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Report cards give families important information about how their children are doing in school especially their strengths and weaknesses. A quick look will not be sufficient to truly get the picture of children's progress in school. The cards need to be studied carefully.

• Look at every letter grade, number, and percentile.
• Check that children are performing on grade level.
• Read the teacher's comments.
• Pay close attention to information about classroom behavior.

Consider report cards a benchmark of children's progress. Don't expect every child to have straight A's; however, a slide from last year's grades is a red flag as are negative comments about behavior and skills. These red flags mean it is time to have a talk with the teacher about turning things around.

Finally, families should not chastise their children about negative grades and comments. Instead, they need to work with the children as well as teachers on ways that will lead to more positive outcomes in the future.

When should your children start thinking about colleges and the admission process? Dr. Rachelle Wolosoff, a college admissions counselor has answered this vital question on Hot Topics on our dearteacher.com website https://dearteacher.com/node/1816

PBL stands for Project Based Learning. PBL is a teaching method many school are implementing to help children acquire knowledge through active exploration of real world problems or answering a complex question. This is not a totally new method of teaching. It can trace its roots back to John Dewey who introduced the idea of learning by doing way back in the late 1800s!

Many school are including one or more PBL lessons into their curriculums, and there are some school across the country that have become totally project based schools. The PBL method is currently being used in classrooms from kindergarten through high school.

For anyone who is unfamiliar with this method, here is a brief description. A PBL unit will start with a problem or a question that must be resolved. Students then go about investigating and responding to the problem or question. They could be working in groups or individually. During this time, the teacher provides support and encouragement as needed. It is also the teacher’s job to make sure that the children stay on task. All projects have a definite time limit and a date when they will be presented.

The PBL method encourages children to use their critical thinking skills to come up with answers. They also become more independent learners because they are only getting guidance not direct instruction from the teacher.

Not everyone is on board the PBL bandwagon! Some educators feel that students could acquire the same knowledge in less time through direct classroom instruction.

If your children are unable to blend consonants, they will have trouble reading basic words. Consonant blends are typically taught in first and second grade. Consonants are all the letters in the alphabet that are not vowels ( a, e, i, o, u.) Most of the sounds in words are consonants. They are frequently blended together in clusters of two or three letters at a time. Blends can be found at the beginning, middle, and end of words. Once your children know the sound of all the letters in the alphabet, the next step is for them to learn how to blend consonants together. Then they will be able to read and spell words that previously were unknown.

You can speed up their knowledge of consonant blends by giving them additional work with s, l, r, and three letter blends. We have developed stories, worksheets, and puzzles that children will enjoy doing that will enhance their knowledge of the consonant blends. Visit the website teacherspayteachers.com and then search for Beginning Blends Bundle by Dear Teacher.

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Academic skills drop quickly when children are not receiving daily reinforcement through drills and other hands-on teacher instructions that they get in the classroom. This is always true during any school vacation. However, the problem this year is that many students have lagged behind in mastering the skills needed to move on to the next grade level. Parents should definitely go to their state's education website and download the academic standards for the grade that their children just completed. Then look closely first at the academic standards in language arts, reading, and math to make sure the children have acquired the necessary skills in these subjects before looking at the requirements in other academic areas like science and social studies.

The help that you select for your children will depend on how far behind they are in being ready for the next grade. Some children may need help from learning centers, summer school, and tutors. While others may find all the help they need from online classes. And then there are those children who just need to keep their skill levels up through reading or participating in library book clubs or just playing educational games.

Nothing is the same for students! It does not matter whether your students are attending a public school or a private school or what state you reside in. Rules are constantly changing! Masks, no masks! Covid testing or no Covid testing! Classroom or virtual learning! Administrators, teachers, parents, and students all need to be flexible as you never know what the next day might bring! One thing for sure if your students are not regularly in the classroom, their learning is probably lagging behind what they would usually be learning. Now even many students who are in the classroom are also lagging behind. This is due to teacher shortages and other staff shortages because of the Omicron variant. Parents need to think ahead now to what they can do to fast forward their children's education this summer. Begin to look soon for educational opportunities in your school districts, local colleges, and even parks and recreation programs.

Schools will soon be opening for the 2021-2022 school year, and students will actually be returning to the school buildings. There will be different protocols in place to prevent another COVID outbreak from wearing masks to social distancing to hand sanitizing. Parents you will definitely need to keep up to date with the ever changing protocols so that your children will know what is expected of them when they start school this year.

