5 Ways to Keep Your Child Focused During the Holidays

We all know that it's pretty tempting to lie around the house, munch on leftovers and watch old movies during the entire Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks.  Oh wait...those things are tempting to us adults, but probably not to our children!

For them, there are a ton of age-appropriate (and sometimes not) distractions over the holidays that can negatively impact academic performance when it's time to return to the classroom in January.  Here are 5 things that you can do to counter the distractions and help boost your child's brain power and productivity at the same time:

Make a Plan of Action
1.  Many of IST's students are assigned a winter packet from their teachers.  You can assist your child by helping to create a plan of action to work on the packet each day of the break rather than waiting until the last minute.  The beauty of having time off is that s/he can put in an hour or two of work and then do something fun later to strike a balance between daily work and play.

Keep Reading in the Mix
2.  If your child is not assigned a book (or books) to read during the break, you should create a short reading list together.  Often, it's much more enjoyable for the student if the topic is on something that s/he likes.

Finish Applications Early
3. If your child is applying to private schools or colleges with application deadlines in early January, you should plan to have everything finished before Christmas break, so ideally you're aiming for somewhere between Thanksgiving and the middle of December at the latest. 

Catch Up on Current Events
4.  Help your child understand what's happening in the world around him/her.  There are various media, of course, but we find that reading the newspaper is a great way to catch up and learn new SAT-level vocabulary words in context. 

Get a Jump on Summer Plans
5.  Make a plan now for how to make the most of your child's summer.  Many of the more popular and competitive summer programs and internships open the application process in January.  You can help your child take advantage of these opportunities by researching programs together and making a chart of important dates and application components.

Time Magazine & The Case Against Summer Vacation

This month, Time Magazine argues the case against summer vacation, given the detrimental effects a lack of summer learning can have on students, particularly in low-income households. Read the entire article here: The Case Against Summer Vacation.

[Source: time.com]

Three Fun Summer Learning Activities

This following ideas were featured in a newsletter I receive from BrainWare/Learning Enhancement Corporation and I thought I'd share them with all of our summer savvy parents.  The author is Betsy Hill and the full article is accessible here.  

Happy learning, everyone!

1.  The “Think and Listen" – A parent and child agree to “think out loud” about a topic of mutual interest:  the menu, the weather, world peace, etc.  Each person agrees to speak for the same length of time, the listener never interrupting.  The “Think and Listen” gives the thinker good practice identifying thoughts and articulating them.  Just a few "Think and Listens" can make children more articulate and confident. They are more likely to do well in class discussions and to express ideas that are important to them.

2.  The “Restaurant Review” – Give summer vacations more “mental meat” by writing restaurant reviews with your children after dining out. This is a good way to work cognitive skills such as memory, sustained attention, creativity and prioritizing of values. Those skills will come in handy next fall, when it comes to reviewing for an exam.  

3.   The “Visual Scavenger Hunt” – When planning a summer trip, develop a list of things you might see along the road – the kids can help with the research – and give each child a list to check off as they find the items. Include a mixture of common objects, like a stop sign or a gas station, and rarer objects … like a jewelry store, a cemetery, a cactus, a purple flower, a black squirrel …. The mixture of objects will help sustain interest and balance the difficulty of finding one with the feeling of discovering a treasure when something rare is spotted.  This simple game strengthens focus, visual discrimination and memory skills.

Ideas to Encourage Summer Reading

Summer reading is an important part of being ready for school in the fall. Try these ideas to get your kids into reading during their summer vacation.  Read the entire article (including a quote from Riche:-) here.

[SOURCE: School Family.com]