Summer is half over and at my house I've been fighting what feels like a losing battle against the summer slide. That's the phenomenon where over the summer break kids lose skills they've learned in school. Experts advise a number of strategies to fight this tendency, such as enrolling the kids in summer reading programs at the library, sending them to camp and incorporating learning into fun activities.

I've tried all of that and here's what's happened:

We booked a vacation to the Southwest this year so we could show the kids the Grand Canyon and teach them a bit about Native American culture. I went to the library and checked out a half dozen children's books on Navajos and cliff dwellings only to have my younger tween say: "Indians aren't really my thing."

I tried to entice this same son to practice math by baking a batch of cookies. Figuring he'd have little patience for any elaborate mixing, chopping or icing, I went the easy route and bought a cookie mix. I could scarcely drag him into the kitchen. He declared that cooking "was for girls." I finally managed to get him to reluctantly stir the powdered mix, egg, water and oil and spoon the dough onto the cookie sheet, but he fled in the 10 minutes it took them to bake.

Even bribery hasn't worked. I'm not proud of it, but I promised my nearly 13-year-old that I would give him $20 if he read Lord of the Flies. He read two chapters and said he didn't care how much I paid him, he couldn't stand it and wasn't going to read it. I promised the 8-year-old I'd buy him a new Webkinz pet if he learned his multiplication tables. He's decided he doesn't want a new Webkinz.

I told my boys at 9 p.m. they would have to turn off the TV and read before going to bed. But without TV they suddenly found themselves exhausted and decided to turn out the lights and go to sleep.

Does any of this sound familiar to you? Have you found a way to stop the summer slide?

Photo: A model at a recent children's fashion show in Italy/AFP Getty Images