Meaningful Summer Service Projects for Teens

Summer break provides much-needed time for rest away from the stresses of school. These breaks also give children and teens the perfect opportunity to spend their days helping out in the community. Finding a summer service project can be challenging, especially if you and your teen aren’t sure where to start. Read on for ideas of meaningful ways for your teen to give back this summer. 

Volunteer at the Library

Local libraries provide a plethora of services, and they do so with limited resources. Volunteering at the library can mean reading to children and seniors, helping organize programs, or assisting others who need help using computers. You can also spend the summer doing tasks like shelving books that help relieve busy librarians. If you love reading and want to share that love with others, the library is the perfect place to serve others during the summer. 

Become a Tutor

Use your academic skills to help peers or younger students who need help in a certain subject. You can join a tutoring group or find individuals to tutor during the summer. There may even be local service projects you can join to help children in underserved communities. Summer tutoring gets students who fall behind back on track for the school year, which can make a huge difference in their lives. 

Join a Charity Race

Charity walks and runs happen year-round, and these events always need help. Some of the most impactful ways to help at these events are volunteering to support the racers and starting your own fundraiser. Individual fundraisers take place online before the race once you sign up for the event. If you’re athletic and want to support a good cause, this is a great way. Find an event that supports a cause that appeals to you, and join in! 

Help Feed the Hungry

You can help those dealing with hunger in your community in many ways. Volunteer at a soup kitchen or food pantry. Raise funds, prepare meals, or sort donations for a local food bank. Deliver meals to those who can’t leave their homes. The possibilities are endless, as is the need for these services. If you’re looking for a summer service project that impacts the lives of the most people, you can’t go wrong with hunger relief. 

At North Tampa Christian Academy, serving the community is part of the curriculum, and we also encourage an attitude of service outside of school. Students at our Tampa Christian school thrive creatively, academically, and spiritually in a project-based learning environment. Faculty and families work together to inspire leadership through Christian innovation. Contact us today to learn more.

How to Teach Your Child Time Management Skills

Time gets away from us all, especially children, who likely don’t understand the concept of spending it wisely. While children learn about time management in school, home is the perfect place to practice. You can help your child understand how many hours they have in a day and how to find balance while getting everything done. Here are some ways you can build those time management skills at home. 

Start with a Bedtime

One of the first scheduled activities children become familiar with is bedtime. Setting a consistent bedtime routine can help children understand the basics of time management. They learn how long it takes to wind down before bed to make it to bed by the set time. This helps with skills like gauging how long something will take, one that’s essential when it comes to time management. 

Have Meals at Set Times

Eating meals at the same time every day may not feel necessary, but it helps children in a few ways. They learn about how much time they have between meals. It gives them consistency in their routine, which is essential for their development. Letting your child know when you’re beginning to cook and how much time each timer is set for can also be a great lesson in time management skills. 

Plan Out Homework 

Balancing homework and other activities causes children more trouble than any other area of time management. Homework feels like it takes longer than it should, or it’s done in a hurry. Help your child by setting a specific time each weekday for working on homework assignments. Ensure that this takes place in an environment free of distractions. Adjust the time frame according to how much time they usually spend. Make sure to include breaks for assignments that take longer to complete and between subjects. 

Establish Screen Time Rules

In today’s world, people of all ages struggle with screen time. Guidelines can help children, who are especially susceptible to social media algorithms that keep people hooked. First, focus on screen time at night, when it can do the most harm by disrupting sleep patterns. Encourage your child to track how much time they spend on their devices. They’ll likely be surprised to know how much time they spend scrolling. Children and teens can spend anywhere from 4-9 hours per day looking at screens. 

Work on Setting Priorities

When it feels like there’s too much to do in a day, your child will need to learn to set priorities. Chances are, they’ll need your help with this. Work on building a list of everything they need and want to do, and help them sort it out. Try to leave time for the “wants” while getting the “needs” accomplished in a timely manner. Setting priorities and learning how to shift them around will go a long way in helping your child understand time management. 

At North Tampa Christian Academy, we understand that time management takes practice. Students at our Tampa private school thrive creatively, academically and spiritually in a project-based learning environment. Faculty and families work together to inspire leadership through Christian innovation. Contact us today to learn more.

Building a Supportive Environment for Your Gifted Child

When you find out you have a gifted child, it’s often more of a confirmation of something you knew all along. Your child is special, and they are likely to outperform their peers. However, being a gifted child is rarely that straightforward. Gifted children tend to feel the need to prove themselves, and they struggle to ask for help when they need it. Here are some ways you can be a supportive parent to a gifted child. 

Avoid Comparison to Others

Most of the pressure gifted children face is from comparing themselves to others. These could be peers who they perceive as being smarter or more socially adept than they are. Help your child by avoiding the trap of comparing them to other people. Telling your child they are smarter than someone else can make them feel uneasy. Comparing them to someone who is outperforming them can make them feel less than. Focus on your child as an individual, rather than finding others to compare them to.

Applaud Effort and Accomplishments

Gifted children sometimes need to be reminded that effort matters. They tend to be more focused on the end goal and accomplishing the next big thing. However, the small accomplishments along the way are what help them get there. These children also need to be reminded that, even if something is not a resounding success, the effort made to reach the goal was worthwhile. 

