Looking for a summer learning boost?

For most children, the 2020-21 school year has been profoundly disruptive, with only a fraction of Pennsylvania students offered full, in-person instruction. As a homeschooling mom, I certainly don’t believe children need to be in a classroom all day in order to learn. Many parents, though, are understandably concerned that virtual schooling has led to academic learning loss for their children.

But there’s encouraging news. There are many resources, it turns out, to help your child make up for missed learning time. This bounty of available resources, though, can be overwhelming, so we’ve highlighted some of the best material to help your child catch up in any trouble areas this summer.

The first step is to diagnose problems. While there has been heated debate over whether standardized tests should be mandated this year, some type of testing can help determine where your child requires focus. National School Choice Week has compiled several diagnostic tools you can use independent of any school testing, including math and reading assessments, along with SAT diagnostic testing. This is a great place to start.

In my experience, math is the subject for which a formal curriculum is most important. Even when we take more of an “unschooling” approach, we try to maintain math placement. If you want to take advantage of the summer months to improve your child’s math comprehension, here are some curriculum options with placement tests that can help:

• Khan Academy—The only no-cost option on this list. If you create an account for your children, they can start with course challenges that help determine areas of strength and weakness. When they click on a particular grade, the course challenge option should appear.
• Teaching textbooks—This is the curriculum my family uses, largely because it has built-in video lessons. Click on the individual grade to access the placement test.
• Singapore math
• Math-U-See
• Saxon math

For other subjects, it may work better to take a relaxed approach—in part so your children can still enjoy their summer break. Interesting books, documentaries, research projects on subjects of interest, and field trips to museums and historical sites are fun ways to keep children engaged in their education. My children used to make newspapers or even film a “newscast” as a way to share what they learned with us—and they sharpened their word processing or video skills as a bonus. And don’t underestimate the value of free time for children—especially if they can unplug for a while.

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