How To Make the Most of Your Summer Break
2 years ago
How To Make the Most of Your Summer Break
Getting Extra Work Done
While doing extra work in the holidays might sound like the last thing you want to do, making an effort to get ahead and get organised for the school year in the holidays can save you a lot of time and stress by the time that Term 1 rolls around!
And holiday work doesn’t have to be study - it can include organising yourself and finding time to build good habits for 2022. Using your time in the holidays to do this will give you a huge head start for the new school year!
Weekly Planners and Calendars
Organising yourself can be extremely satisfying. Being unorganised can be stressful and time-consuming. Finding time to organise yourself in the holidays means you can hit the ground running in Term 1, and allow you to focus on your schoolwork - not your lack of organisation!
The big-ticket piece of organisation that is definitely worth getting on top of is making a weekly planner for Term 1. This would involve finding a timetable for the week, divided into hour-by-hour slots, and filling it out with all of your activities and commitments in that week. It’s really important that you put in your extracurricular activities FIRST, and then use your time around those activities to do homework and any extra study.
You can find heaps of good weekly planner templates online, or you could do one physically on a whiteboard or A3 sheet of paper.
Similarly, getting a calendar ready for Term 1 (or the whole school year!) will help you stay on top of deadlines and assessment dates. Find a calendar with all of the term dates you need and have it ready on your wall, so when you get assessments or homework deadlines they can go straight into your calendar. This will help you visualize and map out the term in your head.
Building Good Habits
The school term can be a really busy, stressful period, and can also be a really difficult time to establish good habits that will help you work better and more importantly, feel better! Making time in the holidays to exercise, eat well and find a regular sleep pattern will allow you to carry these habits straight into the school term. Finding time to slow down and getting time to yourself (or even giving meditation a go!) in the holidays is also a really important habit to get into, and something that is definitely worth continuing into Term 1.
RESN’s Holiday Recommendations
While at RESN we highly recommend getting into academic habits during the holidays, we also believe that the holidays are a time to get away, enjoy some sun, relax and unwind! Here are our favourite spots across Australia to holiday at:
Phillip Island, while known for its motorsport, is a beautiful island located off the south coast of Victoria. It’s got surf beaches, cafes, pubs, and heaps of other activities. It also is home to penguins, which you can watch make their way up the shore. Something you don’t get in many other spots in Australia!
Jervis Bay doesn’t look like it belongs in Australia - it looks like it should be somewhere in the remote South Pacific. It’s known for its white-sand beaches and vivid-blue water, as well as its dolphins and whales. The perfect spot to get away from it all and enjoy some quiet time.
Noosa is one of the most well-known holiday spots in Australia, and for good reason. It’s the quintessential Australian beach town, with beautiful coastal walks, surf beaches, cafes and shopping. There’s plenty to do, and the weather never fails to deliver!
If You’ve Just Finished Year 12
Firstly, well done you! Finishing high school is a massive achievement and something to be super proud of. This summer break is bound to be a memorable one!
But while finishing school is awesome, it can be stressful if you don’t know what to do next year, or if you haven’t finalised your plans. If this sounds like you, spending some time researching universities, courses and accommodation would be a really great use of time. We’ve also got blog posts on How to Prepare for University, and How to Maximise the Resources and Opportunities at University, which are definitely worth checking out.
And finally, we also have opportunities to volunteer at RESN in 2022 - in either a tutoring or non-tutoring capacity. If you’re interested, you can sign up here.