Once summer vacation arrives, many young students may be tempted to abandon all thoughts of learning and instead delve into more recreational pursuits. While parents should encourage their kids to take some time to relax and enjoy themselves, it is also important to promote some continued learning to ensure they are well-equipped for the year to come. Here are a few ways to encourage engagement and education over the summer.
Set Goals
One of the best ways to keep your child learning is to help them set their own goals for the summer. They may choose to focus on developmental goals that prepare them for college or a specific career, or they may opt for less targeted goals such as reading a certain number of books. Talking with your child about what matters most to them will help you work together to establish productive, feasible, and appealing goals for the summer months.
Build Skills
Even if you are still working full time outside of the home, summer presents a great opportunity to teach your child life skills that might not be fully addressed in school. From grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning, and more, parents have acquired a massive amount of essential skills that they can pass onto their children, and summer nights could be useful for passing them along.
Prepare for Employment
Depending on the age of your teen, it may be worthwhile to help them prepare for employment and understand what is necessary to apply for a job. You can work with them to build out their resume and even apply for a summer or after-school position. In a similar fashion, you may look for volunteer opportunities with your teen to give them community experience as well as something to bolster their resume and college applications.
Adopt Review Strategies
Many students end up forgetting the things they learn during the school year following the end of the semester, but a lot of classes depend on prior knowledge. Because of this, parents would do well to help their teens integrate some review sessions throughout the summer to keep their minds fresh and agile. An added benefit of this practice is that your student will be equipped with new study techniques for the future.