Improve Your Child’s Learning Skills

Over the Summer

Even though the school year is winding down, as a parent you are thinking about how to improve your child’s learning skills. You know learning shouldn’t end with the end of school. Learning is something that continues throughout life. I know your children don’t want to hear that, but you know that is the reality. You have the opportunity to improve your learning skills throughout life.

My children were always excited when summer vacation started, but within a few days they were bored. I wanted to be sure that my children had fun, but also keep their learning skills up or even improve them over the summer. I found that if I set up a daily/weekly routine they actually improved their learning skills and blossomed.

There are 6 Steps to Take to Improve Your Child’s Learning Skills Over the Summer

1. Improve Learning Skills by a Trip to the Book Store or Library

   The day or day after your child gets out of school take a trip to your local library and check out a minimum of three books for each of   your children. When you check out three books they seem interested in, they will typically read at least one of them. You know as well as I do that when you bring a book home it isn’t always as good as you think it might be. So, with three to choose from you will have at least one that your child will read.

   
   

2. Improve Learning Skills by Setting Up a Daily Routine. Do this with your child’s input.

   Every morning after breakfast spend 15 minutes either reading or doing some math – get a reading & math workbook from Longs, Kmart, or Target. If they are behind in their reading skills, get workbooks that are from their current reading level, you want them to be stretched but not overwhelmed. Review the schedule once a week to be sure the schedule is working for you.

3. Improve Learning Skills with Reading Fluency Practice

   Fluency training is one of the most ignored reading skills and the easiest one for parents to do with their kids. Time involved is just 5 minutes per day, and you make great improvement even if you only do it twice a week. An easy program for this is Five Minutes to Better Reading Skills.

4. Improve Learning Skills with a Weekly Field Trip

   Good readers are people who know a bit about everything, so they have prior knowledge to connect to when they are reading. So, go on a weekly field trip, providing rich experiences for your kids. These trips can even be just a walk around the block or a trip to the grocery store, park, or mall.  
   The important thing to do after the trip is to take notes or write a summary of what you did. You can do this easily with Ten Minutes to Better Study Skills. Then, keep all of your notes or summaries in a notebook – the summer family trip notebook.

5. Improve Learning Skills by Reading a Book Together as a Family.

   Pick out funny books or mysteries and take turns reading. This can be done every night or just once or twice a week.

6. Improve Learning Skills by Playing Games With Your Child.

   Have a game day or game night once a week.

• The Sentence Zone Game (English Grammar)
• The Comprehension Zone (Reading Comprehension Game)
• The Math Zone (Math Calculation practice Game)

Improve Learning Skills with Bonnie Terry, M. Ed., BCET…

Bonnie has been teaching for over 35 years and has created numerous books, games, and guides to help students reach their full potential. She specializes in helping parents and teachers identify and address learning problems. Bonnie is know as the nation’s learning expert as well as a contributing author to numerous educational journals and magazines including the following: The Old Schoolhouse Magazine, Homeschooling Parent, Parent’s Monthly, and The LINK Newspaper, CEC Today, Education Update, and LDA-CA. Bonnie, mom to 3, was a girl scout leader for 10 years, a cub scout leader and assistant cub master for 8 years, and boy scout troop committee chairman for 5 years. https://www.bonnieterrylearning.com