Stopping the Summer Slump

Are your kids at risk of losing over two months of math skills?

It's 120 degrees here in Arizona, and we're blazing through summer vacation even faster than you think... And along the way, every one is trying to avoid summer slide. No, I'm not talking about a fancy bit of seasonal playground equipment. I'm talking about the loss of knowledge that typical students incur over their time away from the classroom.

While many students who are motivated to read over the summer break will actually improve their English skills, students typically lose over two months worth of math learning progress over summer vacation. It can take a corresponding amount of time at the start of the new school year to get back on track. Many of these statistics come from the RAND Corporation, which has studied the effects of summer learning loss, as well how summer learning programmings can reduce or reverse these effects across various demographics. Harvard University has weighed in specifically on math learning loss and this post provides some hints at activities you might consider to help retain math skills over the time away from school.

But obviously, those two months of lost math learning is something we can address right here... One of the most important skills is math fact fluency. There's a reason we practice math facts so rigorously... They are involved in nearly every math task you perform, and accurate instantaneous recall of math facts is a huge success factor in any other applied math skill your little geniuses will encounter. Keeping fact recall sharp is an easy way to stay ready for back-to-school!

If you've mastered addition and subtraction, summer can still be a great opportunity to introduce multiplication or division... Regardless of where you're at, you'll find all the practice worksheets to keep busy through the summer below!

Addition Fact Practice WorksheetsSubtraction Fact Practice WorksheetsMultiplication Fact Practice WorksheetsDivision Fact Practice Worksheets

And of course, I'd be completely skipping the fun part if I didn't mention again the awesome Math Flash game I just developed. You can choose what type of math facts you want to work on, then the game will work drill you on harder problems at each level. If you miss facts, it repeats them so you get extra practice and with Google Chrome, you can use your voice and a microphone to give those tired fingers a break...

Regardless of how you plan to turn that summer math slide into a climb up the monkey bars, I hope your vacation is filled with lots of fun!