How to stem the summer brain drain

As the summer holidays stretch out in a seemingly endless panorama of free time, consider this: During this period, students tend to lose about a month's worth of the skills they have learnt at school - unless they do something about it. Research coming out of the US shows that the loss is particularly pronounced in areas such as reading and mathematics.

Perhaps attending one of the growing number of summer schools may serve to staunch the brain drain. Other children are condemned to attend private lessons.

For all the others, the summer could become a learning wasteland. When not at the beach, there is the temptation to spend hours in front of the television or playing video games. However, with a little planning and imagination on the part of their parents, the children's mind could be stretched a little more, new interests explored, and the skills learnt at school built upon.

This does not mean that children should spend the holidays solving arithmetic problems or learning vocabulary lists. But it is the perfect time for them to discover that learning is fun and to try out new things that don't necessarily fit into the school curriculum.

Here are a few suggestions covering different skills. They exploit the opportunities that arise in day-to-day family living, but they build children's interest in learning and this translates into achievement both in school and beyond. You could see them as ideas to launch your own activities appropriate to your children's ages.

Stick up a world map next to the TV set. Watch the news with your children and have them locate spots making the news. Keep reference books such as dictionaries and the world almanac close by. Children seek answers to questions when their curiosity is high.

As a family, choose an important news event to follow for a day or two. Ask each person to find as much information on the topic as possible - read newspapers, listen to the radio, watch the news on TV. Then talk about what everyone has learned.

Get your children to use their imagination by selecting four or five pictures from magazines and newspapers and putting them together to tell a story. Ask them to number the pictures - 1,2,3, etc. First, ask them to tell the story with the pictures in numerical order. For variety, have your children rearrange the pictures and tell a new story using this different arrangement.

Make a family game of discussing a special issue - for example "Teenagers should be allowed to vote," or "There should never be any homework." Ask your youngsters to think of all the reasons they can to support their views. Then, ask them to think of reasons against their views. Which views are most convincing? For variety, assign family members to teams and have teams prepare their arguments for and against.

For writing practice, exchange notes instead of words at different times during the day - when getting up in the morning, at lunch, or at bedtime - or whenever the noise becomes too much to bear!

Help your child write a letter to a newspaper about an issue affecting children.

For example, they could suggest that their local council build a playground in a certain area, or complain that the sea where they swim is dirty. Children, after all, are citizens and their ideas are worth hearing.

This activity involves all three Rs: Ask your child to choose a dish to prepare for a meal - a cake, a salad or a sandwich. Have your child check to see what supplies are on hand and then write a shopping list.

At the supermarket, let your child select the food on the list, based on the best prices. Also have your child write the price of each item on the list and if possible calculate the total. Then check the prices against the receipt.

Use trips to sharpen maths skills. For example, at the petrol station, ask your child to check how much petrol the car took and to calculate the cost per litre. On the road, ask your children to read the signs and check the speed limits. Then ask them to watch the speedometer readings and notice how fast or slow the car is going. Have your children estimate distances between places and check the estimates on a road map.

Help your children understand the cost of living by discussing household expenses with them. For example, make a list of regular bills - water and electricity, telephone, cable TV, internet subscription. Fold the paper to hide the costs and ask your youngsters to guess the cost of each item. Unfold the paper. How do the estimates compare with the actual costs? Were they close?

Teach children how to budget. Ask them to make a two-column list of expenses and income. Under expenses, they list what they expect to spend for films, snacks, buses and so on. Then, have them add all the expenses and subtract the total from the income. Ask them to think of ways to reduce their spending. If their income is more than their expenses, talk about a savings plan.

Help your children become aware of family responsibilities. Make a chart of family chores, including the name of the person responsible, the days, the time required to carry out the task, etc. Discuss ways to change or improve these job assignments.

Record history at home. Stretch a roll of shelving paper along the floor.

Use a ruler to make a line about a metre long. Ask your children to fill in the important dates in their own lives, starting with their birth.

Help your child expand their horizons by learning about people from different countries. Perhaps they can talk to foreign neighbours, strike up conversations with tourists, read library books about other cultures, watch documentaries on TV.