Connecticut Parents: plan for summer

The summer provides an unusual gift: free time.  .Doing nothing but having fun for the last few weeks of June straight through July 8th (post July 4th weekend makes plenty of sense.  Many Connecticut students ended the school year in mid-June.  Most That’s 20-25 days of pure vacation. Should be sufficient!

Moreover, July and August will each have a few built-in long weekends or full weeks of vacation for many Connecticut students.  That will put the number of pure vacation days somewhere closer to the 30 day range. Outside of our highly affluent Connecticut population, most people view that much vacation as a couple year’s worth!

What happens to most students when they are not productive in the summer?  They get bored.  Boys play video games for so long that even they realize that doing something else would be better for them.  Girls manufacture drama through endless texts and chats and whatever other social media is currently predominating teen world. Neither leads to happiness and, of course, neither lead to success.

What should high school students do? Most every sophomore heading into junior year would be wise to engage in test prep. Other students would be wise to bolster their math and writing skills.  For those who are not naturally strong at math, the subject will still be 20% of your report card and 50% of your standardized tests.  As for writing, this area becomes increasingly important as students progress through high school and enter college.

So, while your student-children should relax for the remainder of June, parents would be wise to plan for July and August.