20 Ways Tech Can Keep Your Kids Engaged and Learning This Summer

Many parents are viewing summer with a mix of relief and dread: relief that home schooling is coming to an end, and dread that what likely follows is three months of…nothing.

Summer has always been a time when academics have slipped, but it’s usually a small price to pay for outdoor activities and socializing. Now, with many camps, community pools and recreation centers closed due to the coronavirus pandemic—not to mention libraries, the cornerstone of summertime literacy efforts—parents and educators worry the downtime will be wasted on YouTube and video games, leaving students further behind than ever.

Bright by Text: Reading Partners, the nonprofit literacy program, has partnered with the nonprofit Bright by Text to deliver text messages to parents in English or Spanish with free reading activities and tips on how to boost kids' literacy skills. Tips include touching each word with your finger as you read and pausing on each page to discuss the story.