Studying during School Holidays

The Second Term has come to an end. Exams are over and both you and your children are breathing some serious sighs of relief after having survived the late nights, tears, crying and inevitable drama that goes hand in hand with exam periods. Surely, you and your offspring are due a well-deserved complete and utter break? In theory, yes. However, an increasing number of recent studies are proving the importance of keeping your kids’ minds active during these few weeks of rest and relaxation, and here’s why.

1. Start the 3 rd Term Prepared

The majority of schools have each term planned out well in advance as students (and parents) are provided with a copy of a Term Planner either electronically or in hard copy at the start of the school year. Make use of that little baby that’s usually tossed aside, it may mean the difference between the usual “B-” and that coveted “A”.
The holiday period is the best time to set aside a few hours and plan out the term ahead. Put sticky notes on calendars of upcoming tests, projects and exams as well as any important tasks that count for a big part of your child’s grade. Starting the 3rd term with a plan of action is one of the best ways to ensure your child is prepped and ready to rock and roll from day one of the new term, as opposed to feeling frazzled, overwhelmed and tired after only the first day back. Make sure to think of any extra help or tutoring online help that might be needed for the term.

2. Keeps Learning Fresh and Up to Date

Why not avoid the usual tension and turmoil of the first few days back at school, when all your children want to do is zone out in front of the TV and you inevitably have to plead, beg, threaten and eventually bribe them to get some homework and studying done. Maintaining a work environment throughout the holiday period, even for an hour or two each morning is the best way to keep your child’s brain active and fresh for the new term ahead. Vital concepts that have been learned thus far, and that perhaps require some extra attention, are kept up to date and solidified for the final exams when students need it most.
Those few hours a week are what make the difference between your child struggling for a few days to get back into the swing of things or sailing ahead of their peers.

3. Time to Catch up & Revisit concepts for End Year Success

With each and every term there are, and always will be, certain subjects and topics that your child is going to battle with. The amount of work that needs to be covered has teachers racing through their syllabus and most students fall out of the bus with a few tricky concepts. Studying during the holiday is the perfect time to revisit and revise and conquer those small issues that have knock on effects later in the year when it comes to finals.
Those few hours during the holiday will help to prepare your child’s knowledge base and ensure that they are able to grasp the new concepts in the upcoming term, rather than fall behind due to the foundations required from previous lessons that may have been missed.

4. Easy and Convenient

With the myriad of extra mural activities, sports games, practices and the usual mountain of assignments, tests and projects that require your child’s attention, there is never really enough time to properly prepare for exams and achieve the results both you and your child hope for. This is exactly what makes this time off the perfect opportunity to catch up and work at a relaxed pace.
Don’t have the time to sit and work with your children yourself? Enlist the help of a tutor company such as Gutsy Tutoring or TurtleJar Tutors to work in the comfort of your home a few times a week and keep them on top of their game. Arrange lessons for the mornings, as early as possible to further encourage your children, as they will have the rest of the day to kick back and do as they please.
The use of tutoring services affords your children the chance to recap their studies and conquer the few little niggles that they may still be experiencing. These lessons can also cover any work that is no longer dealt with in the classroom, but that will be tested in the end year final exams. Also a potential fit would be a tutor online who would be there to revisit work, break down difficult concepts and test your children, as well as ensure that they are correctly answering their question papers.

5. Keeps Students in a Routine

There is nothing worse than waking up too late to the reality of end year finals and trying to cram a few last minute lessons in, in the hopes of attaining a decent grade. In order to achieve those top marks, students have to put in the time and effort and that means knuckling down during the holidays. Your child may not appreciate the idea of studying and revising for an hour or two each day, but when they are prepping for their exams and the work is still fresh and easy to remember, they will understand the value of those holiday extra maths lessons.

6. Studies have shown the Improvement in Student’s Grades

There are an increasing number of articles supporting the fact that children need to keep reading, revising and working at their studies during the school breaks. One particular statistic stated that students’ concentration levels have dropped by 22% by the time they return to school, and have to get themselves back into work mode.
Another article, published by Oxford Learning, states that students can lose as much as 2months worth of reading skills during their holiday breaks. Put this into perspective when it comes to your child learning new work and taking in vital information. This is quite serious as that dip in brain functioning and the ability to focus can greatly affect test results and assessments that are done in the first week or two of the 3rd term.

7. Keep Kids Brains Stimulated and Active:

Take a minute and think about the student that is at the top of your child’s class. What are they doing that your child clearly needs to emulate? Is that specific student lying around each afternoon watching TV and playing on their cellphone, or are they attending extra lessons and working with a personal tutor? Those children that appear never to take a break are the ones achieving their full potential, due to the fact that their parents understand the value of putting in a bit extra. It has been proven that students that are being kept active mentally are far ahead of those students that are not.
The few upcoming weeks free of school are a blessing in disguise when it comes to making sure your child is ready for the last few months of the year.

8. Prepares your child for life at University and beyond: establishing a
good work ethic

University is usually the place where students that have been hard workers and dedicated throughout their lives easily adapt to the fast paced lifestyle of Tertiary studying. Unfortunately, those that took the easy road tend to fall behind and get a rather nasty surprise at the workload and expectations they are faced with in their first year. Why not help your child to establish a positive work ethic during their schooling career and prepare them for life as not only a Student, but an adult as well.

I hope these valuable points will encourage you to nurture your own children’s academics as they play such a vital role in all aspects of their lives.