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Summer is a time for kids to kick back, take a break from routine, and enjoy lazy days. It also, in many cases, is when learning loss- aka “The Summer Slide” can take place. Summer setbacks are nothing new regarding academics and the phenomenon has been researched by educators since the beginning of time. On average, student achievement can decline over the summer by up to a third of a prior year’s learning gains. Loss is usually greater in mathematics than in reading, and higher grade leveled students are more noticeably affected than younger learners. The summer slide can be measured in both social skills and classroom discipline, in addition to academics.

Can you believe that fraud, errors, and abuse cost Medicare more than $60 billion last year? Medicare fraud is one of the most rampant forms of fraud in the US. There are a variety of ways it is committed and ultimately all taxpayers end up paying for the dishonesty of others. The Senior Medicare Patrol (SMP) began in 1997 and this year, for their 25th anniversary, they named June 5th as the start of National Medicare Fraud Prevention Week. The following suggestions come from their web site at smpresource.org.

If you take financial advice from this column, in the future, you may not be able to afford to read this column. That said… let’s talk digital currencies. There are more than 18,000 cryptocurrencies on the market but what is it? Most agree it’s a digital currency that operates outside the traditional government/banking control, instead using public ledgers known as blockchains. But did you know that anyone can make a digital currency with a little coding? Yes, you and I can make our own digital currency. Late Show host Stephen Colbert’s crypto is called Ijustmadethatupeum. But is it a currency?

Most of us appreciate when work gets accomplished and especially when it gets done on time. And it’s even better when the work is well done.