Holidays | Oxford Learning

Make Learning Part of Your Plans This Summer

Posted April 4, 2013

Spring may be taking its sweet time to get here in some places, but each day that passes means summer is one step closer! What are your family’s plans for filling the long days of July and August? While family vacations, days at the beach, and lounging by the pool are all likely on your list, summer learning should be as well.

Why?

FACT: Summer learning loss affects ALL students

Brains don’t have an off switch. School may shut down for two months, but brains need continuous stimulation in order to remain sharp. Without keeping the brain active over the summer holiday, students can need up to six weeks to return to the learning level they were at the year before. It is a misconception that summer school is only for students who have failed the previous year: summer learning is essential for all students to be prepared in September to learn new material from day one.

FACT: Summer learning loss is cumulative

The curriculum doesn’t stop because a student falls behind. After the summer, students who need several weeks to get back into their school routine and catch up to where they left off in June can fall behind and stay behind for the entire year. If the problem is not fixed, they can start every school year behind and never properly be at the level needed to be successful. The summer is the perfect time to catch up and get ahead.

FACT: Math skills take the hardest hit

It is no secret that many students struggle with math. Grade nine math is the most failed subject, and studies suggest that 2.6 months of grade-level equivalency can be lost over the summer if students do not partake in some form of learning program.

FACT: All summer learning loss is avoidable

Though studies document the negative effect summer can have on students, there’s good news: learning losses are avoidable. Summer learning programs allow students to focus on trouble areas and keep skills sharp in as little as 2-3 hours a week, which helps them maintain momentum, and head back to class prepared for the new school year. Knowing how to avoid summer learning loss is the first step to making this holiday the most productive yet! Students can head back to class confident and prepared to achieve any academic goals they have in mind!

Now is the time to start researching summer camps and programs that will help maintain learning momentum and get students ready to hit the ground running next school year. Contact your local Oxford Learning Centre to ask about our summer programming, and remember, learning doesn’t stop just because school does!

Top 10 Ways to Keep Learning on School Breaks

Posted March 11, 2013

With school out for a week, it can be easy to let good routines and habits slide and put learning on the back-burner. But what if the holiday could be spent learning and being productive as well as having fun?

Good news: it can!

Check out our Top Ten Ways to Keep Learning on School Breaks!

Click on the image to download a PDF copy

Bring Out The Books & Board Games This Holiday Break

Posted December 18, 2012

Looking for a way to spend quality time with the family this holiday season? Want to unplug and have some fun? Books and board games are great ways to get your child to put down the cell phone or video game controller and have some family fun while developing skills that can be transferred to the classroom when back-to-school time comes around.

Books can be a great stocking stuffer and give kids the chance to read material that interests them. Even if your child isn’t an avid recreational reader, comic books or magazines can spark their interest and encourage them to spend some quiet time reading. Reading together as a family is a great way to bond and can inspire discussion on different topics that arise as you read. Take turns reading paragraphs, act out scenes, guess what will happen next, and (if the book is also a movie) watch the film version together once you have finished the book. Encouraging your child to read for pleasure will increase their focus and concentration, expand their vocabulary and literacy skills, and is a hobby the whole family can enjoy.

Board games are also a great way to have fun as a family over the holidays. Although online and video games are often preferred by for our tech-savvy kids, board games are a great way to increase learning skills while having fun. Board games enhance skills such as:

Problem solving
Quick thinking
Vocabulary skills
Identifying patterns
Deduction
Memory
Decision making
Teamwork
Persistence
Creativity/Imagination

Have some holiday fun with the family this break by dusting off your favourite board game or curling up on the couch with a good book. Who knows, it may even be the start of a great family tradition for the New Year!

Keep Learning, Even When School is Out

Posted September 19, 2012

Learning momentum can slip when school’s not in session. Even a few days away from class can cause a drop in learning motivation. Check out our handy Checklist for ideas on keeping the learning momentum going, even when school isn’t.

Click image to download a printable pdf

The Top Three Summer Activities that All Children Should Be Doing

Posted June 27, 2012

By now, the importance of summer learning is well known. Students of all ages need to keep the cognitive wheels turning in order to maintain their learning momentum and not experience the backward summer slide.

There are an entire summer’s worth of ideas available to keep kids busy all summer long–the sky’s the limit! But don’t let all the options overwhelm you. We’ve chosen our top 3 simple summer activities that should be on every family’s To-Do List. Maintaining academic momentum over the summer has never been easier!

1. READ! READ! READ!

Put less focus on WHAT is being read and focus on making regular, habitual reading part of the daily summer routine. Novels, comics, magazines, blogs… it doesn’t matter so long as you’ve got a reading routine. Want to take it to the next level? Talk about what you have just read. Make connections, and look up unknown words. Research the book online, or draw illustrations for what you’ve just read—the key is to think actively about the reading.