You should work with your children to establish your school year schedule soon. It is going to be quite a change of pace if they spent most of the year in a virtual classroom. And it would be a good idea to start the schedule as soon at possible to get all the bugs worked out. For example, what time will they need to get up, when and what will they eat for breakfast, will they buy or take a lunch to school and what time will they need to leave the house. Once you have decided on the schedule you need to follow it so the first morning of school is not a total disaster!

When you have your daily school routine, it is time to consider other important aspects of their school day. A master calendar for the whole family is needed so that you can establish homework, school and sports activities and lessons or tutoring times.

Almost every child has suffered some learning loss during the 2020-2021 school year. This summer is your opportunity to help them make up some of this loss as well as enjoy interacting with other children.

First, check out your local school district to see what programs that they are offering. It is highly possible in-person instruction will be available. These programs will tie in best with what your children will be expected to do in school next year.

Another source is your local parks departments, churches, colleges, YMCAs, and summer camps. Many of these programs will now incorporate some educational programming along with their recreational activities. It will be a fantastic change for your children to enjoy returning to in-person programs with their peers.

Finally, programs will fill up fast so explore your options right away.

States legislatures are busy working on proposals to try to close the learning gap that has occurred since schools closed. The proposals include such things as lengthening the regular school day, expanding afterschool programs, requiring summer school and retaining students who do not meet a certain skill level.

How your state will respond to the challenge of helping students make up this educational deficiency depends on funds that the state has available. All the states are waiting to see how much Federal funding that they are going to receive.

Another factor for the states is to choose a solution that the teachers' unions will accept. So at this point in time, no one knows exactly what is going to happen. One other idea is to provide online tutoring for those students who need to catch up to their classmates.

Of course, the process of applying to college is always stressful! The Pandemic can be blamed, however, for causing college applicants to be more stressed than usual! As always, the biggest worry is financial aid. Today's students really worry about what their level of debt will be if they don't receive sufficient financial help!

There is also a new stress factor. Students simply don't know whether they will be attending college on campus or online!

Another effect of the Pandemic is high school students' decisions about where they will attend college. Many students had to forgo their in-person campus visitation and opt instead for an online tour. As a result, many are choosing to attend schools closer to home because they are already familiar with the school. This pleases many parents as students might elect to live at home rather than on campus.

Whether or not it is the Pandemic, students' decisions about which colleges they will apply to are increasingly based on which college is the best fit for their future careers.

Everyone agrees that all students have suffered a learning loss during this COVID Pandemic. The question becomes will everyone be promoted or will some children be retained! This is a very difficult decision for teachers to make with no standardized testing and limited in-person contact with students.

What you should know is that most students are retained because of poor reading skills. Also, the depressing fact about retention is that it is rarely successful. Students simply don't get the help that they require. And ultimately, too many retained students eventually drop out before graduating from high school.

We suggest that you do the following things to avoid having your child retained:

1. Make sure the child gets an adequate amount of sleep and nutritious meals.
2. Show school officials the research on the failure of retention to help students.
3. Make sure the school investigates if your child has a learning disability that needs to be addressed.

Many student are spending a good portion of the day just sitting in front of a computer during this Pandemic. Because of the stress of online learning, children need something in order to activate their endorphins to keep them in a positive frame of mind. Many schools have stepped up and are providing online gym classes for their students. Some schools have even provided Fitbit devices for their students so that they can login their daily at home physical activities and receive gym credit for them. Unfortunately, not all schools offer gym classes to their students.

Your children really need to exercise for their well-being. If the school is not providing it, you need to ensure that they get sufficient exercise. Lucky families who live in warm climates should have their children participate in outside activities such as running, hiking, jogging, biking and so on. Families in cold climates will need to be a little more creative. The Internet, especially YouTube, offers classes in Yoga, Zumba, dance, aerobics and children's workouts. Let your children choose the age-appropriate activity that they will most enjoy.

You really should encourage your children to volunteer as it can give them so many benefits. Children can start volunteering at an early age. You might wish to introduce them to volunteering by choosing a family activity. It offers these perks:

• Helping them develop a pattern of being do-gooders.
• Giving them an opportunity to spend quality time together as a family.
• Introducing them to new interests and possible careers.
• Beefing up their college resumes.

