Last Updated On: July 3rd, 2025
SUMMER! It’s finally here! An endless stretch without deadlines, exams, alarms, or stress. Right? Right???
Or maybe, just when you thought it was safe to do nothing, you find out all your friends are headed for STEM camp and taking courses at the nearby university, your parents are not so gently suggesting you get an internship and sign up for college prep classes, and you’re suddenly back in the same school year slog.
Striking the balance of summer fun and staying sharp can be a challenge. If you’re feeling conflicted about wanting to spend endless days in the sun (or hiding under a blanket), but don’t want to fall behind, we’ve got you covered!
Have you discovered you have absolutely zero motivation when grades aren’t attached? Working with an academic coach or tutor can help keep you engaged and on track. Or maybe you’re the kind of person who was born with a To Do List in hand and wakes up ready to tackle the day. Either way, keep scrolling, because the many ideas below to keep sharp, grow your skills, and recharge the smart way should absolutely be on your summer reading list.
Do We Just Get Really Dumb Over the Summer or What?
Why bother to stay engaged during summer break? Isn’t it necessary to tune out and reset? Well, the stats don’t lie. Something about falling out of the grind of alarm, class, practice, study, repeat can cause the wheels to fall off. According to research:
- Summer learning loss in math amounts to about 30-40% of school year growth, depending on grade level
- Students can lose one to two months of reading progress over the summer
- While learning slows but doesn’t drop over summers after kindergarten and first grade, diagnostic assessments show far larger summer drops at later grade levels
What to Do to Avoid the “Summer Slide”
If you’re still not convinced but missed the boat/bus on the Stanford Tech Camp your bestie just took off for, here are some ideas to kick things off.
Number One: Get Off Social Media!
Have you ever spent the morning scrolling endlessly, only to realize it’s somehow become late afternoon or even grown dark outside again, and you’ve lost an entire day? Social media can be a time vampire, not to mention how bad it can be for your self-esteem!
Whether it’s scrolling for fun, studying, or research, you’re getting extensive time on your screens throughout the school year.
- US teens spend seven hours and 22 minutes every day looking at screens
- US teens’ screen time has increased by about two hours a day since 2015
The simplest way to reset and sharpen your brain over the summer is to cut down on social media and get offline. Go outside, read a physical book, watch a butterfly flit, take a different route, try a new recipe…anything that gets your brain engaged with something that isn’t being endlessly fed to you!
Integrate Learning into Everyday Life
Nonstop camps and courses can be time-consuming and draining, not to mention costly. But there are plenty of ways to add elements of learning into your daily life and routine.
- Math in Cooking – experimenting with recipes can be tasty fun, and you’re also measuring ingredients, converting tablespoons to cups or vice versa, doubling a recipe, or even budgeting a grocery list
- STEM Camp … in the backyard. Try simple science experiments or your hand at coding, develop games, build models or your own website, utilizing the math skills you’re forced to develop throughout the school year for something amusing or enjoyable to you
- Travel can be another way to use math, even without going anywhere! Plan an imaginary road trip and calculate distance, time, gas mileage, and more to get there – or plot your dream vacation, researching and budgeting the cost of airfare, lodging, taxis or trains, daily meals, snacks, activities, and souvenirs
Exercising your imagination while keeping your math skills fresh can be a simple way to double down on brain workouts without even leaving your home.
Get Out Around Town
On the flip side, try getting out there! Research your area to discover places to take educational field trips. Science centers, museums, historical sites, botanical gardens, and more often offer free entry to students on certain days and provide wonderful interactive learning opportunities.
Try exploring local hikes, tidepools, estuaries, or landmarks. Think you live somewhere boring, or simply don’t have access to cultural opportunities? Perhaps it’s on you to write and illustrate a local guide to places that are special to you and your friends, or maybe you draft a comedic list of the most boring things to do and absolute dullest places to see in your community.
