I always get asked, “Do you have any tips for summer learning?” And, “Do you still tutor over the summer holidays?” My answer is always yes to both of those questions. Some weeks are a bit slower than others, I do take a bit of time off but most families do like me to keep going with sessions over the summer. Sounds a bit mean, doesn’t it? Tutoring over the summer…but honestly, it is a positive thing to do over the summer months. And not only because my students have the world’s best tutoring! *insert wink emoji here!* Whether your child is sitting the transfer test or not this November, I am going to share some summer teaching tips and tricks to help your child’s brain tick over until back to school starts!
How is your summer going so far? Did your child get started into those transfer test revision packs straight away or did they have a wee break at the beginning of summer? If you have whizzed through most of your child’s transfer test work already, I’ve got some more resources that are perfect to help with your child’s transfer test revision! Check out my new and improved Level 1 Practice Papers! Each practice paper comes with a virtual teaching guide where I go over each question one by one! You can watch the videos yourself before going over the papers with your child or watch them together!
Why is it important to keep revising over the summer?
Summer is such an exciting time when you are in school. Two whole months off! Well, that just seems like a lifetime when you are that age. I always loved that first week off where I got to watch as much TV as I wanted during the day and stay up a bit later before the summer schemes started! Supermarket Sweep and Fear Factor were my top two summer TV shows! So of course I am going to recommend a lot of relaxation time, day trips, summer schemes and holiday time over the summer months.
If your child is in Primary 5, 6 or 7, it is a good idea to keep up with some schoolwork over the summer. I’m not talking about an intense summer camp where they go through the whole Key Stage 2 curriculum. But doing a couple of hours a week going over specific topics will make starting school in September even easier and they can go into the new school year with confidence!
If your child is sitting the transfer test, starting back to school in September is probably not going to be easy in the first few days or weeks. Chances are they will get right back into practice papers and homework from the get-go. If they have not done a thing school-wise, all summer this will be a huge shock to the system! But if they have been doing a bit of studying over July and August, this should not be as daunting as they have been building on their skills and knowledge during the summer break.
7 tips for summer learning: How to enhance your child’s learning over the summer
I have put together a list of my top 7 tips for summer learning. My list is nice, relaxing, easy tips for summer learning with activities that will keep your child’s brain learning but not cause them to moan and complain…well they might still complain at you but let’s hope not!
Check over that school report!
Do you remember the days of bringing your school report home? Were you one of those kids who tried to hide it in their school bag as long as you could? Did you take a sneaky peek to see what it said before giving it to your parents? Or were you gleaming with pride as you handed over your perfect, glowing report? My report said the same thing every single year…”Kerry-Louise (yup I got the full title) is an excellent pupil. However, she does love to talk. She can talk too much…”
Among all those comments about how amazing your child is or…how much they talk…your child’s teacher will have put a few topics or concepts in it that your child needs to go over or practice. This is the perfect thing to use to base your child’s summer studying on. Using a couple of hours during the summer to help your child understand any topics that they find tricky is a great idea! They will enter the new school year feeling confident and ready to take on lots of new maths and English topics!
Keep reading
Whether your child is sitting the transfer test or not, my top tip for over the summer is to keep reading! Reading is an essential skill that your child will carry with them forever! And it is one of my easy tips for summer learning. They will learn new vocabulary, and communication skills and it will help their attention spans as well. Reading is also a great way to relax before bedtime. I don’t know about you but whenever I read in bed at night, my eyes begin to close before I even finish one chapter!
Getting into a good reading routine before bed will help your child to relax and unwind resulting in a better night’s sleep. Reading at home will give your child the confidence to read aloud in the classroom. Instead of dreading their teacher asking them to read a section of the class novel, they will feel confident and will read aloud with pride.
Create revision cards
If you identify an area that your child struggles with or that your child tells you areas that they would like to practise, a great idea for over the summer holidays is to make revision cards or posters. Sit at your kitchen table, and write down some notes on the topics that your child finds tricky and your child will be learning while they are creating. And guess what? They won’t even realise that they are learning during this time because they are relaxed and having fun. This is the time when your child can get creative and even draw pictures to help them learn! So grab some coloured cards, glitter, felt tip pens and glue and get creating!
Tutoring
If your child has a tutor, it is good to keep their tutoring sessions going over the summer. It is good for keeping your child in a good routine and their wee brains ticking over until September. Yes, taking a break for holidays and day trips is good for everyone. Summer doesn’t have to be a revision boot camp. However, sticking with one tutoring session per week is perfectly fine. My students still love me coming for sessions over the summer. Hopefully, your child won’t think of their tutoring sessions as a chore. So keeping up with tutoring sessions is one of my recommendations and tips for summer learning!
Go out in nature
This is one of my favourite tips for enhancing your child’s learning over the summer. Getting out in nature. A trip to the park, a day at the beach (even in the rain!), go for a walk in nature or head to the mountains! Getting out in nature is a great way to distress, and relax and is the perfect tool for mindfulness. There are so many fun outdoor summer learning activities that you can do with your family to help enhance their maths and English skills, without even realising you are doing it! Your child will be investigating the outdoors, learning problem-solving skills and exploring the world around them. Not to mention, they will be exercising and keeping themselves fit and healthy in the process.
Times Tables
If I had to name one topic that is essential to keep studying over the summer months, it would be times tables. If your child can accurately and quickly recall the times tables and division facts, this will positively impact their maths skills throughout the different maths topics. For example, times tables are essential for word problems, fractions, percentages and even telling the time! Times tables are a skill that your child can take to the bank! (Yup that’s right, they are perfect for money word problems and calculations too!) Times tables are one of those things that if you don’t use them, you lose them! Before I started tutoring every day, it would have taken me ages to recall my times tables facts. So keeping them fresh over the summer is essential for your child’s mental maths skills.
Summer journal
Do you remember how hard it used to be to write after the summer holidays? Holding a pen in September after two months off was such a struggle! Do you remember that feeling? Well, keeping a summer journal is a great way to keep your child’s writing skills in tip-top shape! Writing a summer journal will encourage your child to be creative and write whatever they want to and in whatever style they want to. It will allow them to explore writing and develop their creative writing skills.
Some great topics that you can encourage your child to write about are any summer holidays that they go on, any day trips you take, summer schemes or even play dates with their friends! Even if your child doesn’t enjoy writing, you will find that they might develop a love for writing, if they are writing about things they find fun! They will be able to explore learning summer holidays by talking about what they have been getting up to with their family and friends!
More Information on Enhancing Your Child’s Learning this Summer
Five ways to boost your child’s learning over the summer
Keep your child learning over summer
8 Fun Ways to Maintain Studying During the Summer Holidays
4 Ways to Keep Your Child Learning All Summer Long
I hope you find the ways that I recommend to enhance your child’s learning over the summer months helpful. If your child is sitting the transfer test, don’t forget to grab a copy of my brand new book, “A Complete Guide on How to Prepare and Empower your Child for the SEAG Transfer Test,” where I have a lot more tips for using this summer to prepare your child for the transfer test. If your child is not sitting the transfer test, I still recommend that you follow these tips for summer learning to help them become happy, confident learners!
