Beware of the Summer Slide!

Many children forget some of what they've learned during the summer months. Studies show that “On average, students lose approximately 2.6 months of learning in math over the summer.” [Harvard Graduate School of Education].

“Reading activities are often part of the fabric of a family’s daily life,” says Joanna Christodoulou, an HGSE faculty member and an assistant professor at the MGH Institute of Health Professions. “But if you try to imagine a bedtime math routine, as you might for reading, the idea of winding down by completing math equations doesn’t elicit the same interest. The issue isn’t that engaging math activities are not available outside of school, but rather that it is easy to overlook the presence of math in everyday activities, like measurement in cooking, calculation when dealing with money, or distance while driving.”