As summer winds to a close, it’s time to gear up for another school year. We would like to offer some helpful advice to make the most efficient use of the time you have to prepare. The whole family needs work and play together to make the mental and physical adjustment successful.
Yes…It IS that time again! (photo by Quinn Dombrowski)
Begin by slowly moving your sleep and wake schedule closer to that which will be required during the school year. You don’t want that first early morning to be a shocker!
Play some family games that require thinking. Fall back on the oldies, but goodies: Pictionary, Charades, Scattegories and trivia related games. A new personal favourite of ours is Snake Oil, a very creative game that builds strong communication skills.
If your children have not been doing any academic work throughout the summer, it would be a good idea to print out some cummulatative review worksheets from the grade level they just completed. Have them begin to write compositions by providing purpose driven topics. For example, ‘Write a review of all the television shows you watched this summer, or video games you played’, ‘Review and recommend different phone apps’.
In order to avoid last minute stress, start organizing school materials now. For once, take the time to find out which markers are dried out and which pens no longer work! Start planning for those dreaded daily lunches and experiment to find different options with ‘summer taste tests.’
If your child is a school-age actor, plan to have a meeting with his/her teacher within the first week of school. Gather the teacher’s contact information and decide on a mutual policy for missing school. This will save you time when your child books a role. We recommend creating a set kit that is always ready to go. Be sure to pack paper, pencils and other miscellaneous school supplies. Days on set can be long so we suggest including a good book and educational games. A mini version of your set kit can be made to take along on auditions.
At Ahimsa Media we are always available to help you with transitions between home, school and set. We hope everyone has had incredible summers and that all of our past and future students have a successful school year.
