This post is sponsored by UMIGO®
When school lets out, and visions of ice cream and beach days begin to dance in kids heads, our school (like many) sneak an extra surprise those report card envelopes– summer homework.
Gahhh!
What my kids don’t realize is that if there is anyone who ha-aates homework more than them, it is this girl right here.
But you know what I loath even more?
Dealing with the repercussions of the “summer slide”, come September (which I unfortunately learned about the hard way).
According to the US Dept of Education, students can lose as much as 25% of their learning in the summer.
For us, I’ve found that when we’ve fallen into the summer slide, we end up spending a solid month working through frustrations and meltdowns at homework time.
Not. A. Good. Time.
No, that’s an understatement.
It’s hell on earth. And truthfully, it’s my fault.
Because “We have the whoooole summer!” –until we don’t– and their brains are in full beach-bum mode.
So after this past September, I swore we would go the extra mile to make this summer different– and I’m sticking to it.
I know that what works for my kids is structure. When they know what to expect from their day, everything tends to run smoother.
So this summer, before they do anything else in the morning –Monday through Friday– summer school will be in session at our kitchen table.
They weren’t stoked about my big idea, (whaaat? summer school??) but I pointed out that unlike regular school, our summer school is way cool!
Breakfast is served right to your desk and you can show up in your pajamas!
holla!!
Ok. They didn’t share in my enthusiasm right away but after a day, they warmed up to it.
We’ve been mixing it up with a variety of reading, grammar and math worksheets– 3 a day –and they’re done usually by 8:30am (because they’re early birds by nature– YES. Even in the summer).
Then? They have the rest of the day to summer-it-up!
No muss, no fuss, no coconuts.
Right before school let out, UMIGO (pronounced you-me-go), a fun online gaming site asked us to test-drive their colorful, adventure-filled “appisodes” that use the building blocks of math to engage early elementary age kids.
The UMIGO “Appisodes” and games are aligned with Common Core Standards for first and second grade mathematics– which is exactly how Laina’s been taught and is practicing math– so were happy to add it to our summer “curriculum” and share it with you guys.
The vibrant animations and sound effects immediately drew her in.
She wasted no time and clicked on the fraction teaching– Pizza Party Music Video– because she is her mother’s daughter– and pizza is life.
The rest of the week, she looked forward to selecting a UmiGo game in the morning– which I loved because she was having F-U-N (and that makes this “summer school teacher’s” life a little easier).
Her favorites appisodes so far are “Who Woke the Mummy?” (all about shape formation) and “Nobody Rides The Soakster” (all about measurements).
More about UmiGo:
Funded in part by a US Department of Education Ready to Learn grant awarded to WTTWChicago Public Media, UMIGO kicked off the Summer of UMIGO on National Summer Learning Day, Friday, June 19, in an effort to help combat the “summer slide.”
In partnership with the National Summer Learning Association (NSLA), UMIGO will bring its narrative-based appisodes, interactive games, activities, and educational resources to more than 70 communities around the country.
You can find a location close to you by looking on the NSLA’s interactive map at SummerLearningDayMap.org.
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Tell me, are you fighting the summer slide?
What’s been working or has worked for you and your kids?
Big thank you to Umigo® for sponsoring this post
+ introducing us to this fun new educational platform!
