This year’s November/December holiday is here with us. Students are breaking from the rigmarole of academic work in schools. In actual sense, when they find time to rest, they must not rust as dust and dirt do.
Comparatively, the home environment gives them a wider variety of re-creational activities. While holed up at home, there are many positive ways they can re-charge body-batteries.
During the holiday, wise students engage in some serious soul-searching. This is in relation to academics, discipline, morality and spirituality. Also, while holed up at home, wise students do not forget about their status as students, they strive to balance three things — home chores, personal study time and leisure. They also know that holiday is the best time to bond with family members. Firstly, they start by writing ‘thank you notes’ to express their attitude of gratitude to parents and guardians; for robust support accorded to them while at school.
Likewise, they assist parents or guardians to attend to home chores. They may not be required to wake up in the crack of dawn as they used to do in school, but holiday is not time to ‘revenge’ by competing with the dead in sleeping. Depending on their location — urban or rural — there will be plenty of work to do.
Wisdom dictates, in case the student knows how the family makes money, they should team up and make more. This may enable the parents find ways to defray school fees and afford academic materials with a lot of ease in January 2025. More importantly, being in good terms with parents attract the favour factor. Advisedly, in Ephesians 6:1-3, Apostle Paul of Tarsus instructs children to honour their parents for it is the first commandment with a promise — long life.
It is also wise to know that holiday is the best time students can cultivate rich reading culture. There is ample time to nurture this culture by focusing on intensive and extensive reading. There is plenty of scope to read notes, core-course books, class readers, KCSE set texts, self-help books, reference books, newspapers and magazines. This should happen for the umpteenth time. For Nassim Taleb observed, “A good book gets better at the second reading, a great book at the third reading. No book is quite the same when you read it again.”
As students break for holiday, teachers have issued oodles of assignments. Making wise use of the holiday means that they do not forget about academic work. Students, more so, Form Threes, should allot a lot of time to books. There is no need of wasting time on useless activities. During the holiday, it is possible to meet and greet peers from other schools. Advisedly, they should compare notes with them. Find out the Best Academic Practices they can borrow from them. Let there be positive peer influence — with a special focus on learning literate habits, hobbies, routines and rituals.
Entertainment is important. For teens, life revolves around the Triple F – food, fashion and fun. They love a life rife with fun. Things that make people laugh loudly leave them in good mood. I am not writing to condemn such stuff. Albeit, I think that teens should choose edutainment instead of entertainment.
Edutainment is entertainment replete and complete with education. During the holiday, wise students should choose music and movies that build character and enhance mental might. They should shun forms of entertainment encouraging lassitude — mental laziness. Meaning: It is foolish to find fun in irresponsible sexual behaviour. It is foolish to find fun in drug abuse. It is foolish to find fun in hedonism — party-after-party. It is foolish to misuse different forms of media.
In the distant past, Malcolm X, observed, “Media is the greatest entity on earth. It has the power to make the innocent guilty and the guilty innocent.” Therefore, students should make wise use of social sites. Students can receive or read useful materials on phones and tablets. They can attend lessons through online sites such as Zoom Webinar. They can follow informative programmes aired on educative TV channels. They can use special sites such as YouTube to watch phenomenal speeches and documentaries. Likewise, they can spare some time to watch news during prime time to keep abreast of current affairs and boost their verbal-linguistic intelligence.
YOU MAY ALSO READ:
Kitui students walk 4kms to raise awareness on climate change
In addition, during the holiday, purpose-driven churches organise mentorship programmes in form of seminars, workshops, conferences and camps. It is important to attend such meetings and learn. Teens should attend church services to enhance their intimacy with God. It is important to participate in church charitable programmes; hence learn to be kind, empathetic and altruistic. They should attend missions organised by the church. It is wise to use the holiday for talent-and-gift development.
It is wise to acquire useful skills. Talent is in-born ability. Gift is divine-driven ability. Skill is an acquired ability. During the long holiday, students should nurture their talents, lift their gifts and hone their skills — Upskill. In Proverbs 18:16, we read: “A man’s gift makes room for him and brings him before great men.” Alongside hard skills they learn in school, they should use the holiday to develop soft skills, life skills, 21st century skills, transferable skills, employability skills and people skills.
Finally, it is wise to learn from right role models and mentors. Role models are people they can ape due to admirable qualities they evince. Mentors on the other hand, are trusted people who are more experienced in life that can inspire you to achieve your dreams in life. We read that from a heroic book titled Unstoppable: Achieving Excellence and Beyond, co-authored by Rosemary Kibui and Timothy Kipchumba. Sometimes, young people mess and miss the mark because of wrong choice of role models and mentors. Life is a journey, not a destination. Therefore, in case they want to know the way, they should ask those who are coming back. Laurent D. Daloz got it right, “Mentors are guides; they lead us a long a journey of our lives, we trust them because they have been there before us.”
© Victor Ochieng’
The writer runs the Penman Online Programme. During November/December Holiday, he will be hosting Zoom Classes for Forms 1-3 and Grades 7-8 students. Parents and Guardians interested in the programme can contact: vochieng.90@gmail.com. 0704420232
You can also follow our social media pages on Twitter: Education News KE and Facebook: Education News Newspaper for timely updates.
>>> Click here to stay up-to-date with trending regional stories
>>> Click here to read more informed opinions on the country’s education landscape
