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Is Summer Learning worth the time and money?

By on April 19, 2016
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Most parents are looking forward to the end of the school year when they are able to take a long break from homework wars and getting up early to make obento.

Summer holidays are indeed long and while children deserve a break from structured activities, the two plus months can lead to learning loss and low test scores.

Research shows that the biggest drop in test scores happen after summer vacation.

Fees to join a summer program in Japan range from reasonable to expensive depending on what program you choose for your children and where.

When you think of the myriad ways kids can benefit from a well designed summer program, its life-enhancing values far outweigh the cost. Here are just some of the reasons why summer programs deserve parents’ attention.

Many children struggle with math. With a few weeks of a suitable summer program, the grade level equivalency of children in computational skills can improve.

By succeeding at school tasks, a child gains confidence, thus increased self-esteem.

Improved language, listening and speaking skills. A child has to develop these skills to communicate successfully with the teacher and his/her peers.
A long summer vacation after a 9-month school year used to be the norm when things around us were much simpler. The modern age’s emphasis on globalization calls for giving kids an opportunity to need and interact with other children from different ethnic, linguistic background. An international summer program plays an important role in building one’s own identity as well as developing a healthy respect and understanding for school peers who are different from them. This understanding helps break the border zones and negate racial stereotyping.

Experiential Learning
One approach of a summer program is to combine the traditional focus on skill building with experiences that actually help in children’s development.

Summer learning is not just about retaining information; it is about problem-solving, analyzing and synthesizing information, generating new ideas, working in teams, learning to be with all kinds of people —all skills that help build learning in a broad way. These are important reasons why parents need to rethink the educational experience they organize that help children advance in their academic goals.

The National Reading Panel in the United States found that increasing the time children spend reading is a powerful strategy for enhancing literacy skills in fluency, vocabulary and comprehension.
Independence and self-reliance.
The satisfaction of belonging to a group makes a child appreciate summer school and develops a positive attitude toward school.
He also becomes more comfortable with being away from home and less dependent on parents.
At home a child receives
a one-on- one attention. At school, he learns that attention must be shared with others thus the child become more self- reliant.

Greater trust in adults.
Summer classes are usually smaller than a regular one thus children get more attention from teachers.

By finding out that other adults will care for her, a child learns that she can trust adults other than her parents.

This makes the world feel like a safer place adding to a child’s confidence and sense of security.

SCHOOLS OFFERING SUMMER ENRICHMENT PROGRAMS IN TOKYO 2016

 

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