#summer learning

hey lovelies! ✨

can we just acknowledge how hard it is to focus on studying when the sun is shining, everyone's posting beach pics, and your brain is basically melting from the heat? summer studying feels almost criminal sometimes (like, isn't this when we're supposed to be recharging?), but even if you're taking summer classes, prepping for fall semester, or studying for standardized tests, i've got some helpful tips to help you stay on track without missing out on summer magic.

⋆.ೃ࿔:･ why summer motivation hits different ･:࿔ೃ.⋆

let's be honest about why summer studying feels so much harder:

your body literally craves sunlight and outdoor time

everyone else seems to be living their best vacation life

the heat makes focusing genuinely more difficult

your brain is trained to associate summer with freedom

seasonal rhythms are real, and summer is naturally more active and social

knowing this isn't just you being "lazy" is the first step! your brain isn't broken, it's just responding to both biological and social cues that say "put down the textbook and go outside!"

⋆.ೃ࿔:･ create a summer-friendly study schedule ･:࿔ೃ.⋆

the key is working with summer energy, not against it:

𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘺 𝘥𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘬 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴: use the hottest part of the day (usually 12-3pm) when you'd be inside anyway for your deepest focus work

𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘺 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘤: if possible, wake up earlier and study when it's cooler and quieter, bonus points for studying outside with birds chirping!

𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴: aim for 45-minute focused blocks instead of marathon 3-hour sessions (your summer brain will thank you)

𝘵𝘩𝘦 2:1 𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰: for every hour of studying, give yourself 30 minutes of true summer enjoyment as a reward

𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘬𝘭𝘺 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘺: designate one day each week as completely study-free to recharge

⋆.ೃ࿔:･ summer-proof your study environment ･:࿔ೃ.⋆

your environment makes all the difference:

𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘰𝘭 𝘰𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘴: study near a fan or air conditioning with a cold drink nearby

𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘥𝘰𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘺 𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘵𝘴: find a shaded patio, park bench, or beach setup where you can enjoy nature while studying

𝘴𝘶𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘺 𝘢𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘤: bring summer into your study space with fresh flowers, lemon water, and natural light

𝘤𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘱 𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯: try different iced coffee spots to keep your environment fresh and interesting

𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨: face away from windows showing beautiful weather when you need deep focus

⋆.ೃ࿔:･ motivation hacks that actually work ･:࿔ೃ.⋆

when your motivation is hiding under a beach umbrella:

𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘺 𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴: everything's more fun with friends! find a study buddy and make it social

𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘺 𝘥𝘢𝘺𝘴: "tropical tuesday" or "fruity friday" with matching snacks and music

𝘴𝘶𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘴: ice cream after finishing a chapter, swimming after completing practice problems

𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘶𝘢𝘭 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴: create a summer-themed progress tracker (fill in a popsicle for each completed study session)

𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘺 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘮𝘦 𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘰𝘴: find summer study ambience videos that make you feel less alone

⋆.ೃ࿔:･ summer-specific study methods ･:࿔ೃ.⋆

adapt your approach to match the season:

𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴: listen to recorded lectures or educational podcasts while walking outside

𝘱𝘰𝘰𝘭𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘮𝘰𝘥𝘰𝘳𝘰𝘴: 25 minutes of study, 5 minutes of dangling feet in water (or any summer treat)

𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵 𝘴𝘶𝘯𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘯: apply a layer of understanding before exposing yourself to exam questions

𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘶𝘢𝘭 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘺 𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘴: spread out colorful mind maps on a blanket instead of linear notes

⋆.ೃ࿔:･ be gentle with yourself ･:࿔ೃ.⋆

most importantly, release the guilt:

summer studying doesn't have to be all-or-nothing

progress > perfection (especially during summer)

your brain literally works differently in hot weather

memories matter too, make sure you're creating some

rest is productive, it's preparing you for future focus

remember that balance looks different in each season. summer might be when you study a little less but live a little more, and that's completely okay. your worth isn't tied to your productivity, especially when the sun is shining and calling your name.

xoxo, mindy 🤍

Day 1

Wolfie woke me up at 6:30am so I decided to start the day early.

Summer of Bards Begins today technically. We don't really start a lot of this till Friday June 13. Bandersnatch needs a few days after school ends to recoup and I have Dune Awakening to work through on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Today's activities for me-I am still working through our lesson plan -Include:

Friendship Bracelets/Bookmarks for Rewards

Reader Bracelet 4x's

Print out Tutorials for Cootie Catchers

Print out my master binder

Calendar printed and ready

Lesson Plans - See Notes

Lego Builds from Easiest to Hardest Difficulty(2 of each) Easy, Standard, Medium, Hard, Super Hard

Worksheets-Cursive, Math, Nature Facts(All the plants on our porch), Native animals to our area, weather, climate change and how to reduce damage.

