Summer learning loss is a real concern, not only for kids in traditional school, but even for homeschoolers who don’t do year round schooling. We live in New England, and the weather is only really nice for a few short months, so we like to take advantage of it and enjoy the summer. It’s really hard to get my kids to focus on school once the temperature gets above 70 degrees!
So today I’m going to share with you some really great online summer learning programs that you can do with your kids this summer to prevent summer learning loss and even help your kids jump up grade levels in learning, so they can start the next school year with confidence.
Zearn Summer Learning Program
First up is a completely free online math summer learning program that anyone can use called Zearn. If your student will be entering 1st through 9th grade in the fall, this could be a great way to make sure their math skills stay sharp over the summer.
If you’ve never used Zearn before, it can be a little bit complicated to set up because it was designed with teachers in mind. So even if you’re just using this as a parent, you’ll still need to create a classroom and then add your students.
If you’re using this for summer learning, there isn’t actually a separate program. You just want to set your student up with the mission that they have selected for summer learning. So for instance, if your child would be entering 3rd grade in the fall, they suggest they complete grade 2, mission 5 over the summer. So you would just need to assign that grade level and mission to your student before they begin.
Once you get it all set up, your child can complete this online at their own pace. There are math fluency drills, guided math practice lessons and independent practice exercises, and it’s all graded online so you can easily track your child’s progress through the course. I find the lessons to be really high quality, and it’s pretty great that you can get this all for free. There are also a bunch of additional materials you can download if you want to add in offline practice, or if your student needs help with any of the concepts. There’s also a little packet you can download to keep track of your child’s progress through the program.
I do have a full video review of the Zearn math program on my YouTube channel, so make sure to check that out if you want to learn more.
Readarific Reading Comprehension Program
Next on our list is a program that I highly recommend if your child struggles at all with reading comprehension. This is the holy grail of all reading comprehension programs, and it’s designed to be completed in 12 weeks, so it’s perfect to do over the summer. It’s called Readarific, and it’s a program I did with my older daughter last summer. It takes just about 15 minutes a day, and all you need to do is sit down with your child and press play, and you’ll be guided through exactly what you need to do each day. There’s no prep work, no additional materials needed, it couldn’t be simpler.
As your child goes through the program, they’ll be learning to create clear pictures in their head when they read, which is a skill that doesn’t always come naturally. If your child doesn’t enjoy reading, or really struggles to understand or remember what they read, they could really benefit from learning this skill.
My daughter jumped 3 grade levels in reading comprehension by doing this program, and those results are pretty typical. It’s perfect for summer because the lessons are short and can be done anywhere as long as you have internet access. Each session, your child will be guided through how to create detailed pictures as they read short stories, and in the next session, they’ll be challenged to recall what they read. I think you’ll be pretty amazed when you watch your child be able to remember the entire story simply by remembering the pictures they made in their mind. And this skill will help them in so many ways, not just reading. It will help them with memory, following directions, and spelling, too.
You can get the complete 60 session Reading Comprehension program for $594, but they also have a shorter 30 session program available for just $297. And if you’d like to add some of their other amazing programs, including their writing sentences program and their program to help kids memorize their multiplication facts, you can get the bundle for $669.
If you want to save 10% off when you sign up, just use this link and code GIFT10.
And if you want to see more about how my daughter did with the program, and an interview with the program’s creator, I have a video on my YouTube channel that you can check out here.
Synthesis Teams
Next is a really cool online summer camp from Synthesis Teams. This 4 week program is designed to give kids a chance to work on a team, learning leadership, communication and problem-solving skills. Kids will play a series of online games together where they need to talk about strategy, make decisions, and communicate effectively in order to win. The games at Synthesis were designed to teach kids these specific skills, and they’re also just really fun to play. Your kids will be online with other kids and a moderator, talking and working together to try to win each game.
Synthesis Teams summer camp runs from June 23rd to July 19th, and there are lots of different sessions to choose from. Your child can sign up for as many sessions during this 4 week period as they want, and you don’t have to choose the same day or time each week. You can pick and choose whatever fits your schedule. So that flexibility is really great to accommodate for vacation plans and other summer activities.
The cost of this online summer learning program is listed as $700 for one child or $1200 for 2 or more siblings. But if you sign up early, they are offering a 50% discount. I’m not sure when or if this discount will expire, but if it’s something you’re interested in for your child, you might want to sign up early just in case.