Especially in this time of COVID-19 Pandemic, many organization are lacking volunteers. In this new virtual world, many of these opportunities are online. For example, older children can serve as tutors for younger children. They can also play game with both seniors and younger children online to break the monotony of social distancing. Your family can google volunteering opportunities in your community.

Life is definitely going to be easier for students applying to colleges. After June 2021, the SAT optional essay and individual subject tests will no longer be offered. This certainly reduces the amount of test preparation future college applicants will need to do. Every college will decide whether to consider subject test scores of students who have taken these tests.

Colleges that are interested in learning about students' strengths in individual subjects may instead rely upon AP scores. Therefore, an increased emphasis may be placed on students taking AP courses in the future.

The College Board made the decision to eliminate these tests now because of the pandemic. However, it was being considered earlier. The next change that is being worked on is the digital delivery of the SAT in the future.

Parents usually never look for a tutor unless they find that their children are having a real difficult time academically. Unfortunately, many children are now finding themselves in this situation because of online learning. And educators don't really know how much students have failed to learn because very limited standardized testing has been done.

If you believe that your children are falling behind academically, a tutor may be the answer to improving your children's academic skills. You don't have to look far or spend much money to find a tutor. Many high school and college students in your own neighborhood could tutor your children successfully. Plus, do not overlook older children in your own family.

Research has clearly shown that tutoring is the most effective way to improve academic achievement. So don't hesitate to get your children this additional support, if needed.

It is not that your children are unable to persist. Almost all children will spend endless hours on electronic devices playing games or following social media. However, when it comes to online schooling children often become frustrated or discouraged and do not persist with their lessons. It is understandable that this happens. Unfortunately, this has caused many battles in households.

Here are our suggestions about possible ways to get your children to persist longer with their online lesson.

1. Make sure that they have a comfortable spot to work on their computers. Be sure that it is tailored to their size. A first grader and a high school senior should have totally different workspaces.

2. No matter their age, children should get up and move every 20 minutes. It could be as little as standing up and stretching.

3. Have a daily schedule, post it, and be sure to follow it. It should include definite times for meals and recess.

4. Incentivize your children to do their online work by rewarding them with something they truly value. Try to avoid giving them cash or toys. Younger children will respond to stickers and older ones to picking pizza or movies.

5. Acknowledge to your children that you appreciate that online learning is difficult.

6. Help your children to develop a "Can Do" mindset.

7. Make sure that your expectations about their online schooling are realistic.

When teachers were suddenly thrust into the virtual world of teaching online, it was a shock to them! They were not prepared, and the initial platforms that teachers were using to present their online lessons just had the students as passive observers. As a result many students found it difficult to stay engaged with the lesson.

Fortunately, online learning is changing. New platforms are being developed that broaden and enrich online learning. These platforms allow the students to interact with the lesson and become active learners. No longer do virtual students have to sit and stare at a screen for hours.

At first many teachers were challenged with how to present their lessons online! Universities have now created online classes to show teachers how to present online lessons so that students become engaged and truly learn from them.

When students return to the classroom, it is entirely possible that some of their assignments will continue to be online as it broadens their educational experience.

Some children are getting short-changed because they have teachers who are not adapting well to presenting lessons online. Also many children have been assigned to classes with first-year teachers. New teachers need the support of experienced teachers to learn how to handle their students and the wide variety of learning levels within their classrooms.

What can parents do in this situation?

1. Go to your state's Department of Education website and find out what your children should be learning at their grade level.
2. If your children are not learning what they should be learning, investigate using your state's free online school. This established virtual curriculum meets state guidelines and has experienced online teachers.

Most online sessions for students doing virtual schooling are composed of work in academic subjects. Fortunately, students are still able to participate in many elective classes and extracurricular activities. Here are some of the fun things that students are doing:

1. School Clubs: like the Harry Potter Book Club
2. Rehearsing and presenting school plays
3. Participating in band, orchestra, and choir practices and concerts
4. Speech and debate contests as well as trivia contests
5. Gym time with aerobics and dance
6. Attending school assemblies
7. Participating in Student Government
8. Art classes from painting to sculpturing
9. Online lunchtime with friends
10. Creating school newspapers and yearbooks

Did you know that inference is a crucial reading skill? On both standardized tests and college admission tests, students encounter questions after reading passages that require them to infer something that was expressed by the author but the answer can't be found specifically in the printed passage. Inference involves using what you know from reading a passage to be able to make a prediction about something you don't know. For example, look at the following sentence:
Sierra is on her way to Hayden's birthday party. With no more information, the reader should be able to infer that Sierra is carrying a present.