Read the rest of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory The game plan is to do most of our handwriting work, math worksheets, reading, and some science in the first half of our day. One to keep the momentum from school but also Two to establish a schedule that doesn't take up our whole day. Bandersnatch has been itching to go swimming and I am going to indulge him this year. If I have to take our lesson plans to the pool, I will do it.

Where did the idea of the no-stress summer learning challenge come from 🤔?

I see do many posts about summer studying, that it makes me worried. People spend their time studying during summer holidays, already preparing for the upcoming semester/school year. It's your free time and, as someone, who already has a full-time job (and is trying to finish her thesis to get a master's degree), I can tell you, that you probably won't have that much free time in the summer once you start working. Yes, it's sad and unfair, but unfortunately, it's real 🙁. So please, take your time, use it for something else, than worrying about exams, preparing for school and getting stressed and burnt out before school even starts. Don't waste your energy sitting in front of your PC/laptop, or with a course book, learing stuff by heart, while the sun ☀️ is shining outside, children are playing and other people are going out with their friends and families. And if you already work full-time, but also are still a student, don't use whatever free time you have on summer to study even more. Unless you absolutely have to, of course (I'm in this kind of situation, I have to write my thesis during summer, because the deadline is in September), but even then, don't use all your time for schoolwork. Although I consider summer studying an unnecessary stress factor, there's a difference between studying and learning. Studying is for school, learning is for yourself 🙂. I'm not telling you to be lazy the whole summer, but to consider learning something, that doesn't include schoolwork. It may be related to what you're studying in college/at school, or it may be something totally different. It may be something about technology 🔌 (programming, robotics, electronics...), art 🎨 (drawing, painting, embroidery...), nature 🌱 (gardening, foraging, birdwatching...), music 🎶 (singing, playing an instrument, making electronic music...), foreign languages 🗺️, sports ⚽, cooking 🍲, baking 🍩, kintting 🧶, sewing 🪡... the list is endless. So, as an alternative to summer studying challenge, you can start a no-stress summer learning challenge.

The main rules 📑

The main purpose of this challenge is to find motivation to learn for yourself 😀 again, so no exams, no homework, no grades, just you and your goal .

You're free to choose what you're going to learn, based on your own passions, dreams and ambitions 😍, without worrying about other people's judgement and expectations.

It's supposed to be stress free 😌, so there are no fixed schedules or deadlines. It's up to you to plan your learning and decide, how long it's going to take you.

To stay focused, please choose one topic and stick to it. It doesn't mean, you can't learn anything else. Actually you should, because staying concentrated on one thing for too long can make you burn out quickly, but have one main goal 😎.

Remember to take proper breaks 🥱. Learning all the time will only make you sterssed and tired. It's not school, so you don't need to worry about any fixed due date or preparing for a test.

Don't be too hard on yourself and remember that mistakes are a part of learning 😯, not a failure or shame.

Preparing for the challenge and completing it 📚

Think about, what do you want to learn this summer. It doesn't have to be very specific at this stage. For example, it can be something like "I want to learn about cats 🐈", or "I want to learn to draw 🖼️", or "I want to learn about tea 🫖".

When you know, what you want to learn, do your research, to be able to set a more specific goal. Read about this topic, watch some videos, maybe try to find people, who have more knowledge about it, than you, and talk to them. Let the "I want to learn about cats" become "I want to learn proper cat care 😸", the "I want to learn to draw" become "I want to learn to draw manga 🎏" or the "I want to learn about tea" become "I want to learn, how to brew various kinds of tea 🍵".

You've done the research, so now it's time to find your "why", because to stay motivated, you need to remember that you're doing it for a reason and that this knowledge is useful. The "I want to learn proper cat care" becomes "I want to learn proper cat care to make my cats healthier and happier 😻", the "I want to learn to draw manga" becomes "I want to learn to draw manga, because I'm interested in art and Japanese culture 🌸" and the "I want to learn, how to brew various kinds of tea" becomes "I want to learn, how to brew various kinds of tea, because I like tea and I want to make it even better 🍃".

Once you find your motivation, look for the learning resources 💻. It can be an online course, internet articles, scientific papers, books, YouTube videos, TikTok videos... whatever, depends on what you're going to learn. You can also contact someone, who is na expert in what you're learning, and ask them for help. While learning from blogs, videos, etc., remember to check the sources, to make sure the person, who created this content, knows what they're talking/writing about.