2. WRITE!

Writing is an extension of reading–they go hand-in hand. Whether it’s keeping a scrapbook, writing in a journal, or blogging online, daily writing helps to develop those critical communication skills that lead to great essays and even better grades. Need some ideas about what to write? Start a short story and add to it every day, or simply recount the day’s activities. It doesn’t have to be well-crafted literature to help keep skills sharp. So pick up a pen, and grab some paper and write someone a letter, even if it’s only to yourself.

3. PLAY!

Don’t underestimate the value of old-fashioned board games and puzzles. Whether it’s Sudoku, Crosswords, or traditional jigsaw puzzles, games teach necessary higher-level thinking skills such as strategy and planning. Plus, they help develop focus and attention, and often incorporate critical school skills such as math and reading. Best of all, they can offer hours of family-friendly fun with a little bit of learning mixed in.

5 reasons you need to be thinking about summer (and summer learning!) right now

Posted January 25, 2012

1. It’s going to be here before you know it. Sure, the New Year may have just begun, but before you know it, Spring Break will be over, and kids will be studying for exams and handing in their final term projects… Which means that it’s not too early to think about what your kids are going to be doing this summer.

2. Summer can undo what your child is learning RIGHT NOW. You know that test you help little Timmy study for last week? Well, without maintaining his learning momentum and study skills over the break, Timmy can easily forget everything that he’s working hard to learn right now, which means you may find yourself creating long division flash cards again next year.

3. Summer can have an impact on how your child learns NEXT YEAR. After a summer off, it can take kids up to 3 months to get back into the swing of learning. That represents a huge amount of wasted learning opportunities.

4. Kids WANT to learn in the summer. The numbers don’t lie. Research in summer learning studies shows that 56% of students want to be involved in a summer program that “helps kids keep up with summer schoolwork or prepare for the next grade.”

5. Summer programs fill up fast. Most programs are already accepting applications and taking reservations for summer enrollment. Schools and Oxford Learning are no exception.

Now that we’ve got you thinking about summer and learning, why not contact your nearest Oxford Learning centre and enroll in one of the many great summer program options?

11 Ideas to Keep Mentally Active Over the Holidays

Posted December 16, 2011

In the spirit of the Holiday Countdown Calendar we’ve complied this list of holiday activities to keep the kids mentally active over the break! Feeling creative? Why not cut out each tip, put them in a bowl, and have the kids choose their daily mental to-do activity? Or better yet…hang them on the tree and have the kids pick one a day!

Click to download our Holiday Guide!

Get Ready For Summer Now!

Posted April 19, 2011

When spring is in the air, it’s natural to start thinking about what summer will bring. Our Spring Newsletter can help! It’s packed with tips to help make spring great, and get your family ready to have a great summer!

Click on image to download and print our Spring Newsletter!

12 Days of Holiday Learning: Day 12

Posted January 1, 2011

We already know why it’s important to make learning part of your holidays, so, we’ve compiled 12 ideas to keep your kids mentally engaged over the holiday season. Check in often for new ideas, and if you have your own idea, we’d love to hear it!

Day 12: Chip Away at Schoolwork

There’s many creative and unique ways to incorporate learning into the school holidays. But sometimes, the simplest solution is best: do a little bit of schoolwork everyday. This is especially important for high schoolers. If your teen has a school assignment over the holidays, make a plan to work on it a little bit everyday. This will not only help avoid the “I-go-back-to-school-tomorrow-and-I-haven’t-started-my-project” stress, but will help teens to not lose focus or forget important facts.

Just like over the summer break, kids’ motivation can take a nosedive over the holiday. It doesn’t take long for it to happen. The best way to prevent a holiday brain drain is to maintain the momentum. Even if no schoolwork has been assigned, organize notes. Tidy binders and pencil cases. Clean out book bags. Read over notes and highlight keywords. Make study notes.

Tip 1: Get Crafty Together
Tip 2: Snuggle Up With a Book
Tip 3: Take a Hike
Tip 4: Play Video Games
Tip 5: Roll the Dice
Tip 6: Use Your School Agenda
Tip 7: Go to the Library
Tip 8: Keep a Holiday Journal
Tip 9: Go Online
Tip 10. Send Holiday Thank You Cards
Tip 11. Get Puzzlin’

12 Days of Holiday Learning: Day 11

Posted December 31, 2010

Day 11: Get Puzzlin’

Crossword puzzles. Search-a-words. Puzzles. Sudoku books. All of these not only make great stocking stuffers, they are a great way to challenge the mind. Sure, they can be frustrating, but the process of trying to figure out a problem, and work systematically through the steps needed to reach a solution get the mental synapses firing on all cylinders.
You can turn these otherwise solo activities into group games by attempting a puzzle together, and talking trough the steps, and explaining your reasoning to each other.

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