For most students, summer is a time of freedom and relaxation; unless, of course, they're given a teacher-designed summer project. As a young learner, I can tell you truthfully that being assigned a summer project is absolutely heart-wrenching. Imagine enjoying your amazing summer and you realize half way through it that you have a summer project due; and if you're anything like me, you'll still find yourself procrastinating on it as the thick assignment haunts you over your shoulder with every fun summer adventure you experience. Don't get me wrong, summer projects can be extremely helpful; however, the stress that comes with them can be avoided if the assignments were student-designed. That way, the work can be personalized to improve the learners' problem areas and fit into their summer plans.

Students know what they struggled with while school was in session; they were in those classrooms learning it and trying to understand it the best they could all year. Therefore, they have the ability and information to design a summer project that allows them to learn and improve in whatever topic they had trouble with by putting it together in sections. Perhaps their problem areas were small parts of units. For example: "unit 4, 2.1a". If that's the case, they could include that portion in the assignment to help them practice. If that's not the case and they simply just didn't understand an entire unit, they could sum up the lesson and include those factors as well. This allows them to learn and practice so they can be the best student they possibly could during break.

As I said before, summer is a time of freedom and relaxation; however, us young ones have to keep learning or else we'd lose our scholar touch. So, the student-designed summer project could be broken up by months; this is an acceptable way to help learners keep track of their summer work because not only does it allow them to set aside free time for their break, it also helps them make a reserved time for assignments. That way, kids can still enjoy their break while keeping those learning juices flowing. This working format may even help uplift stress because when students see a big project that's nothing but work and no sections, they start to feel under pressure and might even begin to procrastinate. This event has happened to me countless of times; I see the task, get overwhelmed, and procrastinate. Although I am guilty of being a bit of a bad student because of this, I know good and well that sectioning work into months is a much better way to handle the load.

Opponents may claim that because they don't want to work over summer, the young learners will make it ridiculously easy for themselves so they can have a relaxing break. This is a valid point, however, us students just want to improve ourselves. It can be embarrassing to lack understanding of what's going on in the classroom; it can also make students feel like failures, or even feel stupid. I know from personal experience that school leaves majority of the kids feeling like the most idiotic person alive; but that just motivates them to do more to improve so they won't think down on themselves. That is where the student-designing comes into play; if they made it too easy for themselves, they wouldn't be improving. If they're not improving, the continuous cycle of feeling like an idiot will not end.

In conclusion, students know what is needed for them to thrive in their academics and they're willing to have open arms to allow that to happen. With the assignments being by students, for students, they are designed specifically to help them achieve the hardships of assignments and to come back to school with their brains running, in school mode, and ready to learn.