Posts Tagged ‘summer holiday’

Year 13 – what to do with your summer

Wednesday, July 27th, 2011

If you are in Year 13 (Upper Sixth) then this is a great time for you – your A Level exams are over and you have a few weeks ahead where you can relax before your exam results come in and you get a job or go off to university.  Because it’s been such a hectic few months you might not have thought about what you’ll do over the summer (and we know there are a fair few of you who’d like to do absolutely nothing!). But by now you may have had a few weeks to chill out and be looking around for something to do.

This might be your last chance, at least for a while, to fill your time with some interesting and career enhancing activities. Before you know it you’ll be in the world of work or finding your way at university. Here are just a few suggestions to fill your time over the next few weeks.

1.      Work experience

If there’s one thing that employers say time and time again about choosing someone to work for them it’s that they want someone with experience. You can have all the qualifications in the world but even a few weeks experience in your chosen sector could make the difference between landing your dream job or walking away disappointed. It’s also a great chance to try out different jobs and turn your hand to a variety of jobs before you pick your ‘career’. Lots of companies would love to have someone enthusiastic and hardworking over the summer to help them out. It’s fairly straightforward to get some work experience – just think about the kind of companies you want to work for – and then drop them an email, call them or go and see them in person. It’s a good idea to get a basic CV together and be ready to answer questions about why you want to do work experience at that company. If you don’t have a career or specific company in mind then doing any kind of work will give you valuable skills in timekeeping, responsibility and self-motivation.

2.      Take a day trip to Uni

If you are going to Uni in September then you’ve probably already visited your University – but how long did you spend there? A few hours? How about jumping on a train with a few mates and really starting to get to know the place you’ll spend the next 3 or so years. It can give you a real head start before your course begins and give you vital information like where the supermarkets are!

3.      Volunteer

At 121 Home Tutors we happen to think volunteering is one of the most rewarding and enriching things you can do with your time. There are hundreds of volunteering opportunities in the UK and abroad – and there’s something to suit everyone – from building schools in Africa, to fundraising to helping out at events. You can find information here

4.      Learn a new skill

Chances are you’ve been so busy the last few months you’ve had no time to just concentrate on you and what you like. When was the last time you learnt something that you really enjoyed? The holidays are the perfect time to join a club or class and develop or polish up a skill – from Zumba to learning French – check out Plings for classes, events and things to do.  There’s always the option to work one to one with a specialised tutor.

5.      Travel

If you’ve done A Levels languages what will you do with them now? How about taking those skills and enjoying everything that another country has to offer? Check out options like Interail and turn your holiday into an adventure.

If you’d like to know more about learning a new skill over the summer then contact us at 121 Home Tutors – we offer one to one language tuition including French and Spanish across Manchester and  Cheshire.

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Exams are over (for now!)

Thursday, July 14th, 2011

The exam season is finally over and it’s time for teens to take a well-earned rest. But then they have six (or more) long weeks stretching ahead of them and hours and hours of time to while away. The summer holidays are a great opportunity to catch up and/or work on areas where students might have struggled this academic year.

This is the perfect time for Year 9 students who are going into their GCSE years to work on subjects they’ve struggled with. If your child is in Year 9 and will start working towards their iGCSE (often in independent schools and perceived as harder than a traditional GCSE)  then summer tutoring can help them get a headstart.

And if your child is in Year 10 or 12 then they’ll be on their way to final GCSE and A Level exams in the next year – this is the summer that could make all the difference to how they enter one of the most important years of their life.  Summer catch ups and study aren’t just for those who’ve struggled a bit, it’s a chance for every student to get ahead or just make sure their brain doesn’t turn to mush in the space of six weeks.

It might seem daft to say that students can fall behind in such a short space of time – but in a month and a half (even longer for independent and boarding schools) the skills they’ve built up during the year can quickly disappear. It means they often start the year struggling to find their feet.  When we talk to parents and students we find the areas they most struggle with at the start of the year (after the long summer break) are modern languages (so French, Spanish etc), Maths and Science. It’s usually because these are the trickiest subjects for most students and all of these subjects combine using complex skills with learning a lot of knowledge. So for example they have to develop skills such as writing up experiments or solving equations alongside taking in knowledge of names of compounds or lists of vocabulary and noun formations. So how can we help them stay on top without destroying all the fun of the summer holidays?

The secret is to find fun ways of engaging the brain without making it feel like learning.

