Monthly Tip
May 2022
Monthly Tip
Preventing the Summer Slide
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Planning to Travel this Summer?
Summer 2022 Programs
Now Open!
Preventing the Summer Slide

The end of the school year is almost upon us, and many students are daydreaming of weeks spent relaxing and sleeping over the summer. While taking a break from the stresses of academia is certainly needed, completely distancing oneself from school can be counterproductive. The dreaded “summer slide” tells us that students who do not work on core skills, such as reading and writing, over the summer, will be at a disadvantage when the new academic year begins. They will have to make up for those months of lost learning and might constantly feel as though they are playing catch-up. To help combat the summer slide. Thinking Organized is offering fun, individual-based programs designed by your very own children!
Consequences of the Summer Slide
During the school year, students work on a variety of skills: reading, writing, math, memory, organization, and time management, just to name a few. The repetition of working on activities that involve these skills enables students to find success. Over the summer, though, the lack of consistent academic assignments can cause students to lose the progress that they made over the course of the school year. Simply reading one book or doing two crossword puzzles during this season is not enough to maintain the skills that students honed; they need constant practice. 
Personalized Executive Functioning Projects
To help prevent the summer slide, Thinking Organized is offering individually tailored executive function workshops to reinforce the skills that your children practiced during the school year. These programs focus on a fun, student-driven project to work on key executive function skills during these relaxing summer months. In our experience, allowing students to choose their own project has multiple benefits, including: 

  • Personal interest. When students are legitimately interested in a topic, idea, or project, they feel more motivated to learn about it because there is a greater sense of buy-in. Oftentimes when students feel that they have little say in something, they resent the activity and struggle to recognize the value in what they are doing. By allowing students to choose the focus of their project, they will feel more inspired to learn about the topic from various angles. 
  • Showing how executive functioning skills translate to the real world. For many students, terms like “time management” and “organization” and “memory” might sound intimidating because they associate these terms with school. In their minds, these key executive function skills exist in a bubble, one that does not reach their personal lives. That is obviously not the case, though! With Thinking Organized’s personalized projects, students can learn how these executive functioning skills play a role in the real world. If you want to learn to play an instrument, you have to set goals and set aside time to practice. If you want to create a podcast, you have to create lists of possible equipment and topics. When students recognize that executive functioning skills are necessary for success in every aspect of their lives, they can feel more motivated to utilize those skills on their own.
  • Building self-confidence. School is difficult, and when students do not succeed academically, they may believe that they cannot succeed anywhere. They may avoid tasks that cause anxiety, which in turn degrades their self-esteem. Part of the purpose of Thinking Organized’s personalized projects is to alter students’ perspective of their capability and build their self-confidence. If a student feels that studying is too challenging, then learning a language of their choice over the summer offers a fun, low-stakes way to enhance their memory skills. If a student feels that writing is too difficult, then creating their own graphic novel offers them an entertaining way to work on their communication skills. When students recognize that they can indeed accomplish their goals, their confidence grows. 
Types of Projects
So what types of projects can students work on with Thinking Organized this summer? The options are endless! Some students might want to pursue more academically-based projects, such as learning a new language or reading books in genres that they do not typically read. Some might prefer to pursue more artistically-based projects, such as learning an instrument or becoming a DJ. Regardless of what topic your children choose, we will help them understand the inherent nature of executive functioning skills in their project. For example: 

  • Design a video game. Students of all ages are gamers of some sort. Some might spend hours on their Xbox while others might grab a few minutes on a PC game. Summer is the perfect time to put that interest to good use by designing their own video game! This project involves research into existing games and what makes them objectively “good,” planning an overall story and individual levels, and flexible thinking when something does not go according to plan. 
  • Make a recipe book. As an experienced chef can tell you, cooking is hard. It requires patience, an awareness of time, foresight to ensure you have the correct amount of ingredients, the ability to multi-task and follow directions…all of which are crucial executive function skills. When making a recipe book, your children will have to choose recipes at their level, trial them multiple times, and keep track of what they need to do differently next time. 
  • Learn to crochet. Whether you learn to crochet, knit, sew, or embroider, one necessary executive functioning skill is flexible thinking. It can be easy to forget that you are a beginner, so you might begin to degrade yourself or avoid the task because it feels impossible. Learning such a hands-on skill is a great way for students to learn how to gauge their realistic progress, acknowledge their current skill level, and identify steps that they can take to improve to the next level. 
Final Thoughts
Summer is certainly a time of relaxation, but that does not mean that it is also an excuse to neglect executive functioning skills! With our Personalized Executive Function Project program, students can maintain core skills over the summer in fun and exciting ways. Please reach out to our office (office@thinkingorganized.com or 301-986-1503) if you have any questions. We look forward to seeing what projects your children come up with! 
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Planning to Travel this Summer?

Summer is almost here, and I’m sure everyone has been itching to travel. With COVID restrictions easing up, my friend and I decided to finally take the trip that we’ve been planning since 2020: we’re traveling to Morocco!

It took a while to warm-up our travel muscles, but we started by looking up sample itineraries and creating a to-do list for everything that we had to check, book, and confirm. Here’s what our to-do list looked like...
Summer 2022 Programs - Registration Open!
Summer is a time of relaxation, but it is also a time of preparation. By reviewing past academic material, students can keep their skills sharp while simultaneously preparing for the upcoming school year. Thinking Organized is offering several exciting programs for students in different age ranges this summer, and we cordially invite you to sign your children up for them!

Please refer to our programs for elementary school, middle school, high school, and college on our website.