What to Do When Preschool Ends and Vacation Begins
The holidays are almost upon us, and preschool is almost over. But how does one get ready for the holiday season? Remember to try and include some educational exercises in your holiday program, but also let your kids run free. We have compiled a few ideas that may help you during this festive break.
(Try) Stay Focused
As the holidays approach, many children see the last few weeks of school as unnecessary. While preparing for the holiday season, try not to forget that it is not the holidays just yet. The last few days of school are still important, even if your child does not think so. Try and get them to stay focused until the holiday break officially starts.
Assignments
Does your child have any assignments to complete over the holidays? If so, encourage them to finish it as soon as possible. Children have a habit of seeing the holidays as a time not connected to school at all, and thus the longer they spend not doing work the less inclined they will be to complete any prescribed assignments. Rather, allow them a few days to enjoy the lack of preschool, then try and get them to finish whatever work they may need to do.
Don’t Let the Learning End
Learning and education should not finish when the school term ends, because it should not be limited to the classroom. Try not to let your child forget everything they learnt. Continue to read with them and to them, be it new books, books they read in the previous term, or books they will read when school restarts (it may be useful to find this information out from their teacher beforehand). Remember to continually engage with your child. It may also be handy to acquire some coloring pages or activities from your child’s teacher, or try and find some online to print out. Alternatively, if your child was learning about animals, take them to the zoo so they can see the animals in real life, or take them to a park if they were learning about plants and trees. Try and encourage them to engage with what they were learning, as opposed to simply letting it fall away as soon as the holiday season starts.
Engage With Your Child
If you are a working parent who does not get to see your child that often during the school week, take this holiday season to find out exactly what your child has been doing at school. Get them to go over it with you if you haven’t been able to in the past, and encourage them to explain what they have learnt.
Let Them Have Fun
Although learning should not stop when school does, do not try and become a second teacher. Holidays exist for people, children included, to relax. Encourage them to continue reading and spelling, but don’t force them. Yes, continued learning is important, but it should not be to the detriment of both parent and child. If it’s the first snow day of the season, don’t expect your child to stay indoors and read with you.