Summer break can often be a stressful time for parents and kids. Routines change and pressure is on to take advantage of the limited amount of time together, to keep up with summer learning, and maybe even to have the perfect vacation!

This year parents may also be feeling the pressure to "catch up" on learning after hearing concerns about gaps in learning or the "Covid-slide" after the pandemic. It can be a bit overwhelming.

Kids may be feeling a bit worn out from Zoom School, lack of connection, and too much screen-socialization. Not to mention they may feel stressed, too.

Don't let all of this stress steal your joy; instead, take a different approach. Enhance your child's summer with strategies that don't feel burdensome for either of you! If you're wondering how to go about that or maybe it sounds like "more work" you'll want to listen to today's episode.

Emily Greene, author of School, Disrupted: Rediscovering the Joy of Learning in a Pandemic Stricken World, is on A Healthy Bite today to share some key takeaways and ideas that will revolutionize your summer break as well as the upcoming school year.

When you break free from the system and from its constraints, you can approach school with a completely different attitude, mindset, and frame of reference for what learning can be. Freed from the mentality that grades and tests are the be-all and end-all of learning, children can truly understand that learning is not external; learning is internal. That is the ultimate joy in this journey of wonders: the realization that learning cannot be contained in a building or a classroom or a curriculum or a school system. Learning is contained inside.Emily Greene

You'll learn all about fostering your child's sense of creativity, curiosity, and joy in learning. Plus plenty of resources to support your efforts. Checklists, questions to ask, and the big question for us all: what are the differences between school and learning?

Start by answering the questions that will help you assess: is your child losing interest in school? Then explore the Seven Wonders of Learning to help your family navigate school outside the status quo.

Ideas for a Stress-Free Summer

* Play - enjoy doing things with your kids* Ask questions that lead to more questions and invite conversations* Set aside a place where your child can work with his/her hands * Give kids free time * Encourage them to spend time outdoors* Allow them to get bored and sit with that boredom (it really does spark creativity)* Limit screentime* Address Chronic Stress in Your Life

We have the opportunity to shift the paradigm of what education is, to rekindle our children’s joy in learning, and to light the torch for them to carry through the rest of their lives. But we have to make the active choice to keep that torch burning. We have to make the choice not to let it be snuffed out again by the strictures of the educational system. We’ve reached the moment where we need to make the choice to change the status quo.Emily Greene

School Disrupted

Grab a copy of School Disrupted on Amazon, available in both paperback and Kindle. You'll love the boredom busters, conversation prompts, and other helpful resources that every parent will appreciate.

This book will help you and your child rediscover the joy of learning.