How to Get Your Kids to Do Summer Schoolwork

According to the National Summer Learning Association kids can lose up to 2 months grade equivalence over the summer in both math and reading. So how do we, as parents, prevent this? Unless your kids absolutely LOVE school, you may have an uphill battle on your hands. I know the last thing my kids want to do is 'homework' over the summer. Unfortunately, I still have to make them do some work along with their required summer reading assignments. I have found that giving them some control over what work they do has made it easier on both the kids and on me.

Set a Schedule for Summer Schoolwork

I give my kids one week off when school lets out. After that, I want them to keep up their schoolwork. I made the mistake one year and waited too long to start their workbooks. It was a disaster and they didn't catch up until halfway through the first quarter of the school year. There are different ways you can schedule their work:

• Do one lesson per day
• Do one of each subject per week
• Do one lesson and one chapter of reading three times a week

Try to stick to whatever schedule you decide will work best for your kids. As soon as they realize they can 'get out' of doing work they may try to take advantage of that and use any and every excuse possible.

I also find that doing their summer work in the morning causes less of a problem then when their friends are over later in the day. We try to schedule the work while they are eating breakfast. It only takes 20-30 minutes each morning.

Let the Kids Decide What Schoolwork They Want to do

My kids put up less of a fight when it's time to do summer schoolwork when I let them decide what subjects they want to work on. This means that the easiest lessons get done first but eventually all the easy ones are gone and they are left with no choice but to work on the subjects they don't like as much.

Invent a Bonus Program for Schoolwork Completed

I came up with a bonus program as an added incentive to get my kids to do schoolwork over the summer. After talking with other moms, I noticed that almost all of them used a similar reward incentive. These incentives work the best when you insist that the work be done correctly (this also teaches the kids to check over their work before handing it in).

• Earn a candy bar after five lessons.
• Get out of trouble free card. This can be used to avoid punishment for minor infractions.
• Earn 50 cents for each lesson completed. This way they can save up their 'money' to buy something a little bigger.

I hate to say it but kids need to stay focused on schoolwork year round. Gone are the days of carefree summers since teachers only review previously taught lessons during the first two weeks of the school year. This summer schedule allows us to enjoy summer while the kids still maintain what they have learned.

Sources:

http://www.summerlearning.org/?page=know_the_facts