Winter Break 101 (Video)

Hello, it’s Seth with sethperler.com. I hope you’re doing awesome.

Quick video today—I’m going to talk about break, specifically winter break. A lot of people ask me, “What should I be doing over break?”

My initial response is: be on break. Relax. Enjoy yourself. Chill.

I think people often feel like they need to make sure they’re staying in practice or keeping up with school during breaks. But the reality is that winter break is a time when teachers are exhausted, parents are exhausted, and students are exhausted. Everyone has been working hard for months—finals are done, projects are done. This is a time to rest.

So my first inclination is: chill. Let go of everything. It’s okay to just stop for a bit.

Now, people worry about staying in practice with math, reading, or writing over break. Personally, I don’t think you need to worry about that during winter break. Summer break is a different situation, but winter break is short and meant for recovery.

That said, if you love reading, writing, or math—do it. The key is choice.

A lot of students are forced to read things they don’t enjoy, but there is real value in reading when it’s something you actually like. Ideally, students learn to love reading for its own sake—whether that’s books, fiction, nonfiction, magazines, or graphic novels. It doesn’t matter.

Reading is one of the most powerful ways humans communicate. Someone puts their thoughts into a book, and another person can learn from it. It’s a kind of magic.

The same goes for writing. Writing is an art. Too many students feel like they are bad writers, but over break the goal is not perfection. It’s enjoyment. Journaling, fiction, nonfiction—whatever feels meaningful or interesting is what matters.

As for math, I’m not too concerned about “keeping up practice” over winter break.

More broadly, school takes a lot of time. Students from elementary school through college spend an enormous amount of time working. I’m not a big fan of homework, and research often shows that most homework has limited value.

Over break, I believe students should focus on quality time with family and loved ones. As technology advances, we often spend less time just being together. Break is a chance to restore that.

So my recommendation is: relax. Read or write if you enjoy it. But most importantly, be present with the people who matter most to you. At the end of the day, relationships are what matter most in life.

If you do have schoolwork or responsibilities that must be done over break—whether you’re a student or a teacher—I recommend batching it into specific time blocks.

For example, decide: “On the morning of the 31st, I’m going to spend 3–4 hours doing my work or planning.”

If you have homework or tasks that must be completed, put them into one or two focused time blocks. Do them during that time, and then let them go. Don’t spread them randomly across the break.

The rest of the time, you should disconnect and recharge. We all need time to rest, recover, and reset.

I hope you have an awesome holiday season and an amazing new year.

Be well.