Fun Summer Learning Projects

Brain drain, or summer learning loss, is nothing new. It’s the reason behind the year-round school movement and why high performing schools send their students into summer vacation with backpacks filled with math packets, summer reading lists, and essay assignments. And it’s real!

Summer is great as a break from school, but it shouldn’t be a break from learning. So what can you do to keep your child sharp over the summer?

• Learn about birds! Set up a bird feeder with your child. Watch the feeder each day and make a bird list. Build writing skills by keeping a journal of the birds and their behavior. Encourage your child to research the birds. Think like a scientist: Does changing the seed attract different birds? Do different birds feed at different times? How does the weather affect feeding patterns?
• Turn fun day trips into learning experiences. Learn Georgia history by visiting Kennesaw Battlefield. Interested in Geology? Sweetwater Park has a park ranger guided geology hike or pan for gold in Dahlonega then visit the gold museum and learn about Georgia’s rich history. Don’t forget to visit Fernbank Museum and the Georgia Aquarium! Develop your child’s writing skills by encouraging your child to keep a journal of the trips.
• Kids lose more math skills than any other skill over the summer, so try to do some special planning to find math-related activities. Ask your child to help you bake, but double the recipe and ask for the new amounts. While at the store, your child can keep track of the total cost and calculate the change. Dining out? Ask your child what tip to leave.
• Help your child plant a small garden. Help your child think like a scientist: record how many days it took each flower to germinate. Did the different flowers take the same amount of time to germinate? Scientists have strong math skills. Record, then graph, the plant heights. Observe what insects visit the plants. Count how many of each butterflies visit each day and graph the number. Develop writing skills by keeping a daily journal of the garden as well as researching the plants and their insect visitors.
• Consider a summer academic program. Struggling kids can get a lot of different kinds of help from these programs. Summer academic programs can also enrich and accelerate learning in order to get ahead next year.
• And of course, keep lots of books around and make regular trips to the library. Milton and Alpharetta libraries schedule special summer events for kids. Sign up your family!