At Beacon Academy in Crystal, Minnesota, we know you want to do everything possible to keep your kids’ development on track with them living up to their full potential. During the holiday breaks, outside of their rigorous learning environment, it’s easy for children to fall behind or lose the progress they have achieved. To help, we’ve compiled this list of tips for staying sharp over breaks.

1. Create a Study Schedule

When it comes to staying sharp during the holidays, the important thing is to keep the mind occupied. Like a muscle, the brain requires regular activity in order to perform well. The best way to ensure this occurs is to create a study schedule that your child can maintain throughout the duration of a break. Although the schedule should be tailored to your family’s needs, try to schedule studying at a time when your child can focus well without distractions.

Next, break the time you choose up into chunks that address the different topics and subjects your child is studying. You could do this by distributing equal amounts of time to each subject every day, or you may choose to alternate subject schedules. In that case, you might schedule writing and reading one day, history and geography one day, and math and science one day.

If your students struggle with a particular subject or topic, you may want to spend more time working on it. Remind your children that it is normal for them to struggle in some areas and that, while they may have to work a little harder sometimes in those areas, hard work pays off. Our Minnesota charter school knows that every child is different, and we embrace those differences while doing everything we can to make sure each and every child is meeting their unique full potential.

2. Set Goals for Every Day

At Beacon Academy, we embrace goal setting and believe it is one of the best tips for staying sharp. Whatever schedule set-up you have chosen, it’s important to set specific goals for your children every day, so they know what they are working toward. Without goals, studying can feel aimless, and students are less likely to retain what they are working on long-term.

Decide together what the goals for each day should be. Your student is in the classroom and understands our expectations, so allow them to be your guide in setting appropriate goals. Remember that the big goal is staying sharp during the holidays, so it isn’t necessarily important that they learn entirely new skills or information as long as they are working to retain what they have already learned thus far.

3. Practice Second Language Skills

Beacon Academy in Crystal, Minnesota, is committed to helping students build second language proficiency. Language skills are easiest to lose when not practiced frequently, so we recommend working with your children on these as a great way of staying sharp during the holidays. Let them integrate their second language into conversation whenever possible and ask questions that encourage them to respond in that language. Exposure to language is essential, so even something as simple as watching a movie together in the second language can be beneficial and is a fun bonus way of keeping that language learning alive during the break.

Together, you and your children can use these tips for staying sharp to keep them prepared to come back to school without any loss or regression. Reach out to the experts at Beacon Academy in Crystal, Minnesota, for information on other ways you can help your child find their educational success.

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