Preventing the Summer Slide with UMIGO

We are preventing the summer slide with the help of UMIGO as part of a sponsored post with The Mission List. #umigo

One of my biggest fears this summer is the summer slide. The “summer slide” is what happens when young minds sit idle for three months. Children who do not read over the summer can lose up to three months of reading achievement.

During the school year, we noticed that my oldest was struggling with reading and writing. He was getting frustrated and so were we. After a few evaluations and doctors appointments, we learned that he has a convergence insufficiency. Convergence insufficiency disorder interferes with a person’s ability to see, read, learn, and work at near (close distances). After fitting him for glasses and starting vision therapy twice a week, we have noticed that he is reading more and writing better!

The newest member of the glasses club. If you can’t tell, he’s not too thrilled. 👓👀

A photo posted by Stephanie (@thestephglover) on May 22, 2015 at 1:25pm PDT

So you can see why the summer slide scares me! We made so much progress with him in the past few months, I don’t want it to stop!

Part of his vision therapy is homework. We aren’t talking about worksheets or studying, but fun things he can do at home! One of the things that he can do to help his eyes is computer work. This means I am on the lookout for fun and educational websites that he can use to not only keep learning through the summer but also help him with his convergence insufficiency.

UMIGO – You Make It Go – is a fun, vibrant world of adventure that uses the building blocks of math to engage early elementary age kids in narrative-driven “appisodes.” UMIGO helps children develop the math skills they need for effective reasoning and problem solving. The best part? It’s free!

UMIGO’s free downloadable at-home activities engage families and educators in the child’s development of math and reasoning skills and are designed to make learning easy and fun.

UMIGO kicks off the Summer of UMIGO on National Summer Learning Day, Friday, June 19, in an effort to help combat the “summer slide.” In partnership with the National Summer Learning Association (NSLA), UMIGO will bring its narrative-based appisodes, interactive games, activities, and educational resources to more than 70 communities around the country. You can find a location close to you by looking on the NSLA’s interactive map at SummerLearningDayMap.org.