Easy Ways to Stop the Brain Drain

Although not all families can homeschool all the time, every family can spend the summer making sure brain drain doesn’t happen. There is a lot of research that shows a lazy summer – a summer not spent learning – results in brain drain when students get back to school in the Fall. Brain drain is when knowledge that students learned the previous year isn’t there anymore, or when students simply don’t use their brain as well as they used to.

I like to think that homeschooling is a state of mind, a state of learning. That’s what families can do during the summer-  make it a state of learning. Here are some simple and easy ways to do this:

1. Pick a subject and a book each week. Libraries are full of books on almost any subject. Each week pick a new subject and read a book on it. Most libraries have summer reading programs that will reward students who read. So combine the reading program with the new subjects. Kids will enjoy getting to pick the subjects and still learn something new.

2. Visit parks and learn. Parks are great. They have animals, nature, and trails. Simply pick some parks in your area and go learn about what makes them a great park. Do leaf rubbings at each park and compare them to the leaves at other parks. Walk a trail and talk about the difference between a hill, mountain, valley, and cliff. All of these are simple and fun ways to learn about the world around us.

3. Find Visitor’s Centers. This one comes from a love my mother and aunt instilled in me. Whenever we went somewhere, we visited the Visitor’s Center. Visitor’s Centers are most often free and offer a wealth of information about the places around them. You can find historical information, good places to go, and sometimes even exhibits. Whatever you find, it is something new.

4. Learn to read a topographical map. This can be a bit more challenging. I think this skill is neat, and it requires practice to identify inclines, hills, valleys, easy routes to walk……but it is a good skill to have. Once you learn it, you can get a topographical map of your area and mark places that you have been, where you live, and places you would like to go.

5. Learn a new skill. This could be anything from cooking to sewing to woodworking. There are always new skills to learn. Learning something new engages your brain in a new activity and can result in discovering a new passion.

6. Complete a workbook. For those parents who are more academic-minded, or for those who simply don’t want kids to lose the hard-worked-for-skills that they learned over the school year, you can get a workbook. Most bookstores and educational stores have bridge activity workbooks. Or you can get a specialty workbook for certain skills. Having children complete these makes sure they don’t lose the skills they worked hard for.

There are as many ways to keep your brain engaged over the summer as you want to discover. These are just a few to help you on your way.

 Natasha Wunderlich

I’m a homeschooling mom who made the choice to homeschool because I saw how rigid schools were and noticed how fluid my son’s learning style was and how hands-on his learning style was. We have been at it for over 2 years now (we started when he was 2) and are enjoying our time together. Learning and teaching has brought us closer together as a family. I do believe in structure and lessons, not simply free form schooling, but those lessons are child-centered and directed by his interested. We are moving on through Kindergarten and 1st Grade material now, and watching him learn and grow is awesome. You can find me on: www.wunderfulhomeschool.wordpress.com

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