At some point in their school careers, most parents are faced with a teacher’s
strike. It’s essential that you use this time to help your kids
catch up with their academics. You see, most courses are foundational
which means that each year builds on the skills and information taught
in previous years. Teachers don’t have time to go back and reteach
work from previous grades, so your child may fall behind. Use the time
a teacher’s strike affords to not only catch up, but move ahead
of the class.
During the summer vacation, studies have shown that kids can lose about
two months of grade level equivalency in math and reading ability. That
means that when they aren’t exercising their brains, they begin
to roll back the gains they have made over the previous semester in a
phenomenon known as the summer slide. The same thing happens when they
are off school during a teacher’s strike, but there is much you
can do to keep young minds sharp.
Revise: Set aside two hours every day to review the past year’s curriculum.
When you work one-on-one with your child, you will be surprised at just
how much ground you can cover.
Reading right: Get your kids to take this opportunity to catch up on any of the books
their busy schedules have not given them the opportunity to read from
their reading list. They can read ahead too so that when school resumes,
they have more time for other academic tasks.
Trips to the library should also be part of your schedule so that students
can find books they enjoy reading. Fostering a love of literature is a
truly wonderful gift as students who read well have a distinct advantage.
Be liberal here with their choices; whether it’s a comic book or
magazine, it should be reading for fun.
Get a one-on-one tutor: Use this valuable time to help your student to go back and fill in any
missing building blocks in their knowledge. Be sure to select an in-home
tutor who also teaches executive skills; those study, organizational and
time management skills that create independent learners.
Tutors should also test your children to see which learning styles they
prefer and show them how to convert information into a style that makes
it easy for them to understand and absorb information.
Field Trips: Consult your local museums, art galleries, conservation centers, learning
centers, libraries and community halls for upcoming events. There are
usually afternoon activities that are educational and fun that your kids
can participate in. These learning experiences not only add to their body
of knowledge, they also help them to socialize outside of their school circles.
Get moving: Exercise is essential to the healthy functioning of body and brain so
utilize this extra time to get your kids playing sport, hiking, swimming
and spending some quality time with nature.
