Summer is finally here! Children are enjoying the warm weather, fun activities with friends and vacation time, all while practicing social distancing. But summer can also be an enjoyable learning experience. The summer break provides many memorable moments and writing about them is a good way to record those memories and practice writing skills at the same time.

Parents tend to focus on their children's reading and math skills, overlooking that writing is an education fundamental. It's fast becoming the forgotten ‘R’. This is unfortunate, as writing is an important part of every facet of education, not just in English class. Writing proficiency can have a major impact on other subject areas too.

Summer vacation provides an excellent opportunity for children to explore their creative writing skills. Sylvan Learning, the leading provider of tutoring at home to students of all ages, grades and skill levels, has developed the following tips to help parents encourage their children to write over the summer:

Persuading your child to write over the summer break may be easier if you help them identify fun and engaging topics. Suggest timely subjects.

• For example, Canada Day on July 1 is a good opportunity for your children to explore their own patriotism.

• Ask them if they know what patriotism is, and what it means to them. Encourage your children by helping them with some research about Canada, its history, people and places.

Sometimes the most difficult part of writing can be getting started. Help your children write their patriotic essays by giving them topic ideas, such as:

• I am proud to be Canadian because….

• On July 1, my family and I usually…

• If someone asked me what my country means to me, I would say…

• Good writing takes time. Spend time organizing your ideas and thinking about what you really want to say in your essay.

• Use the Internet or library to research your topic.

• Prepare an outline before you begin to write.

• Use transition words – such as “after,” “although,” “before,” “however” and “therefore” to help your ideas flow together.

• Be willing to revise. Change your sentences and paragraphs around, add material that lends to your writing and delete material that doesn’t work.

• Avoid clichés and jargon.

• Always keep a dictionary handy to help with spelling.

• Use a thesaurus to help you think of a new way to say something.

• Ask someone else to edit your work.

• Proofread everything. Make sure grammar, spelling and punctuation are perfect before you declare anything “finished.”

• Don’t rely on a computer’s spellchecker to ensure proper spelling.

Sylvan Learning can help students improve their writing skills before the beginning of the new school year. The Sylvan Academic Writing program is designed to help students understand many writing formats and styles, including illustrative and descriptive essays, comparative passages, persuasive writing, expository writing, summaries and outlines. Students in the program also complete exercises in grammar, spelling, vocabulary, paragraph structure and essay development. Visit www.SylvanLearning.com to learn more.