Does Summer Break Benefit Students
Students across the country will be anxiously awaiting the start of summer vacation. While most students look forward to this break to get away from books and spend a relaxing summer by the pool, there is a tremendous amount of discussion about whether or not this extended break is actually beneficial to students.By Dr. John Clayton Summer vacation, or summer break as it is often called by parents of pre-preteens and young teens, gives children and teenagers a chance to relax and enjoy the sun. It’s also a time for families to travel and for students to learn new skills outside the school environment. While summer break does offer numerous benefits, it also can have drawbacks that can affect student outcomes and overall well-being.
In a recent article, McFarland (2008) confirmed that students who enjoy summer vacation are likely to be motivated and successful in the fall. Yet, while some parents may conclude that summer break is useful in maintaining student motivation, others may warn their children not to “get too comfortable.” In fact, many children and adults alike dread summer vacation because they view it as a period of extended rest where there is “nothing much to do.” In addition, students who accept the concept of “doing nothing” during the summer vacation often tend to display a decline in academic motivation and perform more poorly in the fall compared to students who view “doing nothing” as an opportunity for self-directed learning.The end of the school year is fast approaching and this means that students across the country will be reporting to school no more in June. While some will cruise through their summer with nothing on their calendar but family vacations, others will find themselves learning alongside new teachers at camps and classes.
Does Summer Break Benefit Students
Why is Summer Break important?
It is important that children take a summer vacation to allow them to rest and recharge. Not taking a break can be dangerous, as it can lead to mental and physical issues. Being distracted or hurt by other children can cause grades to drop. Aside from physical issues, mental health problems can also make it hard for students to focus. Not taking a break from school can affect your grades and could even cause you to fail. If you take a break from school, it will help reinvigorate your brain and allow you to excel in school.
Vacations and kids
During their summer break, kids can be found playing with their friends, going for a hike, or participating in various camps and activities. When children get tired of the long break, they usually end up with nothing to do. This is the reason why many parents get lazy and do not encourage their kids to learn new skills and activities.
Benefits of Summer Breaks
- Summer holidays are an important part of every person’s life. They can be very entertaining and memorable times for children.
- Summer vacation is a time for children to play and have fun. They can do anything they want during these vacations. They can also enjoy living with their parents.
- During summer vacations, students should take some time to recharge and get used to the heat. It is also important to maintain their health and academic performance after the exams.
- Summer holidays are always fun and different for everyone. Some people like to go to a beach, some are fond of going to foreign countries, while the others are planning on going home.
- During the summer season, most of the children play various sports such as football and badminton. They also enjoy drinking fresh fruit juice to make the summer vacation more interesting.
- Everyone is planning for the summer holidays. For kids, it’s their favorite time of the year and they start making new plans in advance.
6 Perfectly Good Reasons to Extend Summer Break
1. Boosts Morale
Taking a long Summer Break gets enough time for everything. It lifted the spirits. It was a relief to know that school would start later, and it eased up the anxiety of everyone involved.
2. The last few weeks
Each day, try to do something small to help prepare for the coming week. This can include planning a few tasks for the next day, organizing your closet, or reading some new articles about teaching. Not having time to prepare for school can be detrimental to your health. It’s also possible that you’ll start feeling exhausted. One last time, go to the beach or the pool and then head to a museum. This is the perfect time to take advantage of the last few weeks of summer.
3. Prepare before the summer vacation ends
Plan for breakfast. Pack all the necessary items in your kitchen to make it easier to prepare and less stressful to carry out. Change the pillows, Make sure your beds are fresh and crisp for a good night’s sleep. It’s always a good idea to get everyone in for their regular visits. It can be a great time to recharge and avoid getting bogged down with unnecessary stress. Instead, use this time to get everyone in for their cleanings and exams.
4. Move at your own pace
Remember when school starts in September? It seems that every year, it gets pushed back a few weeks. We typically start around 36 weeks, but we also work at our own pace. Just a few weeks to finish our lessons, but we can also work at our own pace. Just because we start later doesn’t mean that we will finish late. Self-paced learning is a great way to improve efficiency and minimize wasted time. It allows people to focus on the things that they’re good at, and it eliminates the time they spent worrying about what they didn’t know.
5. Plan accordingly
Spend all summer without worrying about school. Focused on what is needed to be done to prepare for the upcoming school year. Break down the weeks avoiding checking out for shopping for books online. This week, start planning on a strong start to the year.
6. Recharge yourselves
It’s not that we don’t want to get back to a routine, but we also need to take a long break to recharge. This year, we decided to take a longer break to allow our family to recharge. During the school year, you tend to put others before yourself. You spend a lot of time worrying about how those around you will perform. During the first month of summer break, take some time to do some things for yourself. Get that pedicure that you always wanted, go to lunch with your friends, and maybe even start a new school year.
The Benefits And Drawbacks Of Summer Break For Students With Disabilities
Posted at 12:46h in Blog by Pathways
Summertime breaks can be a wonderful and challenging time for any student, but for children with special needs, it can have many specific benefits and drawbacks. Each child is different in the way they’ll react to an extended break from school and their daily routine, and consultations with the child’s in-school team are always recommended.
Benefits
Summer break offers an opportunity to work through any “walls” students with behavioral or intellectual disabilities might experience from school overload. The day-to-day work and atmosphere in classrooms can be overwhelming for some children with special needs, and a summer break enables them to relax and reflect on the educational experience they had, preparing them for the beginning of a new year in the fall.
Along with relaxation, summer break brings unique opportunities to learn and develop social skills. New educational and social experiences can happen at the park, or during family vacations and other outings where children can freely and organically practice appropriate interactions. These opportunities can help improve their understanding of social cues through situations that would not typically happen in a structured classroom.
Parents who wish to provide educational and social opportunities for their child (or are concerned about a loss of knowledge and skills over summer break) can consult with teachers or therapists to find engaging summer activities and exercises. Keeping up with an educational routine can provide stability and can help smooth the transition back to school in the fall.
Drawbacks
On the other side of the discussion, there can be drawbacks to an extended break from school. Whether it’s a regression in behavior and social skills (such as classroom etiquette or waiting their turn) or a struggle to cope with a change in routine, summer break can cause unique difficulties for some children with intellectual and behavioral disabilities.
Regression can be a real concern for parents. Consistent instruction ends with the school year, and retention of instructional information can be a challenge over the summer. In addition to instruction, skills acquired by being in the classroom might relapse to some degree throughout the break. This change in routine could be disruptive to a child with special needs, and they may find it difficult to convert back to a classroom setting, such as sitting at a desk for extended periods of time or adapting back to a classroom routine.
In addition to the regression of academic and social skills, students could also experience a break from their in-school therapies, such as speech or occupational therapy. Parents can consult with the in-school team for work that can be done at home over the summer, or substitute sessions to continue the skill building outside of school.
Services
Families of children with special needs can research in-school opportunities like extended school year services or summer classes, or out-of-school experiences like day camps, to discover what is right for their students and best weigh their choices.
The important thing to remember is that all children respond to breaks differently, and the best way to gauge how they’ll handle the summer is to discuss the options with your in-school team and healthcare providers.
Pathways is one of the largest national providers of accessible, outcome-based behavioral and mental health services. Pathways of Pennsylvania has been serving communities in Pennsylvania since 1981, and is comprised of four companies: Children’s Behavioral Health, Inc., Pathways Community Services, LLC, Raystown Developmental Services, Inc., and The ReDCo Group, Inc. We believe every individual has a right to lead a meaningful and positive life, and we are changing lives, one day at a time.
