17 Smart Ways To Spend School Holidays

Vacations are fun but only when they are used profitably. In this article, we share 17 smart ways to spend school holidays.

Examinations are over and school is out for the semester (term). It is a relief for millions of students all over the globe at this time of their school year, but what’s next? Many students around the world are wondering, “Now what are they to do with all this free time?”

There are movies to watch and games to play, trips to go on, friends to visit and hang out with, but there are also lots of successful and productive things to do during the school holidays.

17 Smart Ways To Spend School Holiday

#1 Reflect on the past semester/term

You can spend school holidays by reflecting on the term or semester to identify the high and low points.

Answer the following questions in your notepad or diary…

• What subject areas did I do well in the past semester/term?
• What subject areas did I not do well in the past semester/term?
• What will I do differently in the coming semester/term?

Afterwards, set process goals for the coming semester/term, process goals are more effective than performance goals.

What is the difference between process and performance goals?

Process goals are what you intend to do, whilst performance goals are what you intend to achieve. For instance…

Performance Goal: Get an  A for Maths in the next semester.

Process Goals: Practice three (3) extra Maths questions every day after dinner.

Thus, by setting process goals, you are more likely to take action than setting only performance goals. So take your time to set six(6) to ten (10) process goals for the coming semester during the school holidays, this will help you be successful and productive.

#2 Watch educational videos on YouTube/Television

There are so many educational videos to watch on YouTube channels and Television stations.

Here are a few of my favourite educational YouTube channels and Television stations:

• MinutePhysics (shows all kinds of cool stuff in physics), created by Henry Reich.
• CrashCourse is history, chemistry, astronomy and much more channel on YouTube
• AsapSCIENCE is a YouTube educational channel that teaches science topics ranging from psychology to biology.
• Joylearning Television

 #3 Documentaries.

You can watch thousands of high-quality documentaries for free at Documentary Heaven.

#4 Get a job as a way to spend school holidays effectively

Don’t worry too much about what the job will pay. As the saying goes, “Take a job for what you will learn, not for what you will earn.”

This is especially true for school holiday jobs. The best learning experience might just come as an unpaid job or internship.

#5 Learn a new language.

Visit these websites and learn a new language:

• Duolingo
• Babbel
• BBC Languages

#6 Find a cause you care about.

The school holidays are a good time to give back. Find a cause you care about and start thinking of ways to support that cause. For instance:

 Volunteer: find a practical way to serve and contribute. You could volunteer to clean up the beach, help at a nursing home or animal shelter, or helping to educate the community on COVID-19 protocols.

#7 Improve your physical health as away to spend school holidays

You have more time during the school holidays. So this is a great opportunity to sleep well, exercising regularly, and eat healthily.

#8 Learn a new skill.

You could learn skills like…

• Public speaking
• Cooking
• Drawing
• Self-defence
• Negotiation
• Listening
• Positive thinking

#9 Read.

Reading expands and develops the mind. It gives you excessive knowledge, and lessons of life by helping in understanding the world around you better. Reading keeps the mind active and enhances your creativity. Also, reading improves your vocabulary and develops your communication skills.

I strongly recommend that you read these five books:

• Courtesy for Boys and Girl-by Hannah Hagan
• Rich Dad, Poor Dad- by Robert Kiyosaki
• The Holy Bible
• Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
• How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
• The Success Principles by Jack Canfield
• Feel the Fear… and Do It Anyway by Susan Jeffers
• The Happy Student by Daniel Wong

#10 Improve your vocabulary.

Learning a new vocabulary each day will bolster your ability to grasp ideas and think more logically as a student. The greater number of vocabularies learnt the more you can interpret people’s ideas and express yourself well. It will boost your power of persuasion and help you communicate engagedly.

Learn your vocabularies from the following sites…

• Vocabulary.com
• EnhanceMyVocabulary.com
• MyCollegeSuccessStory.com
• BBC LEARNING ENGLISH
• Confusing Words
• Just The Word
• Lexipedia
• Wordnik
• Lingro
• Vocab Grabber
• Snappy Words
• Wordia
• Graphwords
• Word Spy
• VocabGenii
• Wordhippo
• Wordthink
• Vocabulary. co. li

#11 Improve your writing skills.

Writing skills are important for academic success, and they’re even more important for career success. So work on your writing skills this school holiday.

Read this excellent article on how to improve your writing. Next, read at least one of these books and put into practice what you’ve learned:

• The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr. and E. B. White
• Writing Tools by Roy Peter Clark
• On Writing Well by William Zinsser

#12 Develop healthy habits.

Good habits, Nathaniel Emmons once said, “Habit is the best of servants or the worst of masters.”

These are possible habits to develop this school holiday:

• Daily reflection
• Reading for 15 minutes before bed
• Keeping a gratitude journal
• Getting on a regular sleep schedule
• Drinking more water
• Exercising
• Being time conscious

#13 Read articles on how to become a successful student.

Read these articles…

• The Unintended Consequence of an Overwhelmed Student
• How to Stay Focused: Train Your Brain
• How to Study Smart: 20 Scientific Ways to Learn Faster
• 8 Truths That Successful Students Understand
• How I Became a Straight-A Student by Following These 7 Rules

#14 Develop time management skills.

Good time management skills help students prioritize tasks so they can complete schoolwork and assignments on time. It also helps students avoid procrastination, which can be a slippery slope to stress, frustration and poor grades.

Get started with these resources:

• Entrepreneur.com
• TopUniversities.com
• GoodLuckExams.com

Students can learn how to develop time management skill by following these steps…

• Set correct goals that are achievable and measurable.
• Prioritize wisely, thus prioritize tasks based on importance and urgency
• Set a time-limited to complete tasks
• Take a break between tasks
• Organize yourself
• Remove non-essential tasks or activities
• Make plans beforehand.

#15 Increase your typing speed as you spend your school holidays

Probably as you get older, you’ll need to do more typing on your computer.

Explore these three websites to increase your typing speed:

• Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing
• Typing.com
• TypeRacer.com
• RapidTyping.com

#16 Create checklists.

For the tasks, you perform repeatedly, create checklists so that you’ll save time in the long run.

For example, you could create a checklist for the things you ought to do…

• Every day when you get home from school.
• When you prepare for an exam.
• Every weekend as you prepare for the upcoming week.
• When you’re packing your bag.
• Before you take an exam.
• To reflect on your life periodically.

#17 Find a mentor as you sepnd your school holidays

A good mentor will help you become more self-aware, make better decisions, and find long-term success. Mentors keep your best interests, abilities, skills and talents in mind, helping you reach your highest potential. By providing information, guidance and encouragement, mentors can play an important role in nurturing your career aspirations. A mentor can have a lasting impact on the life of a student.

Also, excellent mentors serve as a thought partner for students on their academic journey and help empower students to become autonomous learners and agents of their own change. They express understanding of students’ ambitions, fears and support their success by acting as advocates for students’ best interests.

READ: Be a Critical Thinker in Four (4) Steps

The bottom line
It’s impossible to do all seventeen (17) things described in this article. Besides, I know you also want to have plenty of fun this school holiday.

So don’t feel overwhelmed.

Instead, develop a realistic plan.

As you follow your plan, I’m positive that you’ll have a meaningful, productive and fun-filled school holiday!

Now you know how to spend school holidays and get the best out of them. Go for what works for you.