Encourage Relationship Building

Your gifted child may appear to live in their own world. Children with diverse interests sometimes struggle to understand the importance of other people. Encourage your child to focus on building relationships with others, and not just their teachers. Talk to them about the friends they’ve made at school and their relationships with other family members. Guide them in focusing on friendships and relationships just as much as they focus on the very interesting thing they learned about in science class. 

Provide Enrichment Opportunities

Your gifted child is likely to have a lot of different interests, but some will persist over time. Whatever they’re interested in, provide opportunities for deeper exploration. If they won’t stop talking about sharks, spend a day at the aquarium together. Go to the library, and see if you can find some nonfiction books that will allow them to learn even more about their favorite things. Help them find answers to their seemingly endless list of questions. 

At North Tampa Christian Academy, we create opportunities for every child to explore their genius. Students at our Tampa private school thrive creatively, academically and spiritually in a project-based learning environment. Faculty and families work together to inspire leadership through Christian innovation. Contact us today to learn more.

Why Your Child Should Start Journaling

Journaling benefits people of all ages, but it can especially help children, who are learning how to express themselves as they go through life. Every day, your child will have new experiences, and writing them down can make them easier to process. This isn’t the only benefit to journaling. By writing every day, your child will naturally see improvement in their reading and writing skills. Here are a few of the main ways journaling can help your child thrive.

Provides an Outlet

Everyone needs an outlet. The problems children and teens have may seem small to adults who have gone through them already, but they weren’t small at the time. While your child may tell you about some of what they’re going through, it’s unlikely that they’re telling you everything. Through daily journaling, your child can have a healthy outlet to write things down and process their feelings about what they’re going through. This can be especially helpful as your child experiences things like heartbreak, loss and not getting their way for the first time. This will also help them develop their reading and writing skills. 

Builds Writing Skills

Reading and writing are valuable skills that can always be improved. Children who write on a daily basis make small improvements every day, which adds up over time. This won’t only affect their reading and writing skills; it could also help with penmanship, something that’s a struggle for many children. Whether your child is writing based on prompts or venting about their day, daily journal writing provides academic benefits. One of these benefits is the power of observation. 

Improves Observation Abilities

The world is a big place, especially for children, whose worlds are expanded constantly as they learn and grow. However, some children find it difficult to tune in to what’s going on around them. Journaling can help with that. The more children write about their own lives, the more they’ll find themselves thinking about others and their perspectives. When journaling becomes a daily habit, they may need to rack their brains occasionally to think about what’s new in their lives. This helps them develop another important skill: creativity. 

Promotes Creativity

No matter what your child writes about in their journal, whether it’s facts or fiction, daily writing will involve some level of creativity. Once they get into the habit of writing new entries every day, they’ll find it easier to come up with new ideas. Creative writing may not become their favorite subject, but it will be a valuable skill to use in life. While they’re building their academic skills, the increase in creativity will help make life more fun. 

At North Tampa Christian Academy, a Tampa private school, students thrive creatively, academically and spiritually in a project-based learning environment. Faculty and families work together to inspire leadership through Christian innovation. Contact us today to learn more.

How to Cope with Back-to-School Anxiety

A new school year will be starting soon, and for many students, that means exciting times are ahead. For some, however, the thought of a new school year brings anxiety. Children worry about their new teachers, new classes and the children they’ll meet. Will people like them? Will they do well in school? These thoughts can become overwhelming for children, especially after a fun summer vacation. Here’s how you can help. 

See How You Feel

Before you start trying to solve your child’s problems, you need to take a look at how you’re feeling. While your child needs to get back into a school routine, it’s your responsibility to set that routine and hold them accountable. You may also have concerns about sending them back to school after they’ve been around all summer. This can be stressful, and you need to make sure you’re not passing this stress along to your child. 

Listen to Your Child

The most important way to help your child deal with stress is by listening to what they have to say. Listen to any concerns they have, and do what you can to alleviate those worries. This may mean doing research in situations where you both don’t know the answer. In some cases, listening and providing advice and insight is enough. You’ll never know unless you ask and listen. 

Practice Your Routine

If your child is nervous about going to a new grade with a new teacher and facing new challenges, start their daily routine earlier. Your child can become more grounded when they get used to what will be the same every day of the school year. The more they practice ahead of time, the more confident they will be when school starts for real. As the school year gets closer, if they live near the school, consider driving by with your child so they’ll feel more prepared to go back.

Have Your Child’s Back

When entering a new grade or a new school, your child may worry that they won’t make friends or  that they’ll be bullied. This is a real possibility that you need to consider. Take time to build up your child’s self-esteem, especially if you notice that they’re insecure. Reassure them that you’ll be there if something happens and that they can and should talk to you if it does. Make yourself available to be a trusted advisor. 

Going back to school can be fun and exciting — and anxiety-inducing. At North Tampa Christian Academy, a Tampa private school, students thrive creatively, academically and spiritually in a project-based learning environment. Faculty and families work together to inspire leadership through Christian innovation. Contact us today to learn more.