After a year of books, quizzes, and online exams, who doesn’t want a brain break? I’m sure you are eager to put away your learning materials until school starts again. But before clearing your study table, have you heard about summer learning loss? This means that you can possibly lose months’ worth of lessons you’ve learned in school when you choose to have a study-free summer. 

However, just because you might forget the topics you’ve learned doesn’t mean you have to miss out on summer fun. The key is to find a healthy balance between break and studies. This time of the year, you don’t have to pull an all-nighter for your academics. A good hour or so will already go a long way. 

Here are a few tricks that might help.  

Create a vision board 

As a break from information-heavy learning materials, get crafty and create a vision board this summer. It may include what course you want to take, your dream university, your dream career, passion projects, and an image of the person you want to become in the future. In this vision board, you can also fill it with steps you want to take to achieve your vision or even quotes that keep you going.  

Draft a list of goals you want to achieve this summer 

If college and the life after it is not yet in your mind, you can create a list of goals just for this summer. Your goal must be realistic and must be balanced, too! Include goals for both study and play. Is your goal to have a healthier lifestyle or a more organized room? Do you plan to read more books? It’s up to you. 

Catch up on family time 

Remember, you can use the summer break to catch up on family time, too. Do fun activities together. Teach your younger siblings their upcoming school lessons. To balance it all off, you should also create an academic goal—be it to master the multiplication table or improve your reading retention.  

Browse your books, especially challenging subjects 

If you are decluttering or organizing your study space, don’t put away the books or notes on subjects you found challenging this school year. Take this summertime to study the topics until you finally understand them. Mastering these topics will help you easily and confidently study advanced topics, especially those related to them. 

Ask for next year’s topics 

Some schools provide a list of topics that will be tackled for the next school year. Use this to your advantage if your school does this. With this on hand this summer, you may start getting familiar with key concepts or reading books for your future literary papers. If the list isn’t available, you can ask for the advice of your senior schoolmates. Ask what topics they studied and what resource materials they used. This would also be a great time to catch up and socialize with your friends too! 

Set up a time for learning 

Now that your summer plans and future inspiration are laid out, you now have the drive to study during summer. You can focus on your studies or any educational programs for an hour. If you’re in the mood to learn some more, you are free to do so. 

Just remember to take it easy this time. Take your much-deserved break and spend summertime bettering yourself.