It’s summer break! While you prepare for trips to the beach, you may also want to consider ways you can be preparing yourself and your kids for next semester. While teachers did a phenomenal job transitioning kids to distance learning last semester, there is still a lot of uncertainty surrounding the upcoming school year. While many districts have committed to online schooling or hybrid set ups for the first several weeks, the ever-changing nature of the COVID-19 pandemic is creating unique challenges. Parents can help ensure their kids don’t fall behind academically or struggle emotionally this upcoming semester by preparing them for next semester this summer.
Social interactions
Depending on a child’s personality and experiences, they may be craving social interaction or they might be loving the freedom of social anxiety. It’s important that you know where your child lands in this area and you help to balance their emotions. For kids who struggle with any degree of social anxiety, PTSD, autism spectrum disorder or other learning or social disorder, this time might be nice for them, but they need a new routine of socialization so they do not regress.
Students suffering from PTSD are especially susceptible to be triggered by change or isolation. While they may have struggled to adapt to learning at home, the transition back to school work after summer may be difficult. It’s important that parents watch for signs of PTSD.
One way to help prepare kids for next semester is to encourage them to spend time with friends. Now that it’s possible for people to meet while adhering to social distancing guidelines, kids can hang out. Do not let your child play video games alone all summer. They need to interact with others.
Reading
Reading during the summer months improves reading skills and allows for a healthy form of escape. Reading can help remind kids that there are other times and places outside of their own experiences. This is a reminder I think we could all benefit from.
Tutoring
If your student just barely scraped by in a certain subject, tutoring is not a bad idea. Especially in elementary school, if students don’t master a section, the following one likely won’t make sense either. This is where tutoring can be beneficial.
A professional tutor can also teach a student more effective strategies for learning and studying that are tailored to the student’s needs and personality.
Testing
During the shuffle to learning at home, many families witnessed their children struggle in unique ways. I was grateful to work with families and teachers to be able to establish new learning and studying strategies to accommodate learning needs. I was also able to conduct educational assessments while adhering to social distancing guidelines. The insight and suggestions I provided allowed families and teachers to implement optimized ways to help students learn.
Let’s get your child on track for success. By being intentional this summer, your child will be better prepared to step into next semester, regardless of how it looks. Please feel free to contact me if you are interested in speaking more about this.