When you know your resources, plan the whole thing ahead 📝, considering your other summer plans (like traveling or going out with friends), to make sure, that you have enough time for learning and that the time you're going to spend working towards your goal is fairly evenly distributed to avoid stress and burnout, but remember to make your schedule flexible, so you don't have to worry about learning at a fixed time. Again, it's not school.

You've planned everything, now set reminders in your phone 📱 and/or write it down in a planner 📔 or on some post-it notes 📄... whatever works best for you to remember about your goal and the time you've decided to spend learning.

To minimize the risk od procrastination, divide the tasks into smaller tasks. You can write to-do lists ☑️ (either digital, or on paper), so you can see your progress and know exactly, what needs to be done.

To avoid getting burnt out 🤯, step away from what you're learning once in a while. Don't overwork yourself, you're not preparing for an exam.

To ensure you have enough energy ⚡, take care of your health, both physical and mental. Take breaks, sleep long enough 😴, go out with your friends, stay hydrated 💧, exercise 🏃🏻‍♀️, spend some time in nature 🌲.

Last, but not least: remember to post regular updates about your progress on your blog. It can be every day, every three days, once a week... you decide. It can include photos, but doesn't have to. Just make it regular and tag it with "no-stress summer learning challenge" or "no-sslc" 😊.

This summer, @NYPL is giving away 500,000 free books for kids and teens! This summer, drop by your local branch to choose a new book to take home and keep. #NYPLsummer

8/16/20

i’ve started trying to learn about flowers! here is my first page on black-eyed susans. to draw those flowers, i found an image on google and traced it! then i used goodnotes5’s highlighters and colored it in :)

Over the past 4 weeks, I have been working through an online computer science course (CS50) and this review. CS50 is taught by David Malan and is offered at Harvard (and Yale). At Harvard, CS50 is the most popular course. The version I took (CS50x) is non-credit bearing and is available for free on edX. (There is also an opportunity to pay $90 for a verified certificate that I opted out of.) Upon completion, students are provided with a basic certificate of completion. 

CS50 does not assume any prior computer science or programming experience. In fact, two-thirds of Harvard’s CS50 students had never written a line of code in their lives prior to CS50. Given my prior experience with programming, it may seem a bit silly to take an introductory CS course. However, I wanted to learn C, review Python, and generally get back into programming. Furthermore, Harvard recommends that students such as myself who have already taken AP CS A take CS50 as well. In terms of my specific background in computer science, in high school, I took three computer science courses. In 9th grade, I learned Python in a semester-long introductory course. In 10th grade, I learned Java in AP Computer Science A. In 12th grade, I took a website development course at my local university. In that course, I learned HTML, CSS, and PHP. Lastly, last fall I took CSC 102/103 at Smith where I learned the basics of how the internet and computers work. This preparation was adequate for me to pass a placement test to test out of Smith’s CSC 111. You can read about that process here. 

The material is presented via two-hour lectures recorded in the fall semester at Harvard. It is worth pointing out that Harvard students who take the course in the spring, have a scheduling conflict, or are just lazy watch the video lectures as well. There are also supplementary videos called shorts that are created by a teaching fellow. Each week, there is a programming problem set. At the end of the course, there is also a final project. The actual version that is taken by Harvard students also includes a quiz and a test.

Week 0: Scratch

This first lecture is only an hour rather than the normal two. Given my prior experience, the first half of the lecture was just review. During the second half, I learned the basics of Scratch. Scratch is a graphical language developed by MIT. Scratch is great for kids and other beginners because you don’t write code, rather you drag and drop code blocks. The task was to create a basic game, story, or animation using Scratch. I had a lot of fun playing with Scratch and as a result, spent 7 hours on my project. 

Weeks 1-5: C

C is an interesting “first” programming language to learn. The are other easier and more relevant languages such as Python (which Smith’s introductory course uses). As a low-level programming language, learning C helps one better understand how a computer works. David’s justification for teaching C can be found here. There is also a CS50 podcast episode about this decision. (You can check out all of the episodes here. I found the podcast to be quite interesting. Some episodes focus on philosophies behind the course and others talk about tech in the news.) 

After Scratch, assignments are coded in the CS50 IDE. CS50 has some software tools like help50 that were built to help students find errors. For the first few weeks, we used features from the CS50 library. For instance, C doesn’t by default have a string data type. While there was a definite learning curve in learning C, it wasn’t really until week 4 that the PSETS actually got hard. Week 4 was challenging because pointers were introduced and the “training wheels” were removed. Example problems included creating programs to determine the grade level of submitted text, apply photo filters, and do spell checking. 

Week 6 Python

I already had a familiarity with Python. That said, I actually did learn some new things. For instance, I learned that Python supports format strings. Though I knew Python was simpler, I was still wowed by the transition from C. I, like others, had spent hours creating the spell checker in C. Then during class, in just a few minutes David wrote an equivalent program in Python. In general week 6 was a review of the past few weeks of example problems but in Python. It was definitely rapid-fire, so I was glad to have my prior experience.

