Summer—it’s a time for your kids to relax and play in the sun. But can too much relaxation be harmful for their growing minds and bodies (as well as your growing impatience)?

Why do students need structure in the summer?
While students look forward to the lazy days of summer, the lack of predictability and irregular routines plague kids with anxiety and boredom. These may lead to behavior problems at home.

Summer learning loss is also a huge issue for students during these vacation months. On average, students lose 2 months of reading and mathematics knowledge over the summer because they are not regularly learning.

The lack of structure during the summer even encourages students to develop unhealthy habits. They often spend more time indoors in front of the TV or computer and consume unhealthy snacks. This sedentary lifestyle has proven to negatively impact kids as they grow, and often leads to higher rates of obesity.

Structure helps your kids channel their energy into productive, engaging activities that boost their confidence, limit learning loss, and encourage healthy habits.

But how do you incorporate structure into the summer?

1. Enroll your kids in a summer camp.
Summer camp activities keep students on a schedule that is fun and engaging. When you look for a summer camp, look for ones that emphasize:

• Clear, balanced schedules.
• Physical activity.
• Educational experiences (classes, field trips, guest speakers, etc.).
• Nutritional snacks.
• FUN (it is still summer, after all).

The Quest Summer Camp is a great mix of structure and spontaneity for campers—each week students look forward to exciting field studies such as Engineering Week, Creative Art Week, and more. All of our camps include the NFL Play 60 and Digital Literacy and STEM Learning Programs to keep your kids physically and mentally healthy over the summer. You can learn more about our summer camp activities and enroll your camper at www.thequestzone.com/summer.

2. Create a schedule as a family.
Whether or not summer camp is in the cards for your kids, it’s important to keep a routine at home. Work together with your students to build a schedule and post it in a visible location. This way, your kids feel like they have a say in the schedule and are more likely to follow it. This can also be a fun time to bond with your kids!

3. Keep meals and bedtimes regular.
Even if you can’t keep all their activities during the day straight, regulating their meals and sleep makes the schedule predictable for kids. This reduces anxiety and boosts their daily confidence. Regularly scheduled meals and bedtimes also encourages restful sleep and promotes better dietary choices in the long term.

4. Include a physical activity.
Kids need at least 60 minutes of physical activity every day. Encourage your children to dance, bike, swim, and more every day this summer. This will encourage healthy habits that ward off future health issues.

5. Limit entertainment screen time, but encourage educational screen time.
Screen time can turn your student into a lethargic zombie on a beautiful, sunny day. Reduce social media, video games, television, and other entertainment screen time to between one to two hours a day. In place of entertainment screen time, encourage educational activities such as reading and math games.

6. Don’t forget family time.
Summer is the perfect time to bond over family trips, summer camping activities, or even stay-cations. Building in time for little things like a family game night or a dinner spent at the dining table can bring your family closer on a daily basis.

7. Be flexible with the plans.
Just because your student needs structure, doesn’t mean summertime has to be rigid! Strict schedules can be just as boring for kids. Flexibility keeps your home (almost) stress-free and helps the whole family enjoy the summer schedule.

8. Remember your family needs.
Create a schedule that fits your family and is fun to follow! Don’t restrict your students to the same old schedule every week. Be creative, and your kids won’t even notice the scheduled time.

Research tells us that kids are more successful in school when parents take an active interest in their homework.  It helps students understand that what they do when they aren’t in the classroom is also very important to their education.

Of course, helping with homework shouldn’t mean spending hours hunched over a desk with your child after you have been at work all day. Parents can be supportive by demonstrating organization skills, sharing their own experience setting and achieving short-term goals, explaining a tricky problem, or just encouraging kids to take a break if they get overwhelmed. And who knows? Parents might even learn a thing or two!

So, how can you as a parent help your child get the most out of their homework?  Here are some tips to guide the way:

1. Know the teachers — and what they’re looking for. Attend school events like parent-teacher conferences and meet your child’s teachers. Ask about their homework policies and how you should be involved. Knowing the teacher’s expectations upfront can help avoid frustrations later.
2. Set up a homework-friendly area. Make sure kids have a well-lit place to complete homework. Keep supplies — paper, pencils, glue, scissors — within reach.
3. Schedule a regular study time. Some kids work best in the afternoon, following a snack and play period.  Others may prefer to wait until after dinner.
4. Help them make a plan. On heavy homework nights or when there’s an especially hefty assignment to tackle, encourage your child to break up the work into manageable chunks. Create a work schedule for the night if necessary — and take time for a 15-minute break every hour, if possible.
5. Keep distractions to a minimum. This means no TV, loud music, or phone calls. (Occasionally, though, a phone call to a classmate about an assignment can be helpful.)
6. Make sure kids do their own work. They won’t learn if they don’t think for themselves and make their own mistakes. Parents can make suggestions and help with directions, but it’s a kid’s job to do the learning!
7. Be a motivator and monitor. Ask about assignments, quizzes, and tests. Give encouragement, check completed homework, and make yourself available for questions and concerns.
8. Set a good example. Do your kids ever see you diligently balancing your budget or reading a book? Kids are more likely to follow their parents’ examples than their advice.
9. Praise their work and efforts. Post an aced test or art project on the refrigerator. Mention academic achievements to relatives. Don’t underestimate the power of praise!
10. If there are continuing problems with homework, get help. Discuss any issues that arise with your child’s teacher. Some kids have trouble seeing the board and may need glasses, while others might need an evaluation for a learning problem or attention disorder.

While summer camp may seem like just a fun way to keep kids busy on the break from school, summer camps offer so much more. This answer to prayer for most working parents can help build life skills that serve students throughout their pre-teen and teenage years, and even into adulthood.

Learning-based summer camps provide a balance between routine and opportunity through a mix of structured and unstructured time, helping students develop essential life skills using methods not typical of classroom environments.

Here are just a few ways summer camp can help students grow socially, emotionally, intellectually, morally, and physically.

1. Build new relationships. At camp students are challenged with making social adjustments to new and diverse types of people, gaining new relational skills and increasing their self-esteem through the process.  Children also learn how to come together to work for something bigger than themselves – the team. They learn that relationships benefit from investment, and teams benefit from strong individual relationships.
2. Develop confidence and self-esteem. The camp environment teaches resilience as children learn to get back up and try again after failures, leading to increased confidence and building self-esteem. Challenges teach them how to take calculated risks and learn from their mistakes along the way to achieve a desired outcome.  Michael Popkin, family therapist and founder of Active Parenting says, “The building blocks of self-esteem are belonging, learning, and contributing. Camps offer unique opportunities for children to succeed in these three vital areas and even beyond home and school.”
3. Learn how to make decisions. Camp experiences grow confidence and develop good decision-making skills. As challenges are presented and risks are taken, ownership emerges, and responsibility and accountability are formed. This promotes self-determination and teaches children how to set goals and make appropriate decisions to ultimately achieve their goals.
4. Discover talents, interests, and values. Peter Scales, noted author and educator says, “The biggest plus of camp is that they help young people discover and explore their talents, interests, and values. Most schools don’t satisfy all these needs.”  Students who have had camp experiences end up healthier mentally, emotionally, socially, and even physically because they get to know themselves and how they fit into the world.

While today’s world makes it very easy to seek out only what is enjoyable and avoid what is unpleasant, camp nudges children to move out of their comfort zone to overcome challenges while building essential life skills.  And when students learn to push themselves to grow, they develop understanding around what it takes to be a productive, independent contributor to society.