Are you excited about (or stuck on) a family trip this summer? Hone your writing skills by documenting your travels in a journal. Already chronicling your every experience and emotion? Further flex your brain by coming up with funny haikus for your photo captions or try writing in the style of different authors. You’d be amazed how interesting your experiences and family foibles might become through the lens of Jane Austen, George Orwell, or Ernest Hemingway. Or write about your journey as a screenplay:
INT. FAMILY SUV – DAY
Open on our MAIN CHARACTER in the way back, sandwiched between duffel bags and the family DOG. It’s hour seven of a road trip, and it’s grim…
Mini Plans and Planning Ahead
It’s hard to imagine someone who doesn’t love the endless stretch of vacation, but unstructured time can lead to wasted days. Creating mini goals can keep you on track without being a summer buzz kill. Some manageable objectives include:
- Learn an SAT word a day
- Finish one book a week
- Mix it up: if you always read novels, try poetry, biographies, essays, or short stories
- Do two coding lessons a week
- Try tackling different brain games and puzzles
- Take on SAT, ACT, AP prep in 30-minute bursts
- Take a language lesson on an app like Duolingo. You don’t have to master it! Just take an hour-long class!
Having small, flexible goals can add up to a big impact, without draining your energy. And, if you already know who your teachers will be in the fall, reach out and find out if there’s a summer reading list you can get started on. Or talk to upperclassmen you know to learn what books or poems they focused on so you can come into class ready for discussion, not fumbling to write down the author’s name.
SAT Test Prep isn’t necessarily top of list when thinking of summer fun, but taking a class that meets once a week, or working with a tutor for an hour weekly, won’t overwhelm your schedule or kill your vibe, but can engage your brain, keeping it sharp, and setting you up for success.
Use Your Resources
Ok, yes, we said get off your screens, but once in a while? You don’t have to give up electronics completely. Let’s be reasonable, here! Especially if you’re utilizing online resources in ways you can grow. Some sites to explore:
- YouTube: from educational channels explaining complex concepts in math and science to funny music videos with informational content, this site has it all. Oversimplified History and MrBettsClass offer irreverent and highly watchable takes on history in particular
- TedEd: fun and brief talks aimed at students and covering a vast range of intriguing and humorous topic are available, or explore longer Ted talks of interest, like Inside the Mind of a Master Procrastinator or A Pro Wrestler’s Guide to Confidence
- Wikipedia: there’s nary a topic you can’t find on this site, and while you can’t necessarily cite it as a resource in papers, it can be a pleasurable way to go down the rabbit hole on areas of interest, and discover how to research a subject in depth
Movement, Social Time, and Fun Count, Too!
While you’re trying to keep your brain engaged, don’t forget about your body! Physical activity boosts brain function, so don’t neglect it!
Staying socially active can be a challenge when friends are on trips in different time zones, or busy with family and summer plans, but it can keep spirits high and help you avoid burnout.
Group hikes, creative projects like filming videos or choreographing dances, volunteering to walk shelter dogs, or just tossing a frisbee at the beach can be fun challenges to routine and ways to stay in motion and connected.
Unsolicited Life Lesson
If you do absolutely nothing off this list, and that’s ok, too, there is one thing that’s vital to accomplish this summer. Do something you had to put off during the school year because you didn’t have the time.
Whether it’s a book you wanted to read, a new skill you thought it might be fun to try, a comedy sketch you want to film with your friends, there is no right or wrong answer.
The important thing is that you prioritize at least one thing that’s simply for yourself, not for the college applications, or to pad out your budding resume. Real-world experiences and passion build character, and that will shine through in whatever personal statement you wind up writing or interview you may have for college admissions.
Prioritizing time for yourself is a great skill to develop early in life. By the time you’re an adult, the demands and pressures of career, family, mortgage, and beyond can make it even more challenging to find time to do the things you love and to try new things. So, building that ability now and ingraining it in your habits will serve you a lifetime.
Conclusion
Remember, you don’t have to do every thing! Real life is stressful enough without spending your high school years trying to balance an internship, college prep classes, a daunting reading list, building a website, mastering a new language, pre-season sports drills, and more!
The main goal is to strike a balance between active rest and staying engaged. Unstructured time can feel great at first, but can also ultimately lead to dissatisfaction with lack of productivity, connectedness, and a general sense of wasted potential.
An academic coach or tutor can also be useful for a weekly check-in to hold yourself accountable, or to introduce ideas, games, and brain exercises you may not have encountered or thought of on your own.
Remember. It’s summer! Keep it fun, keep busy, and keep it balanced.
