A Guide to Using Your Last Weeks of Summer

Ladies and gentlemen, it is time. With the annual ceasing of summer rapidly approaching, and with just a third of our time of freedom remaining, it's time we lock into focus. We know, we know, the last thing you want to think about right now is the looming, dark cloud that is preparing to ruin our beautiful summer days. But trust me, if you take the time to get into gear and get the ball rolling for the upcoming school year, you will come to thank us in the long run. There are many steps in getting yourself prepared for the upcoming school year, and you can do it in many ways, but here are a few of the ways that we recommend.

Get Into Better Sleep Habits

We all enjoy that feeling of being able to stay up late and sleep in during summer that you don't get in the school year, but it's better to slowly adjust your sleep schedule so that you are gradually getting used to the sleep schedule that you need to take on to succeed in school. To make sure you are taking care of your sleep habits, we recommend that you start going to bed earlier and waking up earlier by 10 minutes per day until you reach a sleep schedule that works for both you and the requirements that go along with school. Along with that, turning off all electronics at least 45 minutes before you go to sleep can help you fall asleep a lot faster, and overall feel better when you wake up. Lastly, we recommend that you start to do things such as take showers or make breakfast as soon as you get up, rather than moseying around for a little while and then doing that. By creating this fast-paced schedule that starts as soon as you get up, you are preparing yourself for the fast-paced mornings that come once school starts.

2. Prepare Yourself Academically

Along with getting yourself in better sleep habits, preparing yourself academically for the upcoming school year, is extremely important for taking advantage of the last few weeks we have of summer. I can almost guarantee that you don’t remember every single piece of information that you learned over the past school year. However, if you want to kick your brain back into gear and get those things back into your focus, doing small things can help jog your memory. Just going on YouTube or Khan Academy for half an hour a day can be extremely beneficial. What a lot of people recommend is that each day, you pick a topic that you want to focus on, and watch a few YouTube or Khan Academy videos on the topic. And I can say from my own experience that, trust me, you will be surprised how easily these things are recalled. All you have to do is start thinking about them again, and all of the important information will come rushing back into your mind. We also recommend that you take time to prepare for the upcoming year. If you know that you are taking a class, but are unsure how much you know about the topic, it can be extremely helpful to just pull up some educational videos, or read in a textbook. This way, just spending a few minutes doing this per day can help you to get ahead in the class, and give you some nice peace of mind for the first few weeks of school.

3. Take Some Time To Relax

After all, it’s what summer is all about, isn’t it? Many kids and teens take their summer to do things like sports, summer jobs, or even extra classes. After 2 months of doing this, we start to get tired, and there are only a few weeks left until we have to go back to school. So, the last thing we recommend you do this summer is to take some time to relax, rejuvenate, and make some time for yourself. Summer can be full of activities, but if we want to really take full advantage of it, we should remember to sit down every once in a while, maybe just sitting there and staring into blank space, or maybe spending relaxing time with our family. No matter how you choose to do it, it is so vitally important to take our mind off of all the things that we have to do and what we have done and just relax.

That’s all that we recommend you do to take advantage of your last few weeks of summer. Remember, get some good sleep, prepare yourself academically, but most importantly, take some time to relax and calm yourself before school starts up again.