With summer just around the corner, children are enjoying the warm weather, fun activities with friends and vacation time. 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 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:

Pick an Engaging Topic

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 1st/Independence Day on July 4th 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/America, 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 American/Canadian because….

• On July 1st/the Fourth of July, my family and I usually…

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

Sylvan Tips on Writing

• 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 children improve writing skills through its Academic Writing program. The 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 the “Writing” section of www.SylvanLearning.com for more information.

For additional educational resources for children in grades pre-K through 12, please visit www.SylvanLearning.com .