Summer holidays no time to ‘dumb yourself down’
Sacrificing one hour a day to keep your mind sharp is worth the effort,
Does anyone know the Phineas and Ferb song: “There’s 104 days of summer vacation and school comes along just to end it … but the annual problem of our generation is finding a good way to spend it?”
I’d like to know how Phineas and Ferb get 104 days.
My school let out a week earlier than most and we still only get 75. I want to live where they live.
But in any case, it’s summertime for kids everywhere!
In Calgary the weather hasn’t been great, but this is the time we all look forward to: sleeping in, camping, vacations, spending whole days in our backyard or on our trampoline and basically not thinking about school for at least 75 days.
Unfortunately, it shouldn’t be all fun and games. Here’s what you don’t want to hear — you have to keep your mind sharp over the summer. You have to do a little work if you want to not start the next grade in September behind where you ended in June.
Trust me, I know — the last thing any of us want to be doing is school work. My mom, whose mom and grandmother were English teachers, always tells me stories about how she had to read, do spelling bees and math quizzes in the summer.
And my mom was pretty smart — she got a full scholarship to university. I would love a full scholarship to university, and so I will sacrifice an hour a day to keep my mind sharp. Here are some good ways to not ‘dumb yourself down’ over summer vacation.
Practise and review daily (or at least three times a week). Each day, my little brother and I have to do 30 minutes of reading and 30 minutes of math. If you don’t have any good books at home, download one online from Amazon.ca for your Kindle (which has an app for i-devices) or download Wattpad on the app store. Wattpad is a great app for reading free and interesting books. Or you can do it the old fashioned way — go to the public library! It’s actually a fun afternoon to go to the library and read a book or two in those comfy chairs they have. Get a library card and borrow something that tweaks your interest. Check out the Calgary Public Library’s website. They have a lot of great recommendations and programs that will make reading enjoyable and not feel like a lot of work. Practising math is easier using websites like Mathletics or Prodigy. They make learning and reviewing math into games that turn into mini competitions. My school is participating in a math challenge and our scores help rank our school against others. It’s almost like a video game — I love seeing my name up on the leaderboard.
Eat healthy. Staying smart over summer break doesn’t just mean practice and review of subjects at school. The experts out there also recommend that we eat healthy. My parents stock a lot of fun snacks for us, but they also leave us fruits and veggies. I’d love to just snack on rice krispie squares all day, but if I do that, I feel awful by the afternoon and that doesn’t put me in a great mood to read a book or a math game. I kinda just want to take a nap. And it also doesn’t give me enough energy to ride my bike. Eating well gives you the right energy to have the most fun in the summer.
Exercise. There’s a reason we have gym class in school — exercise is important. I’m not saying you should lift weights or spend hours at the gym, but it’s good to get your heart rate up every once in a while. Maybe go for a bike ride to the park, a short walk in the neighbourhood, or even jump on a trampoline for bit. Try to do something active every day instead of spending your summer in front of a TV or computer screen. And if you followed the previous suggestion, you’ll have lots of energy. Do you ever think to yourself that the summer seems to go by so quickly? Remember when you were younger and summer seemed to last forever? It seems much shorter now. My dad says it’s because we are getting older and growing up — gasp! But the truth is, we are. I am starting junior high next year and my grades are really going to count for something. I’ve always done well in school, but now I have to do better. And my suggestions above don’t mean that you have to give up your entire summer vacation to study and eat nothing but fruits and vegetables. It means just doing a bit extra to stay sharp and in shape. Just try it for 21 days. My dad always says that it takes 21 days to form a habit. So do these things for 21 days and you might be surprised how natural it becomes!
I hope you have an awesome summer!