My daughter is in first grade and comes from a long line of late readers, so I tried not to worry about her low reading test scores at the end of the year. Still, I agreed she could use some extra practice, and at the end of the school year, I looked her teacher directly in the eye and promised I’d do what I could to help improve her reading skills over the summer.
A few minutes later, I waved goodbye to my sixth grader’s teacher, thanking her for helping him gain better confidence in math.
“I’ll drill his multiplication and division facts all summer,” I assured her.
And I had every intention of doing so.
But the summer went by quickly, and my intentions flushed down a metaphorical toilet.
In summers past, I made my children practice their core skills
Every summer, I create a daily checklist for my children to accomplish before they can earn an hour of screen time.
The list includes 15 minutes of reading, moving their body, spending time outdoors, completing chores, practicing an instrument and a foreign language, and learning grade-appropriate math facts.
Because I firmly stuck to this list in the past, it didn’t feel like an empty promise to their teachers to promise we’d work on these skills again this summer.
And yet, somehow, the list didn’t take priority.
Courtesy Kris Ann Valdez
We spent our summer engaged in out-of-the-box learning instead
Although I didn’t make my daughter practice reading with me for 15 minutes a day, our summer still revolved around reading. I read to her, she listened to audiobooks, and her older brother inspired her with his countless hours spent curled up with a book.
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We also participated in three reading programs from local bookstores and the library, and checked out a huge stack of nonfiction books to learn about American history before we took an East Coast trip to Washington, D.C., and Philly. We studied everyone from Frederick Douglass to Lady Bird Johnson.
As for the math facts, I admit my son didn’t get much practice. But I did help him open a savings account at the local credit union and taught him about money management and trading stocks.
Courtesy Kris Ann Valdez
I know my children were grateful for the break, and so was I
Instead of prioritizing their precious hour of screen time, I noticed a shift in my kids to be creative and active. When they asked for screen time, it felt easier to offer that downtime without making them “earn it.” And instead of wandering off to watch shows or play Switch games, they wanted to watch movies together as a family. We watched classics all summer — mostly ’90s movies I loved as a kid.
While part of me feels guilty that we didn’t work on the core skills as intended, I probably wouldn’t do things differently even if we could somehow do the summer over again. My daughter made significant advances in vocabulary from all of her audiobooks, now using words like “quivering” in sentences. My son attacked two full book series and read other one-offs, as well. And they both have a stronger foundation of American history.
We also visited trampoline parks, learned to play Settlers of Catan, and spent quality time together just being present. It was relaxing and enjoyable.
Sure, maybe we should’ve prioritized 15 minutes of core practice a day, but I have a sneaking suspicion I’m not the only parent in this boat.