Make This Thanksgiving Productive for the Kids! - Merit Educational Consultants
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Make This Thanksgiving Productive for the Kids!

With 4 days off from school for the Thanksgiving holiday, you can turn a food frenzy, TV watching, lazy weekend into a catch-up and get ahead gift for your kids. 

Don’t get me wrong.  They can still gorge themselves on turkey and pumpkin pie, watch football, play video games, and take lots of naps, but with just a little planning ahead, they could also use this 4-day break to get ahead at school.

They’re usually so busy with homework, test preparation, and afterschool sports every weekend that they don’t have time to absorb concepts that they’re learning in class.  Oh, I know that they do memorize their vocab and cram for tests and squeak by with acceptable grades, but most kids don’t have the luxury of really getting to know the material like they should to confidently ace tests.

By spending just a few hours each day this Thanksgiving weekend, they could review concepts that they’ve learned since the start of the school year so they really understand them. This will give them a huge advantage when they have finals after the holidays. Seniors applying to colleges this fall can write all of their first drafts when they won’t be overwhelmed with homework and sports. 

Here are a few things students can do this Thanksgiving break to improve grades, build a stronger foundation, and get ahead:

  1. Make flashcards for all vocab introduced in classes to prepare for finals
  2. Reread chapters to get a better understanding of concepts
  3. Check Wikipedia to get a different perspective on topics covered
  4. Watch Khan Academy and do exercises to get more mileage in weak areas (math and science)
  5. Watch historical fiction movies to enhance history lessons
  6. Listen to foreign language radio stations or watch foreign language soap operas
  7. Seniors: print out all college app essay prompts and write outlines/first drafts

The best way to incorporate a plan like this is to block off time each day for the family to get stuff done before heading to Grandma’s house or out for Black Friday shopping.  Wishing you a happy and productive Thanksgiving holiday!