The COVID-19 Summer Slide: Preparing Your Child for the School Year

Nobody has a crystal ball, but there’s one thing everyone can agree on: the 2020-2021 school year is going to be quite different. Budget cuts might impact services, teachers will have a lot on their plates, schools will be adjusting how they do things to help students make up lost ground … and the list goes on.

Lola Perez of the Fort Lauderdale Huntington Learning Center says that it’s a good idea to help children prepare mentally for what is coming. “Learning loss occurred while schools were closed and remote learning went into effect, of course, but it is also important for parents to address with their children what next year could bring,” she says. Perez offers a few tips for parents to help them prepare their children for next year:

1. Read every day. It sounds simple and it is. If there’s one easy way to help your child gain some ground, it is to have him or her read every day for at least 30 minutes. Encourage your child to read books, magazines, news websites or whatever else piques your child’s interest. With research suggesting that the “COVID-19 slide” will be significantly worse than the typical loss of learning that occurs over summer break when school is out of session, keeping reading is not just a good idea, it’s critical.
2. Get comfortable with technology. Students and teachers alike were thrown into remote/online learning and the result might have felt a little haphazard. If your child struggled, it’s important to spend some time getting more comfortable with the learning platforms and tools that teachers will be using this fall. Your child will be using online technology much more going forward and should be comfortable doing so.
3. Work on independence and time management. Children who have never been very skilled at managing their time might have had a rough time during remote learning. Going forward, it’s vital that children be self-starters who are able to keep themselves on task. They must be comfortable advocating for themselves when they can’t figure things out on their own, because teachers will have a long list of priorities. Remind your child that school is his or her job. When he or she needs something or is assigned something, it’s up to your child — no one else — to ask for help and do the work.
4. Look for signs of skill gaps and address them immediately. It is very important that you monitor how students are assimilating this new learning model. Monitor any difficulties your child is having with homework. If it takes too long or if it is not completed, your child might have a skill gap that needs to be corrected immediately.

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