Look what can be inferred from reading the following passage:
Mom packed our swimsuits, towels, pajamas and tooth brushes. Dad put the bag and picnic basket in the car.
Although it is not said, it can be inferred that a family is going on a trip, and it involves going swimming, eating a picnic and staying overnight.

From first grade on, inference is the skill that makes reading comprehension possible. When parents are reading with their children, ask a lot of questions to give children practice in using inference.

Your children can get additional practice using this skill by reading our 30 new Two Word Inference Tales on the teacherspayteachers.com website.

The findings are now in. It is children in grades K-2 who are suffering the greatest learning loss due to interruptions in their education. Many children in these grades are academically working several months behind where they should be. Online learning just does not work for kindergarteners. They simply can not stay focused on their on-screen lessons. As a result, many parents have stopped their kindergarten children from doing schoolwork online. Since kindergarten is not required in most states, many parents will simply enroll the children in first grade next year. Others will redshirt their children and have them start kindergarten next year.

It is also very challenging for first and second grade students to learn online. When everyone returns to school, the curriculum is going to have to majorly be adjusted so that students are able to make up the learning gap.

All students are facing challenging times during COVID-19; however, many students in special education are facing additional difficulties. Often these students are having to cancel specialized medical appointments due to concerns about being exposed to the virus. Needed visits to physical therapists, speech therapists, psychologists, psychiatrists, occupational therapists, and family physicians may no longer be possible.

Schools are having difficulties meeting the needs of their general education students during COVID-19. Time is taken away from academics for those attending school arranging for social distancing, wearing masks, hand sanitization and even daily temperature checks! Then bring back in the special education students who have sensory and anxiety issues and won't keep a mask on, fear people in masks, and are not receiving the specialized help that they are entitled to by law.

Online school is even more challenging for special education students. These students have great difficulty staying focused on tasks because of their attention and hyperactivity issues. Still schools are tying to reach their special education population by having their special education teachers work with them.

Many children are still going to school online. And professionals are always saying that children definitely need to take a brain break away from the computer screen. So many of the math activities are just worksheets. Children will never truly handle basic math skills unless they know the concepts behind them. They learn math concepts best through hands-on activities that let them handle concrete materials like blocks, beans, coins, rulers, dice, cards and so on. 

If you want your children to have fun with math, learn concepts and reinforce or acquire skills, look at our two sets of activities (PreK - 2 and 3 -5) that will:

1. Prove learning math can be fun with many games.

2. Challenge children to use their imagination and creativity.

3. Use only objects comonly found in the home.

4. Guide parents and children step-by-step through every activity.

5. Encourage parents and children to work together.

 

Socializing at a distance is definitely difficult and not much fun. If your children are now attending school, staying six feet away from the other children and talking to them through a mask is not the way children are accustomed to interacting with each other at school. However, these children are the lucky ones because they can at least see and play with their classmates even if it is in a limited way.

On the other hand, if children are in online school, parents and caregivers need to be creative in finding ways for their children to socialize with others. Here are some suggestions for different age groups:

Preschoolers and Kindergarteners:

1. Using legos or other building toys, they can build and talk to each other as they are constructing the same or different objects.
2. By sharing a screen, children can enjoy watching the same cartoon or movie together.
3. Families can practice safe distancing and share a picnic together.

Elementary School Children:

1. They can enjoy online scavenger hunts in their homes looking for the same objects and see who can find them the fastest.
2. There are a wealth of board games that older children can play online like Fornite or Minecraft.
3. They can also have fun using group chat tools.
4. Another option is to form a band and play together.

Tweens and Teens:

1. They can stream and chat together using the plug-in Netflix Party.
2. They can also teach friends dances and songs online.
3. And of course, play online games together.

Tweens and Teens

There are things that parents must know in order to ensure that their children have successful online school experiences. Here is our short list of those things:

1. How to contact your children's teachers
2. What the links are to the children's classes
3. How to find their daily assignments
4. How to find out if your children have turned in their assignments
5. How to check your children's attendance
6. How to handle any technical difficulties

It is very daunting task to be working online at home and at the same time to over see your children's online education. This is especially true if your children are in the lower elementary grades. Young children are not able to stay focused with their online teacher for hours on end without considerable supervision.

