With an increased amount of time at home, this is a great opportunity to give your child the tools they need to improve their STEM literacy and enter into the school year more prepared to succeed.
Along with STEM Sports®, there are other companies offering lessons for children of all ages to keep them engaged academically during this difficult time as well as throughout the Summer.
Some additional resources are:
Avoid the Summer slump and set your child up for academic success by using STEM Sports® curricula and other resources at home today!
