It’s Time to Reflect, Rejuvenate & Recharge…

Exams are over and school’s out.

And parents around the world are thinking to themselves, “Now what am I going to do with my child with all of this free time?”

Sure, there are games to play, movies to watch, and friends to hang out with for them…

But there are also plenty of productive things to do with your child during the school holidays.

There are a number of ways that a child can make his or her holidays a learning experience.

Here are some ways that you can ensure that your child is making the most of the holidays by combining learning with having fun:

• Reflect and set process goals:
  
  First and foremost, this is a good time to reflect on the academic year gone by. You can encourage your child to contemplate by making him/her answer these questions:
  
  
  • What did I do well in the past year?
  • What did I not do so well in the past year?
  • What will I do differently in the coming year?
  Help your child to set process goals by deciding what he/she intends to do about these reflections. How would he/she take it further?
  
  
• Watch Documentaries/Educational Videos:
  
  Children can spend their time productively by watching some high-quality educational documentaries. School holidays are also the time to brush up on their Math, Science and Humanity subjects.
  
  Here are a few of my favorite educational YouTube channels:
  
  • MinutePhysics (all kinds of cool physics)
  • CrashCourse (history, chemistry, astronomy, and much more)
• Learn a new language:
  
  Learning a new language can be a lot of fun. There are many cognitive benefits of learning a new language. Children who speak more than one language have improved memory, problem-solving and critical-thinking skills, enhanced concentration, ability to multitask, and better listening skills. There are a number of websites which your children can refer to, to better their language skills. Some of them are listed below.
  
  
  • Duolingo
  • BBC Languages
• Increase their typing speed:
  In all likelihood, as the children get older they’ll need to do more typing on the computer. Explore the following website which will help them with quick typing.
  
  
  • Typing.com
• Pick up a new hobby/develop a skill:
  School vacation is the time to pick up a new hobby and rejuvenate. Hobbies are not just for pleasure or leisure. Having a hobby offers loads of benefit for your children. Hobbies allow you to destress yourself while remaining mentally productive. It also nurtures creativity, removes boredom, ensures physical and mental health, builds social skills and teaches time management. Your kids can pick up a new hobby like…
  
  
  • Juggling
  • Gardening
  • Playing the ukulele
  • Dancing
  • Photography
  • Stargazing
  Children could also learn skills like…
  
  
  • Public speaking
  • Cooking
  • Drawing
  • Self-defense
  • Negotiation
  • Listening
  • Positive thinking
• Get them to read, read, & read…
  
  Last but not the least, get your child to read. As the famous quote by Dr. Seuss goes, “The more you read, the more things you know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” Reading exposes you to new things, new ways, new understanding, new information, new ways to handle situations and new ways to solve them. Reading is a wonderful way to pick up better vocabulary too. That’s the thing about reading, it lets you travel without moving your feet.
  
  You can help your child identify the genre he/she is most interested in, and lead them to the world of imagination…
  
  There are a number of ways that a child can make his or her holidays a learning experience. The best way to do so is to sit with them and plan for the holidays to identify things that they most enjoy and to pinpoint aspects that they would want to explore. It is this that will ensure the students have a highly productive holiday.
  
  

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