Adult Education

Holidays: Relaxation or Revision

With more and more cheap deals, last minute breaks and budget holidays being advertised over the school holidays, it’s harder to resist booking one – especially when you’re craving a spell of hot weather during the British summer! However, spending holidays abroad, and not in front of books in the run up to exams and coursework may be harming your child’s education and chance to succeed.

Half-terms and holidays fill up quickly, especially the Christmas and Easter break, so try not to add more to your child’s plate. The summer holidays are perfect for relaxing, exploring and going away, so many educational specialists recommend that holidays are saved until then. It’s also unlikely that your child will have any upcoming exams; and a holiday can be the best way to distract from impending results’ day – or celebrate once it’s arrived!

Devoting all of a school break to going away can be relaxing – but not for long. Students may return to piled up work and not enough revision done; something that is altogether more stressful in the long run. Unless you know your children are assignment free and exam free, you can be putting more on their plate than necessary.

If you’re going to plan day trips or mini-breaks for half-terms, or during busy holidays like Christmas, it’s a good idea to implement a strict revision , so you can combine the best of both worlds, as well as ensuring all outstanding work has been completed.

No student should have to spend their whole holidays revising. It often does more harm than good, especially if the surrounding terms are going to be filled with work as well. Regular breaks should be taken during a day’s revision, and days for relaxing and doing something non-school related must be scheduled in.

It’s easy to forget about allocating time to revision, and without supervision and structure, short revision sessions can drag out for an entire day, without being beneficial. This damaging circle is more likely to happen during half-term breaks when there are far fewer days off to fit in revision, assignments and having fun.

Ensuring that all revision sessions are productive is something you can use your tutor for. Intense, two-hour tutorials can cover a multitude of topics, and mean that no one will be getting distracted and going off topic! It’s always better to spend a solid two hours working, than a whole day that consists of broken up attempts.

As long as you plan in advance, holidays don’t have to be a choice between revision and relaxation. Speak to your tutor, make sure your children are on top of work, and look for short getaways rather than two-week affairs. Getting the right combination takes effort, but ensures all members of the family are happy.

Written by JC (Guest Blogger)

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