The first part of the PSET was redoing previous problems but in Python. This was actually a bit harder than I was anticipating. Lastly, there was a DNA analysis problem. Getting the program to mostly work was not too bad, but then I had a weird bug. I posted a question to the Discord and got a fairly quick response. That response allowed me to figure out which tests my code was failing and ultimately debug the program on my own. While my solution was far from elegant, it was eventually able to pass all of the tests!

Week 7 SQL

I was initially excited to learn SQL because it would be totally new information and was related to data science. However, compared to the other lectures this one was less engaging. There was little student involvement beyond the students submitting their favorite TV shows to a Google form at the beginning. We were basically just exploring the IMDB database via SQL queries. Though a somewhat practical application, I don’t really care about movies or TV shows. While the lecture was less engaging, I definitely had fun with the PSET. The first half of the PSET was lots of little problems (single SQL queries instead of a giant problem). The second half was creating a program that imported student data into a database and then created class rosters.

Week 8: Information

Like week 0, the lecture this week was about an hour (rather than the usual two). Furthermore, it was parents weekend so there were family members in the audience and as volunteers on stage. The first part of the lecture was just sort of a review of how far everyone had come. This was an amusing lecture but didn’t have much in the way of new concepts. The big take away of the lecture was the importance of using complex and varied passwords. This week was also different in that there was no PSET.

Track: Web

After the main part of the course, there was an opportunity to choose a track to follow (android, ios, games, or web). I initially intended on doing the Android app development track. However, upon watching the first two hours of videos I found the explanations to be hard to follow partially because it was so boring. Furthermore, I personally have an android and an IOS device, so having an android app would have limited utility. Therefore, later this summer I am hoping to learn Flutter and build an app. We will see how that goes! 

Upon switching to the web track, I was immediately more engaged. It is worth noting that the tracks aren’t taught by David, they are instead taught via video by teaching fellows. (Even the Harvard students have to watch videos and don’t have a live option for the tracks.) This is the first year of having multiple tracks (previously everyone did the web track). It turns out 87% of Harvard students did the web track given when given other options. (I learned this from another podcast episode.) 

The web track started off with an introduction to HTTP, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. This was followed up with learning Flask (a web framework written in Python) and learning more about databases. For part of the PSET, we had to build a web app for stock trading. While you can’t actually use mine, here is the official version of Finance.

Final Project: 

I decided to build a web application for task management. In the web track, we learned how to make a very simple task application where you could just add list items. For the final project, we had to create a two-minute video. Here is mine. If you want to check out projects from the CS50 fair, click here.

Favorite Aspects of Course:

David is a great lecturer! Even in video form, most lectures are very engaging and informative. Speaking of video, the video quality is very high. The camera pans accordingly so that we can clearly see the code. Also, even though I took my own notes I found the course notes to be helpful. 

The homework set problems were a lot of fun and a great challenge. The option of “less comfortable” and “more comfortable” problems was nice. At least for early assignments, feedback on correctness is very quick. For later assignments, it is more of a did you submit the assignment or not.

I also loved the freedom of the final project. I also just had a fun time turning my ideas into a functional tool. Lastly, the loose Harry Potter theme was amusing.

Least Favorite Aspects of the Course: 

While David is an engaging professor, the length of the lectures is a bit long. Also, while we can clearly hear David we can’t hear student’s questions and comments. This is probably just because of my prior experience, but I found the shorts (supplementary videos) to be quite boring. I watched them all, but sort of passively. 

While code is auto-graded for correctness and style there are no “answer keys”. This would help ensure that all concepts were fully understood. Sure learning from doing is essential, but I believe in the power of reviewing. Relating this to Smith, in our engineering classes (and some others like PHY 118) we work our own solutions and then get solution sets to review for full understanding. We are then required to resubmit our homework with corrections. Back to CS50, while we are told to be efficient we aren’t provided with really efficient solutions to learn from. I get that they don’t want answers floating around the internet, but it would be a useful learning tool.

Final Verdict:

This year all of our Summer programs will be ONLINE! 

Access virtual escape rooms, trivia, cooking demos, storytimes for the kiddos, LIVE presentations, and more all from our Summer Learning website: osceolalibrary.org/summer-learning. 

Complete challenges in the Beanstack app and tune in to the LIVE programs for secret “Beanstack Codes” for chances to win gift cards and prizes! 

And did we mention this year’s summer theme is Fantasy? Because, yeah, it’s fantasy. So you know you don’t want to miss this! ;)