Summer break is a magical gift earned by teachers who have just packed a full year’s worth of work into just 8 months.  I don’t know about you, but I’ve made the HUGE mistake of letting many of those summer breaks go to waste.  It happens so easily! First, I’d spend a few weeks closing down my classroom and organizing my teaching things.  Then I’d spend a few weeks bumming around on the couch watching all the TV shows I’d missed during the school year. After that would come our family trip.  Then I’d spend a few days at trainings and summer PD, and before I knew it, it was time to start gearing up for the new school year.  Technically, those summers weren’t wasted, but they also weren’t everything I’d hoped they would be.
Summer break is a teacher’s chance to:
- refuel and recharge
- focus on personal interests
- reconnect with family and friends
- take on all those BIGÂ projects
- travel and explore
This post is about finding ways to do just those things so that at the end of summer break you feel rested, energized, peaceful, and excited about launching a new school year!
Plan Your Summers
I realize that after a school year of planning every moment of the day, planning your summer probably doesn’t sound that great. Â BUT, with a little bit of forethought, you can be more aware of the time you have available and use it more effectively. Â (And by effectively, I simply mean using the time to do what you really WANT to do.)
Focus on How You Want to FEEL
Think about how you hope to feel at the end of the summer. Â What words come to mind? Â For me, it’s those words I mentioned above: peaceful, energized, rested, and excited about the new school year! By creating a vision of how you hope to feel, you can then craft a summer that will get you to that place!
Emphasize YOUR Needs
I am the type of person that feels the need to be “working” all the time.  If I haven’t accomplished many tasks during the day, I feel guilty, as if I was lazy.  I’m also the type of person (like most teachers) who tend to put the needs of others before my own.  In the summer, I usually spend all my time on making sure my son is having fun and on taking care of things around the house, rather than thinking about what I actually need.  Although neither of those things is bad, it does end up leaving me drained (and a little resentful) at the end of the summer.  So, give yourself a break!  What do YOU need?  What do YOU want?  What would make YOU happy?
Think about the LITTLEÂ things you might want: going out for coffee, getting a pedicure, shopping without the kids, sleeping in, lunch out with a friend, etc.
And think about the BIG things you might want: a trip to Ireland, scuba diving lessons, to write a novel, to meet the President? Â (I don’t know, but dream big!)
If you don’t make these things a priority, they’ll never happen, especially if you’re a mom AND a teacher.
Does it sound selfish? Â Probably. Â But in my experience, teachers are the most selfless people on the planet, and a little bit of selfishness is well deserved!
So if you’d like a little help in planning out your dream summer, I made a Summer Planner just for teachers.  In this free download, you’ll find a few simple brainstorming pages, some tips for organizing and prioritizing your goals and activities, and some ready-to-go summer calendars.  Just click to download. (Updated for 2020!)Â
I’d love to know how you make the best of your summer break. Â How do you refuel and recharge for the next school year?
Good luck and I hope this is your best summer ever!
Thank you! I needed this because my EC planner was starting to look like a hot mess from all the summer ideas I’m having. 🙂 So excited I found your blog.
So glad we connected Not JANE!! Love you and your blog! 🙂
I hope it helps make your summer a little more awesome! 🙂
Excellent post! I look forward to trying this out 🙂 Bryn
Hey, I’m so happy to have stumbled across your blog, because, just from reading a few posts, I get the feeling you’re the kind of person who thinks deeply, asks a lot questions, is on a quest of growth and is looking to share what you learn. It’s really nice to come across someone with that combination of traits, especially when it seems like they’ve worked hard to make themselves like that – so inspiring!
It’s my first summer break, but Thank G-d, He provided with the insight to realize what you posted about here, so even though I’m only getting to your post now my summer has been balanced! This summer break has been for me about, (above the dotted line is refueling and recharging and below it is school prep stuff):
– writing and self-publishing a poetry collection (something I’ve wanted to do for years)
– reading, reading, reading, and more reading (Did I mention reading? I squeezed it in during the school year, but it’s awesome to be able to sit down with a book for an hour without feeling like, ‘oh man, by doing that I just failed my students, my supervisor and myself’)
– learning how to bake gluten free stuff
– organizing
– spending more time with family and friends
– learning Spanish
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– learning about my new school (due to wonky circumstances I’m staying in the same city, but changing to a totally different setting – I think it’s all for the best 🙂 )
– learning about UBD and planning units and lessons
– setting up my classroom library
Thanks so much for sharing all that!! You made my day! It sounds you are also on that quest for growth. I’m with you! There’s so much to learn! Hey, and I’m working on learning to bake gluten free, too. Good luck with your year! I hope you check in again so I can hear how it’s going. 🙂
Thank you for these wonderful summer break tips for teachers! As someone who believes in the importance of recharging, I found your advice on setting personal goals and balancing relaxation with productivity especially helpful. Your suggestions for focusing on self-care and planning for the upcoming school year resonated with me, as it’s easy to get overwhelmed without a clear structure.
On a more practical note, I’m spending part of my summer tackling home projects, including tree removal in our backyard. I’m curious, do you think incorporating outdoor projects like tree removal or gardening could serve as a productive yet relaxing activity during the break, or do you find it’s better to separate home improvement tasks from personal relaxation?