I am a huge advocate of keeping kids reading over the summer. Research shows that kids lose 1 month of learning over the summer, and children who live in homes that that have few books can lose up to 3 months! This is why I spend a lot of time looking for summer reading programs for The Older. Not only is it important for every child, but because his hearing loss is compounded by vocabulary loss and confusion, it’s especially important we keep reading.
For summer reading, I’m a big fan of the Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge, but I’m also a huge fan of the local library and their summer reading programs! The library closest to my home is teaming up with the Tampa Bay Rays again this year in their Reading Your Way to the Ballpark program in a effort to keep kids reading through the summer by offering prizes after so many books are read (they give you a scorecard to keep track and you have to “round the bases”).
As I was looking through all the summer activities, I found that the libraries in the area are also doing mock camp-outs where they’ll tell stories and sing camping songs, give puppet shows, and host Lego nights. There’s even a Pokemon night and Hogwarts night too! Good to know there are so many fun and free events for the kids this summer.
Be sure to check out your local library and see what sort of events they’re hosting. I’d love to hear about it too!