Mr. Dad: Learning activities help plug brain drain

Dear Mr. Dad: As the school year draws to a close, I’m getting worried about my 9-year-old daughter. She’s just an average student and really hates to do homework.

I worry that she’ll forget a lot of what she learned over this past year and she’ll start fifth grade even further behind than she already is. What can we do?

A: I’m torn about this. On one hand, I think summers are a time for resting up, having fun, giving the mind a little time to recharge. Unfortunately, with so many kids booked into wall-to-wall camps and activities, summer can be even busier than the school year and recharging mentally is out of the question.

On the other hand, there’s the summer brain drain, which is exactly what you’re worried about. Students lose, on average, 2 to 2.5 months of academic skills over the summer.

Math and spelling are the subjects that get hit the hardest. Here are a few ideas for how you might be able to plug the brain drain.

• Visit the library. Most have great summer reading programs.

• Read at home. You and your child should take turns reading to each other every night, for 15 to 30 minutes each.

• Look into summer schools. Sadly, only 10 to 20 percent of students attend one.

• Ask the teacher what your child will have next year to let you borrow a few textbooks. He or she may be able to give you a summer reading list.

• Don’t forget about writing. I’m not just talking about spelling and grammar. I recently interviewed Jennifer Hallissy, author of “The Write Start,” who told me that “the speed and ease of children’s writing can have a major impact on their overall academic success.”

• Make learning fun. Of course, there are the usual standbys: trips to the zoo, museums and planetariums. But you might also check out a few books that are filled with fun, entertaining (and, gasp, educational, but your child will never notice) activities.

I like the “Geek Dad” series by Ken Denmead, the “Daring Book for Girls” series by Andrea Buchanan and Miriam Peskowitz, and Sean Connolly’s “The Book of Potentially Catastrophic Science,” which isn’t nearly as dangerous as it sounds.

In other news: This season’s winners of the MrDad.com Seal of Approval and Great Dad Recommends awards include:

• A reusable kit for building a kid-sized fire station, from Box-O- Mania (boxomania.com)

• Spanish language learning DVDs and CDs, from Whistlefritz (whistlefritz.com)

• A fun, Jack-in-the-Beanstalk play-and-book-in-a-box from InnovativeKids (innovativekids.com)

• Web Hunt and Oh, Really? Two engaging family games from Find It Games (finditgames.com)