What I learned over summer vacation

My son is thoroughly enjoying his summer vacation. And he should be. Summer is supposed to be a magical time in a young child's life. A time when the days stretch out before you and are filled with adventures. I know that we are fortunate enough to engineer a lot of the magic in my son's summers by sending him to various day camps. I also know that time spent at these camps helps him keep up his core strengths.

Because the last thing any of us want is for our children to completely forget their skills over the long days of summer. Math, writing and critical thinking gets a little harder if you haven't practiced any of them over the course of three months.

I try to look for ways for him to help with a math problem or to walk me through his thinking in a complex situation. I even make him practice his handwriting so that his teachers will be able to read all those "what I did on my summer vacation" paragraphs once school starts back up.

Yes, summers can be magical, but the learning slide is very real. Kids haven't figured out the balance of fun and skills yet, but we parents can definitely keep an eye out for chances to learn something new or apply something old. They won't thank us for it, but they'll be better off when they return to school.

What ways do you use to help your children keep their core skills up over the long summer break? Share with me in the comments.