There is hope for parents in your situation. Look around for help from grandparents and neighbors. Think about sharing the responsibility for your children's education by forming small groups of 3 to 5 students. If all the parents are isolating, then the children can work together in different homes or outside in backyards or parks. Neighborhood groups are now hiring teachers to instruct their children both online and in person. In either situation, children relish the interaction with other children. This makes learning more effective and more fun.

Hopefully, you can find others to help with your children's education, and make sure that they will be ready when they return to the classroom.

Currently, things are not looking good for children to return to school soon! Unfortunately, all the education experts agree that online schooling simply is not as effective as the regular classroom. The best online programs are those where the children work directly with their teachers and classmates following a regular school schedule. This gives children a definite routine and provides structure to their days. This works well for older children; however, parents may need to sit a lot of the time with younger children to help them stay on task.

Other online programs vary greatly in the amount of time children interact with their teachers and classmates. In many children are able to do their assignments whenever they wish! It is in this situation that children tend to procrastinate. If this is the case in your family, you need to establish a structured daily routine which means a definite time allocated to completing school assignments.

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed students' decisions about whether to take the SAT or ACT admission tests. Students who have not taken these tests need to find out if the colleges where they are applying are requiring the tests this year or in the future. They also need to find out if the tests will be given where they live. If they are going to take a test, they need to know that colleges will accept both the SAT or ACT.  Students still need to choose the test that they are likely to do better on. Obviously, the higher a student can score, the better the chance of getting into more colleges, especially highly selective ones. Deciding between the SAT and ACT was easier in the past as the two tests were quite different. Now, it is not so easy. The new redesigned SAT looks a lot more like the ACT, and both are covering much of the same material.   Deciding between them cannot be resolved with a coin toss. Students need to take one or more practice tests. If they do considerably better on one test, that one should probably be their choice. If their scores are about the same on both tests, they should base their decision on the format and test content they prefer. Students can find free sample tests on both the SAT and ACT websites.

Nan ran.
Nan ran and ran.
Nan ran to Dan.

Dan ran.
Dan ran and ran.
Dan ran to Jan.

Your children are young - not yet in school or in kindergarten or first grade. They are absolutely determined to learn to read. You want to help them, but how can you teach them to read and make it fun at the same time? Dear Teacher  has the answer in our Skinny Books 1 and 2 Word Family Readers apps. Each app has 42 stories that use rhyming words that have the same ending sound but a different beginning sound.

The start of the first story is at the top of this blog. Note how easy it will be for children to read. And right away, they will learn the consonant sounds  d,j, n, r along with the very basic sight words and and to. You can get our Skinny Books Word Family apps by going to our website.

One special feature of these apps is that your children can enjoy these stories without constant help from you as they can listen to them being read whenever they wish. When they complete stories, they can have fun playing games that will reinforce the learning of the story words.

You just can’t deny it! Your children need to master math in school. It’s not just so they can get good grades, but also to prepare them for careers in just about every field – especially those in technology.

Unfortunately, many of you may have hated math in school and if you are not careful may pass this view onto your children or even give them the idea that math is an impossibly difficult subject.

Whether you are a math lover or hater, you truly need to involve your children in mathematical activities from the time they are toddlers. This is when the stage is set for an interest in math, and it’s so easy to do. Start your child down the road to mathematical logic by having them sort laundry into piles according to ownership. Give your child pots and pans and encourage them to place smaller containers inside larger ones, and they will be learning to order things. On our website (dearteacher.com) you will find loads more appropriate activities by searching for “sorting,” “ordering,” and “set counting.”

It is mindboggling how many things parents can do to use different settings in their homes to encourage an early interest in math. Blocks of different sizes and Legos™ and Dominoes let your children have fun as they are really learning mathematical concepts. Then there are all the games from "Chutes and Ladders™ to Yahtzee™ that encourage the use of numbers.
Math educators encourage the idea of parents presenting age-appropriate puzzles at the dinner table. Just go online and you will be inundated with suggestions. For rather silly riddles and puzzles, go to our website and search for “Riddles and Puzzles.”

As your children get older, find the book Secrets of Mental Math by Arthur Benjamin and Michael Shermer that will teach your children tricks that seem to magically enable them to solve many math problems in their heads.
If you bring math into your children’s lives from grocery shopping trips to allowances to distance traveled on trips, they will learn to reason and problem solve and be ready to move into today’s age of numbers.

