Creating a Summer Learning Plan

For students, the warmer months are great for having fun outside and relaxing with friends. Parents, however, often wonder how they can keep their child from losing all the knowledge they gained over the school year.

The good news is that it doesn’t take a lot to avoid the “summer slide” of academic decline and forgotten knowledge. Creating summer learning objectives is simple and can have lasting beneficial effects. Here are a few things to think about when creating your summer plans:

1.) Have-To-Dos vs. Hobbies

When planning summer activities, start by figuring out if any areas already need improvement. For example, if your child’s math grades weren’t consistently great throughout the year, then math work is a “have-to-do” over the summer. Have-to-dos can also be personal or non-school related, such as ‘have to keep my bedroom clean’ or ‘have to maintain healthy eating habits and a regular sleep schedule’. The have-to-dos are any actions that need to be done in order to maintain an orderly household and return from break feeling organized and prepared.

Hobbies are not necessary for success in school, but they can greatly expand a student’s horizons and leave them feeling refreshed for when they do return to schoolwork. A hobby can be related to a school topic or done purely out of personal interest, but it’s important that your child is excited to take part in these activities.

2.) Planning the Have-To-Dos

The most important thing for many students’ success is a consistent schedule. Setting aside time a few days per week for learning, and holding your child to a routine, will reinforce healthy work and sleep schedules. Set an initial goal, such as ‘review chapters 2 and 3 from the Global History book’ and outline roughly how long that will take. At the end of the week, take a moment to evaluate how much time the goals took to meet, and plan the following week accordingly.

Keeping your child motivated to learn is essential, so it’s helpful to look at new ways for them to learn about topics they struggle with. Setting fun and interesting goals are a good place to start.

For example, if your child struggles with writing assignments, you might want to have them look up poetry, short story, or other writing competitions to enter. Once they have a deadline and a set goal, it will be easier to figure out what it is about writing that is difficult for them. You may also have a reward system, where there is an incentive to reach their goals each week.

Start planning with what you know needs to get done, and then add in time for other interests and hobbies.

3.) Encourage Personal Interests

Since most summer days have several unplanned hours, they are perfect for fostering new skills and spending time on hobbies. Talk to your child about what they enjoy spending their time doing. If they have creative or educational passions, it will be easy to incorporate those into their summer plan. Not all kids have a great concept of what they enjoy or are skilled at yet, and that’s how you can help- start by making a list with them of the types of things that sound interesting. Try to separate activities into categories and pick one of each: something physical, to get them active, something mentally challenging, to keep them thinking, and something creative, to keep them learning new things. There are free classes and videos online for most activities. You can find classes for physical activities like martial arts and dance, mental activities like writing and chess, and creative endeavors like painting, knitting, and baking.

Some hobbies will also tie back into school, such as learning a foreign language, writing and performing skits, or taking a computer programming course.

4.) Relaxation Time

The purpose of creating a summer schedule is to incorporate learning time into summer vacation. Keeping a routine is important, as it instills a sense of purpose and pride in a child to have goals they meet each week. However, it is essential that students still have time to unwind and recharge. Most kids will get caught up talking on the phone or playing a video game for a few hours at a time, and that is a good thing. Summer is supposed to be a vacation, after all, and as long as the weekly goals you made together are being met, the rest of the time is theirs to enjoy. This mentality of working hard but also taking time for yourself will help them grow into healthy, happy adults.

The goal with a summer learning plan is to balance classwork with other interests, while still allowing enough time for purely fun summer activities. With proper planning, not only will your child be able to accomplish a lot while still enjoying their summer, but they will also return to their classes rejuvenated and mentally prepared for a successful school year.