  • If your child is learning a language, maybe French or Spanish, then visit the country for a trip or holiday. Encourage them to use the language but also know that just being around it will utlise their skills (such as reading and comprehension).
  • Visit museums and exhibitions – places like MOSI (The Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester) aren’t just for young children. There’s stuff for children of all ages (and even better it will entertain them for a whole day).
  • Keep them reading – encourage them to read their favourite books, invest in some new reading material and if they are willing get them to cast an eye over their textbooks.
  • Use the resources you have for educational purposes – yes they are probably already permanently glued to the television or internet, so encourage them to find programmes relevant to their study (Braniac for Science for example).
  • Think about using a private tutor – tutors don’t have to teach in a classroom style and an hour or two a week could be just what your child needs to go into the next year brimming with confidence.

If you live in Greater Manchester Cheshire and you’d like to find out more about how summer holiday tutoring can help your child –in tricky subjects like Maths, Science and modern languages –get in touch with 121 Home Tutors.

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Summer holiday catch-up for primary students

Tuesday, July 13th, 2010

Last month we looked at ways to make sure older children don’t lose ground over the long summer holiday break.

But what about the primary age group? If anything, the problem of forgetting knowledge and skills is even greater for kids in Years 1 to 6. They are less mature – six weeks’ holiday is practically a lifetime when you’re eight – and, unless they are soon to take entrance tests (discussed in our last post), they don’t have major targets to aim for in the way that GCSE and A-Level students do.

So what can you do to keep him or her sharp and productive over the school holiday without pushing too hard? Here are some tips:

  • If you’ve read this blog before, you’ll know that we’re great believers in the importance of keeping up with reading. Having a book on the go throughout the summer maintains and improves comprehension skills, as well as firing the imagination and developing general knowledge. And let’s face it – if your child gets into reading it’s a great way of keeping him or her occupied during the long summer days!
  • Puzzles and games are great for developing maths and reasoning skills. Even something as old-fashioned as Monopoly will help keep your child sharp, and if you’re going on holiday books of puzzles are a great way to while away long car journeys. Try to steer your child towards more challenging puzzles and games. Older children, in particular, will do better with puzzles like Sudoko, maths problems and verbal reasoning than with simple word searches and ‘spot the difference’. If you don’t have many good educational games at home, check out the Science Museum’s online store or the brilliant collection of educational toys and games at Brightminds.co.uk
  • On the subject of museums, why not plan a few visits? Many run great events for kids over the school summer holidays; if you’re heading to London the Science Museum and the Natural History Museum are surprisingly kid-friendly and a paradise for the curious. Further north, Eureka in West Yorkshire is specifically designed to get kids into science.
  • Even if you’re not planning a family visit, all three of those museums have great online areas. Eureka, for example, has a selection of free kids’ games. The NHM has a full Kids’ Area, containing live camera feeds of ants’ nests and more. The Science Museum’s Online Stuff includes a section of games that are great for older kids. In particular, if you have a child in the 10-12 age group, the Museum’s Thingdom online game, which teaches kids about genes and evolution, is brilliant. Overall, the Museum’s collection of free educational games for kids is one of the best available anywhere – you can find the full listing here.
  • There are other great websites that can help maintain your child’s skills. Sites like The KidsKnowIt network and Learninggamesforkids.com offer an array of resources and free online learning games that can help your child stay sharp and occupied – while having fun! Some sites are a bit American in style, but once you work out that the year numbering in the US K-12 system is pretty much the same as in the British Y1-13 system, it’s easy to find material suitable for your kids. They might also like the BBC’s DynaMo and Digger and the Gang pages – the latter is divided up into activies by age range.
  • Is your child showing the beginnings of talent for practical and technical subjects? You might think about getting hold of some Meccano or LEGO for them (if they don’t already have it). Meccano products are available in four age ranges (2+, 5+, 7+ and 8+), offering great opportunities for kids to explore their practical skills and develop their reasoning ability – find out more on the Meccano website. LEGO also offers some great stuff: if you have very bright children in the 10+ age range who are showing a real flair for technical subjects, you could nurture their talents with some of the amazing products in the LEGO MindStorms series. If your kids are are slightly younger (or you want to spend slightly less!) then many of the products in LEGO’s TECHNIC range are also ideal.
  • How about hiring a tutor for some summer tuition? Nothing beats personal help, and here at 121 Home Tutors we do quite a bit of work helping younger children in the Greater Manchester, Stockport and Macclesfield,  Wilmslow, Cheshire areas. We can offer fun, one-to-one, tailored summer tuition to meet your child’s needs and ensure that he or she doesn’t fall behind over the long summer break from school.

If you’d like to talk about any aspect of what we do, or discuss summer tuition options for your primary age children, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us!

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