877 914 4366
Make This the Summer That Changed Everything For Your Child
Rather than fight your child over reading this summer, do something about it. Our program is 30 minutes a day, it can be done anywhere at any time and it tackles the underlying skill gaps holding your child back.
If your child had a tough school year, chances are you did too. Struggling in class, frustration with reading, too much time over homework – all exhausting for your child and often for the whole family. The school year is exhausting. We get that. It can be too busy to take on extra programs like ours.
Actually, for many families, summer is no better, as battles over reading turn into very little reading being done, and your child loses ground.
However, summer is a chance to turn lemons into lemonade. Instead of battling your child over reading, you can redirect them to our summer reading program, which has a computer-game feel, by the way. Our goal is to accelerate your child’s rate of learning and/or make reading easier. This not only impacts the school experience, but also boosts confidence, self-esteem, and a general sense of well-being – for the next school year and for a lifetime.
There are no guarantees, but the rewards can be profound – for your child and for those who worry about her.
Summer Is Ideal For Gemm Learning
During summer, your child has no homework, isn’t exhausted by the school day, and has the time.
Plus, our program is summer-friendly. It’s only 30 minutes a day online with a computer game feel – and if need be, it can be broken into smaller segments to fit in. It works at home, on vacation, anywhere at any time.
Not surprisingly, summer is our busiest time, as many families take advantage of their child’s break from school. Yes, it does cut into summer fun, but it has the profound potential of making the next school year fun and making learning less frustrating. At the very least, our summer reading program will help prevent the dreaded “summer slide.”
Summer Slide Stats
The summer reading slide is real. Studies show that for the 60-70% of children who don’t love reading (and so don’t do much of it over summer), it takes them until the end of October to get back to where they were in June. That’s almost a third of a year lost, every year.
Meanwhile, the 30-40% who love reading read regularly over summer. Typically they pick up in September at or above where they left off. It’s this summer progress gap between good and struggling readers that explains why special education effectiveness stats overall are so disappointing.
Summer Ideas for Persuadable Readers
If your child is a reluctant reader, but not resistant, it could well be that there is an underlying cognitive skill gap holding reading back – more on the common reading problems here. In which case, our reading help would most likely be beneficial.
However, it’s also possible your child just needs more time and practice to make reading more automatic. If it’s automatic, it’s easier and therefore more enjoyable. And so a virtuous cycle starts – reading is easy, I enjoy it and want to read more, and so I become a better and better reader.
Whatever you do, if she is willing, it’s important to keep your child reading over summer. Here are some ideas:
- Choose just right books. Choose books that aren’t so hard they’re defeating, and not so easy they’re boring. Use the free Accelerated Reader Bookfinder service to check the grade-level difficulty of the book. Just-right books are in the so-called zone of proximal development.
- Look for a library reading club that uses Accelerated Reader. This program quizzes children after they have read a book and gives them points based on the book’s length and difficulty.
- Try non-fiction – here are some ideas.
- Try fun activities that include reading, like cooking with a written recipe or a scavenger hunt.
Invest time in book selection. The summer will go much better if your child is reading just-right books on subjects he cares about. If summer goes well and you are not pestering your child to read, there shouldn’t be a summer reading slide.
Summer Reading Program For Resistant Readers
If your child is resisting reading, you need a different approach.
Don’t fight your child over reading this summer. It’s important that your child doesn’t develop a negative emotional connection to reading. The long-term goal is a lifelong love of reading.
Remember, your child generally wants to please and seeks your approval. And so if there is resistance, there are most likely good reasons. Your child resists because reading is difficult and/or humiliating. Even silent reading reminds your child that something her peers seem to do easily is hard for her. Resistance is avoidance behavior, self-preservation.
If your child shuts down at the thought of reading, the chances of getting him to put in the extra effort required to get over the learning-to-read hurdle become even more remote. Meaning more frustration ahead.
If this is your situation, a reading standoff, then you need a different plan. There’s more than a summer reading slide at stake. Your child is stuck and needs a change agent.
Consider our summer reading program, an online reading curriculum for struggling readers that can close the cognitive skill gaps that impede reading.
Tackling the Underlying Reading Skill Gaps
Our Fast ForWord reading program is a series of age-appropriate reading programs that works on spelling, vocabulary, decoding and reading comprehension. It’s 30 minutes a day, or two 15-minute segments. It’s adaptive, meaning your child will work mainly on their unique skill gaps.
All you need this summer is an iPad or laptop and an Internet connection. Our program managers monitor progress each and every day. We check in regularly and when we see a problem. We have a move-mountains mindset to help change your child’s learning trajectory.
If this is your child, call 877-914-9366 and ask one of our consultants about your options.
Copyright: chris_elwell / 123RF Stock Photo
