About SummerSchoolMath

Practice Math In The Summer? It May Seem Unnatural But It Just Makes The New School Year Less Stressful...

To give you an idea, I’ll share a beautiful story with you. It was the beginning of third grade. The teacher was Ms. Hodges and the student was a young girl. The new year started with excitement and the class was busy with work. Before you knew it, the time had come for the first parent-teacher meeting. Nothing unusual but an additional tool this school used to keep parents abreast of a child’s progress. After a few moments of pleasantries, the teacher opened with a congratulatory remark in regards to their child’s math aptitude. “Oh really”, responded the parents and the teacher began to explain. When the time came to complete the first addition time test, your daughter performed exceptionally well in comparison to the other students, she noted. Actually, her performance was such that the next week I moved her to subtraction, while everyone else still worked with addition. As one might expect, the parents were excited to hear this but they would quickly realize that there was even more. She performed so well with her subtraction that in the following week, she was moved to multiplication while the rest of the class still worked through addition except for one child that had now moved to subtraction. Ms. Hodges closed her story by saying that “she had never had a student advance so quickly to multiplication before.”

As you would imagine, this is the kind of story that everyone loves to hear. It’s a success. Even more wonderful is that the story is true… because the child is mine. Now, as much as any parent would love to take credit for this success, the truth behind this story is what’s more compelling. You see, it would not have happened unless my daughter had spent a few minutes during the summer mornings practicing basic math facts learned in second grade. Bluntly stated… she walked into third grade prepared!

So how about your child? Wouldn’t it be a beautiful picture to see the fruit of their efforts continued into the next grade and not impacted by summer “math-loss”? Oh, we love summer. It’s a wonderful time for children to be children and parents to pull away from the routine of the school year and unwind and refresh. But even in this less stressful season, fun and rewarding activities can be completed to equip a child so they are walking into the school year… prepared.

We know this is true because of summer reading. For decades, students have been encouraged to spend their summers reading books. It was not only a great way to build reading skills and spark the imagination, but also a much needed break from the pool. Can’t the same then be said for equipping basic math skills? Most definitely! This thought is specifically shown out in a meta-analysis on summer vacation published by the Educational Resource Informational Center. It found that “summer loss was more pronounced for math facts and spelling than other tested skill areas”. The reason for this is that both of these skill sets involve “the acquisition of factual and procedural knowledge, whereas other skill areas, especially math concepts, problem solving, and reading comprehension, are conceptually based.” For more reading, use this link to the article: http://ceep.crc.uiuc.edu/eecearchive/digests/2003/cooper03.html

Begin your child today so they will walk into the first day of school: prepared... and you walk out with less stress.

SummerSchoolMath is a math computation resource created to provide parents and teachers with 1-page, 100 problem addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division worksheets. By utilizing the time-tested principle of repetition, elementary children are able to build basic math skills, establish a daily study habit, and develop confidence with other academic and non-academic activities. All accomplished either as a school year supplement or summer "math-loss" preventer.

The Story:

Because math is for all seasons. It's not just the motto but it's also a fact. Whether it's a season of the year or a season of life, math surrounds us in our daily activities.

So what began back in 2002 actually started in 2001 when the oldest daughter finished first grade. Sure it was summer and yes, we wanted to have a wondeful time of rest and family time. Summer is just plain fun! Yet during this season, it seemed good to have her spend a few minutes each day studying. Of course, reading would get its deserving attention but what about math? Wouldn't it be just as beneficial to spend time practicing math facts in a less stressful season? Of course it would! So the seeds were planted for the beginning of what has become a resource of help for students; even around the globe. Incredible!

But this is not SummerSchoolMath. It's more than just providing parents with computational worksheets (a.k.a. time tests). It's about character. Helping you equip your child with the basic American traits passed down from generation to generation; truth, hard-work, faith, commitment, confidence...

As for the daughters, the days of chasing butterflies has passed and the math is more complex but it is good.

SummerSchoolMath

Duluth, GA 30097