Math Matters Most in the Summer

As the close of the school year quickly approaches, minds begin to wander lacking any real concerted focus on the educational curriculum.  Minds are tasked with the BIG question of “what are my summer plans?”  With this in mind, the last thing that anyone is thinking about is extended learning over the summer.  Learning is only for the school year, right?  Wrong!  Learning happens year round.  It should never stop just because it’s the summer. 

According a research sampling, entitled “Raytheon’s Math Moves U Survey,” conducted by the Impulse Research Corporation in July 2006, most teachers believed that the math skills of students tended to regress the most over the summer. In this survey, teachers cited that math was the most difficult subject area to get students up to par with at the beginning of the school year.  Many teachers had stated that they spent at least two weeks or more reviewing the previous year’s material.  According to the research report posted on www.mathmovesu.com, “63.2% of math teachers believe that students would only need to focus on math for 15-60 minutes a week over the summer to retain their skills.” What is the most preferable format for keeping the kids involved? The internet! Impulse Research Corporation used a sampling of 1032 middle school teachers across the United States for this study. More information from this study can be found on their website as well as great math activities that parents could do with their children.

Online tutoring, as it gains more popularity now, begins to fill in the gap for students over the summer and into the subsequent school year.  Parents are beginning to realize that their children could use some extra remediation or enrichment over the summer, so they don’t lose their skills. Scheduling tutoring sessions online is beneficial for both the parent and the student.  It offers convenience and ease.  No need for family summer vacations to be interrupted because a student can have a live tutoring session virtually.  All that is needed is access to a computer and an internet connection. Students would especially love it because it’s Internet based, and what better way to learn than on the internet anyway? It only takes 60 minutes a week to keep those skills sharp!  Online tutoring offers the best of both worlds, a well deserved family summer vacation and much needed learning time when math matters most in the summer.