Publication Date: Wednesday, July 20, 2005
Avoiding the 'summer slide'
Avoiding the 'summer slide'
(July 20, 2005) Students here find balance between play and maintaining their mind during time off
by Alexandria Rocha
Emmy Ingham is no couch potato.
Although she wrapped up her sixth-grade year at Jane Lathrop Stanford Middle School more than a month ago, you won't find her slumped over and zoned out, navigating the television channels like an expert vegetable, during the summer months.
In fact, when she is bored, or simply finds herself with nothing in particular to do, she'll take a jaunt outside and run laps around her backyard. Of course, that's when she isn't browsing and reading books at the library, rollerblading (to maintain her ice skating skills), or acting at a local theater.
Like most youth in Palo Alto, Emmy has a variety of options for how to spend her summer days.
For this reason, kids here have a low risk of catching the summer "brain drain," also known as the "summer slide." It's when children who do not stay mentally active during the summer months are in danger of losing up to 25 percent of what they learned during the previous school year, according to a U.S. Department of Education study.
Because the phenomenon affects more students in low income areas, who do not have access to mentally-stimulating activities, parents here are skeptical that brain drain exists at all.
"If you're talking about particular facts, like the capital of California or who the governor is, it wouldn't surprise me if kids forget them, but in terms of analytical skills, summer is a time for those things to blossom," said Paige Parsons, who regularly brings her two young kids to the local children's library during the summer season.
Experts who know better -- various reports have proven it's alive and well -- have said affluent families shouldn't take it for granted and instead support a good balance of fun and academic activities.
In places like Palo Alto, parents are likely to take advantage of all the accessible activities, which actually gives students an academic edge when the next school year rolls around. Families here also do a lot of traveling, incorporating geography and history lessons into the trips.
"I think many of our students have very exciting and stimulating summer plans," said Barbara Lancon, the Palo Alto Unified School District's summer school coordinator.
Of course, the brain drain's flipside is having too much to do. And Palo Altans -- even the youngest -- are known for their full schedules. It seems, however, that with the recent buzz over stressed-out students, parents here are taking a different approach and giving their children more time to relax and be kids.
"I've tried to avoid over-scheduling them, so the kids have the time to be alone with their own minds -- to read what they want, not what's on the list," said Emmy's mom, Leslie Ingham, picking her daughter up from the library. "It's not freedom to do nothing. It's the freedom to do what makes them happy."
For a number of years, popular choices in Palo Alto have been reading and not surprisingly, summer school because the local school district offers a wide variety of elective-style enrichment courses, including cooking, fishing and volleyball.
It's lucky reading is a such a hot choice. Another study on brain drain, conducted by Harris Cooper, a psychology professor at the University of Missouri-Columbia, reveals that reading and math are the subjects kids may forget the most.
Students here likely read almost as much, if not more, in the summer as they do during the school year. Jill Ehrhorn, senior librarian at the city of Palo Alto's Children's Library, said parents rush in the day school lets out to gather the books on their student's reading lists.
"We rarely have any of the books after the first month. There are holds on everything," she said.
About 2,400 kids typically sign up for the library's summer reading program each season. A little under 2,000 students usually meet their goals, which they set themselves. Ehrhorn said it's difficult to tell whether the children are reading freely like Emmy, or if their parents are pushing them to keep up -- or pull ahead -- academically.
Mandy Lowell, vice president of the school district's Board of Education, said parents shouldn't sit on their laurels when it comes to math either. Although it may be a bit overboard to require kids in Palo Alto to sit down with math worksheets during the summer, Lowell suggests finding teaching tools in everyday tasks.
At the grocery store, for example, have the child add up items to calculate if the cash in mom's pocketbook is enough to make the purchase. While reading, have the student add the pages of each book they've read. Crossword puzzles also do the trick.
Leslie Ingham employs Lowell's suggestions.
"It has less to do with keeping up with individual subjects, then with just keeping your mind active," she said.
Some parents, however, like a good mix of structure and free time during the summer. Lara Stephenson, whose two sons attend Walter Hays Elementary School, brought home daily math, reading and writing review packets from her kids' teachers before the school year ended.
"We do those about a half-hour every morning. Then the rest of the day we play," Stephenson said. "We go to the library every week -- there's little drop-in things going on all the time."
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