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Parental chat, which, it would seem, should have died down for the summer, is buzzing like a beehive. It’s all about them — in the tasks for the holidays. Children refuse to study, teachers scare them with bad grades, and parents are outraged that they are “doing the work of teachers.” Who is right? And what should kids do during the holidays?
If you allow your child to rest all three months of the holidays, then it is likely that the beginning of the school year will be much more difficult for him than it could be. How can parents find a middle ground so that their children can restore their strength and not lose their knowledge? Experts say.
«Summer reading forms the habit of reading in a little schoolboy»
Of course, during the summer holidays, the child needs to relax. It’s good if you have the opportunity to spend more time outdoors – ride a bike, play football, volleyball, swim in the river or the sea. However, a competent alternation of intellectual load and relaxation will only benefit him.
What to do
If there are subjects in which the child frankly lags behind the program, then they should be taken under control in the first place. But I recommend repeating the material in all major areas, regardless of grades.
If in the morning your son or daughter does 15 minutes of Russian and 15 minutes of mathematics, then this will not affect the quality of his rest. But the knowledge that he received during the school year will be transferred from short-term memory to long-term memory. Such small tasks on the main topics support the level of knowledge acquired during the year and help the student enter the next school year without stress.
Why Summer Reading Is Necessary
I don’t think that reading should be classed as part of the class. It’s a culture of spending time. Moreover, the list of recommended literature usually includes large works, acquaintance with which takes time, and during the holidays the child definitely has more opportunities to study them.
In addition, summer reading forms the habit of reading in a small student — this skill is especially useful for mastering humanitarian subjects in middle and high school. In the future, it will help him to quickly pass through huge flows of information, and it is difficult to do without it in the modern world.
Is it necessary to “press” and “force” the child to read or solve problems? Here, a lot depends on the mood of the parents themselves: internal doubts about the appropriateness of classes increase the tension and “charge” of this topic. To convey to the child the meaning of summer «lessons» is easier for those who are aware of their advantages and value.
“A child has to do what he needs to do for a whole year, and not what he wants”
Olga Gavrilova — school coach and family psychologist
Holidays exist so that the student rests and recuperates. And in order to prevent his emotional burnout, which arises from the fact that the child has to do what he needs for a whole year, and not what he wants.
Here are some tips on how you can combine leisure and study:
- The first and last two weeks of the holidays, give the child a good rest and switch. In between, you can plan training sessions if you want to pull up some subject. But do no more than 2-3 times a week for one lesson. It is better if the classes are held in a playful way and with the participation of adults who know how to captivate and inspire the child.
- Give your child the opportunity to do additional things that he likes the most from school subjects. Especially if he himself expresses such a desire. For this, for example, language or thematic camps are suitable.
- It makes sense to maintain reading skills. It is desirable that it be not only reading the school list of literature, but also something for pleasure.
- Elementary school students who have just learned to write should also maintain their writing skills. You can rewrite texts and write dictations — but not more than 2-3 times a week for one lesson.
- Find time to exercise. Particularly useful are those types of it that contribute to an equal load on the right and left parts of the body — crawl swimming, cycling, skateboarding. Sport develops interhemispheric interaction and helps to hone planning and organization skills. All this will help the child with his studies next year.