 Parents may think that they are building their children’s confidence and motivation to learn when they praise them. This simply is not always true. Some praise can actually be damaging and turn children away from learning. Think of what the following well-intentioned messages may say to children.

• You always ace every math test.
• You’re the best student in your class.
• You didn’t study and still got an A. You are so smart.

Do these messages really support learning, or can they be counterproductive? What happens if a child does not ace the next math test, is bested by another student or stops studying because he or she thinks it is not necessary. Will the child feel like a failure because he or she is not living up to the praise that you voiced so freely? Will the child possibly disengage from learning? It all depends on the child’s viewpoint of himself or herself. Not succeeding at a task may make children who have been lavishly praised for being smart begin to think they are dumb. The children who will ultimately succeed are those who believe that they can actually become stronger academically through effort and trying different strategies to handle challenging work. When parents send messages of praise like the following, their children will be strong and able to handle the setbacks that inevitably will occur:

• We are proud of how you persist when faced with challenging work.
• You were wise to try several strategies to solve that math problem.
• We are pleased to see your focus on academics.

Thanks for coming to chat with us through the Dear Teacher blog. There is so much that we need to share to ensure that your children receive the very best education. It’s definitely a challenge today with COVID-19 pandemic.  We look forward to working with you on ways that will help your children succeed in these extraordinary times. We encourage you to visit our website for loads of helpful information about getting the best possible education for your children. You’ll find the answers to more than 1,000 questions that parents have asked us about getting their children through school successfully. Plus, there are loads of free educational activities as well as ways to build your children’s skills. There’s even a checklist that will let you easily determine your children’s reading levels. We could go on and on about what is on our Dear Teacher website so please make it a habit to visit it frequently as new material is always appearing.

You just can’t deny it! Your children need to master math in school. It’s not just so they can get good grades, but also to prepare them for careers in just about every field – especially those in technology.

Unfortunately, many of you may have hated math in school and if you are not careful may pass this view onto your children or even give them the idea that math is an impossibly difficult subject.

Whether you are a math lover or hater, you truly need to involve your children in mathematical activities from the time they are toddlers. This is when the stage is set for an interest in math, and it’s so easy to do.  Start your child down the road to mathematical logic by having them sort laundry into piles according to ownership.  Give your child pots and pans and encourage them to place smaller containers inside larger ones, and they will be learning to order things. On our website (dearteacher.com) you will find loads more appropriate activities by searching for “sorting,” “ordering,” and “set counting.”

It is mindboggling how many things parents can do to use different settings in their homes to encourage an early interest in math.  Blocks of different sizes and Legos™ and Dominoes let your children have fun as they are really learning mathematical concepts. Then there are all the games from Shutes and Ladders™ to Yahtzee™  that encourage the use of numbers.

Math educators encourage the idea of parents presenting age-appropriate puzzles at the dinner table. Just go online and parents can be inundated with suggestions. For rather silly riddles and puzzles, go to our website and search for “Riddles and Puzzles.”

As your children get older, find the book Secrets of Mental Math by Arthur Benjamin and Michael Shermer that will teach your children tricks that seem to magically enable them to solve many math problems in their heads.

If you bring math into your children’s lives from grocery shopping trips to allowances to distance traveled on trips, they will learn to reason and problem solve and be ready to move into today’s age of numbers.

Thanks for coming to chat with us through the Dear Teacher blog. There is so much that we need to share to ensure that your children receive the very best education. It’s definitely a challenge today with overcrowded classrooms, stressed teachers and absolutely no money for anything beyond the very basics. We look forward to working with you on ways that will help your children succeed in school. We also encourage you to visit our website for more information, resources and a list of our available books.

We constantly hear that students in America just aren’t very good in math when compared to students in other countries. The experts ascribe it to such things as a weak curriculum, teachers with little math training and textbooks that are all breadth and no depth. These things may or may not be true in your children’s school. Let’s talk about why your own children are doing well or poorly in math. We have one suggestion about ways to get children more engaged and enthused about math. It is rather simple – help them have fun with math. You can find some interesting math activities on our website. 
 

Believe it or not, your children may actually increase their reading skills over the long summer vacation. But it’s a different story in math. Your children’s skill level can go down by as much as two months. This is one of the main reasons that every school year begins with close to six weeks of review of what was taught the previous year. Obviously, the more math that your children do this summer, the sharper their math skills will be when they return to school. If they need some help with basic math skills, go to our website and search for that skill (addition, subtraction, multiplication, etc.)