Scholar Within Summer Learning Program
Another online reading program that we use in our homeschool that you can also use over the summer is called Scholar Within. This is an online program to help kids learn and improve their spelling, reading fluency and comprehension skills. Everything is accessed online, but a lot of the work is done offline, which is something I always appreciate.
The summer reading program from Scholar Within includes daily fluency drills, video spelling lessons, reading passages, and more. This program will probably take about 45 minutes to an hour a day to complete, so it’s a little bit more intensive than some of the other summer learning programs on our list. However, after using the program for a while, I’ve learned you can definitely cut some of it out and tailor it to meet your needs. We usually get it done in about 30 minutes. We skip the daily planning and some of the games and extra activities, and just focus our attention on the fluency drills, reading passages, and spelling lessons.
The Scholar Within summer reading program is available for kids in kindergarten through 8th grade, and you can purchase either a 6, 8, or 10-week program. You can print all the materials at home, or you can have them printed and shipped to you, which is what we did, and the print quality is very nice, so I recommend that you do that too if you can wait a little bit for it to be shipped.
So if you’re looking for a more intensive summer reading curriculum, this might be a great choice for your family. If you want to see this program in more detail, I do have a full video review on my YouTube channel that you can check out.
IXL Summer Learning Programs
Another popular way to help prevent learning loss over the summer is to use the summer skill plans from IXL. IXL is an online learning program that I really like, especially when you want to assess your child’s current learning level in math and language arts. But they also have specific skill plans just for summer learning, which I think is really great. So you can pick the grade level you want your child to work at, and then you can assign the skills for them to work on. Then your child can log on and they can either go to My Skill Plans and follow along, or if you’ve assigned the skills individually, then they will also show up under My IXL, from your parent.
So your child could just go to day one of the skill plan and start answering questions. IXL will keep track of your progress towards mastery in each skill, and if you need extra help, there will often be a video to watch to go along with the skill. If you get a question wrong, you will also get a detailed explanation of the correct answer.
IXL has summer skill plans for math and language arts, as well as a summer adventures skill plan, which combines several different subject areas. You can get a subscription to IXL for just math or language arts for just $9.95 a month. You can also get a subscription for math and language arts combined, or you can bundle all of the core subjects.
No matter which plan you choose, you can save 20% off with this link.
IXL has a lot more to offer than just the summer learning program, including real-time diagnostic assessments to tell you exactly where your child is in math and reading, as well as video lessons, games, and many other helpful skill plans. Their diagnostics tool can even help identify learning gaps and suggest specific skills to help close those gaps. It’s really a great program. If you want to learn more, check out my full review here.
Prodigy
And finally, last on our list of programs to help prevent summer learning loss is a program that my 10-year-old will be doing this summer called Prodigy. There are 2 separate programs offered on Prodigy, one for math and one for reading. The math program, which we use for math practice all year long, is designed for kids in 1st through 8th grade to practice their math skills while playing a fun online game, collecting pets and fighting battles, similar to Pokémon and other RPG-type games. The catch here is, in order for kids to refill their magic and win the battles, they will need to correctly answer math questions.
So, for kids who need that extra incentive to learn, this is a really great option for a summer learning program. You can set a goal for how many questions you want your child to answer each week, and you can keep track of their progress in the parent app. And the best part is, this is all free, although if your kids do end up liking it, you’ll probably want to pay for the upgrade so your child can access all the features of the game. Click here to see the membership options and see how to get 50% off an annual subscription. It’s very affordable.
Prodigy English is the other main program that Prodigy offers, and I haven’t had my daughter use this program yet, but I definitely plan to over the summer. This time, it’s more of an adventure game, and kids will be answering language arts questions in order to make progress in the game.
Just like with math, you’ll have a parent dashboard where you can track your child’s progress through the program, and you can set goals for your child as well. So if your child is in 1st to 6th grade, this could be a great way to keep their language arts skills sharp over the summer. Just like with the math program, you can get Prodigy English for free, but if your kids like it, you’ll probably want to upgrade so they can get the most out of the program.
I hope this list of 6 online summer learning programs helped you learn about some great ways to help prevent learning loss this summer. If you have any questions about any of these programs, let me know in the comments, and I’ll be happy to answer.
