How to Handle School Vacations

The holiday time presents a welcome respite from the daily grind of the school calendar. It is a time for rest, relaxation, and reflection. The giddiness felt by children before a holiday break is palpable. While it is important for all children to take a break and regroup, it is also key that scholastic skills and some sort of routine do not fall to the wayside.

Parents looking to keep their children’s skills sharp over the holidays should follow these suggestions for an enjoyable, engaging, intellectual holiday break.

1) Maintain some sort of academic routine. If you and your child read street signs together, count change or practice reading the time on the clock, keep that up in a relaxed, natural way.

2) Read each day for 20 minutes. If your child is resistant to reading, choose a book with a topic she is interested in or pick a magazine she enjoys. You can also read together. Make it a special time.

3) Practice math skills with products like Jumping Joey’s Number Line. This product is fun and keeps kids active; use it when you have some downtime to reinforce skills in an interactive way.

4) Review academic content throughout the vacation through inquiry. Ask your child questions and solve problems together. The holidays are a great time to talk about being thankful; discuss what you all are thankful for and have write or draw about together.

5) Make family time a chance for storytelling to develop narrative skills. Storytelling is an important way for children to learn about their family’s background and past experiences. Structure it in a way so children are learning key concepts such as beginning, middle, end and don’t forget the 5 w’s and 1 h (who, what, where, when, why, how).

6) Incorporate learning into holiday traditions like cooking and setting the table. Have your child help with measurements and counting through these fun holiday activities.

Give the gift of learning and your entire family will be rewarded. Wishing everyone a wonderful holiday season!

Matthew Mandelbaum and Jamie Cohen are parents and learning specialists and are the creators of Jumping Joey’s Number Line. Jumping Joey’s Number Line is an innovative, child-centered, multi-sensory arithmetic learning system for Pre-K through Elementary. Jumping Joey’s Number Line fosters enjoyable, engaging, effective and efficient mathematical experiences, where students are motivated and build a strong math foundation with long-term understanding. Students feel successful and excited about learning opportunities, and confident in their emerging abilities.