I believe that student designed summer projects would be more beneficial for the students, teachers, and parents than teacher designed projects. If students designed the projects they would be more likely to do the project and finish it in a timely fashion. Although teacher designed projects would be easier for the teachers because they know what they want and it allows for more structure, student designed projects would be something the students enjoy doing and would allow the students to get their work done at their own pace.

To start, student designed projects are more likely to be worked on throughout the summer and completed by the time school starts again. If the students are doing something that they enjoy they are more likely to finish it; therefore, the project being based off something they like would allow a higher chance of it getting done. For example, an elementary school had students pick an outdoor animal/insect they found in their backyard to research about and find some fun facts on. These students enjoyed and completed their projects because although they were assigned a teacher designed project they got to pick out what creature they did the project on which was more fun for them. Students are motivated by rewards so rewarding themselves at milestones of the project would increase the likeliness of students getting their work done as well. To reward oneself for completion of an important section of the project, the student could go out for ice cream or even get a new toy depending on their motivations. These objectives of student designed projects all show a higher chance of completion which is ultimately what the schools desire.

Additionally, parents can become involved with the projects and engage with their students. Interaction between parents and their children is crucial to build a healthy relationship and parents assisting their children with a project can help build their relationships. Parents can also learn new things while helping their student which can make the student more interested in the project because the student and parent are both learning new things, not just the student, so it will cause the student want to learn more. Younger children are more reliant on their parents than older children are so they need more help with their schoolwork than older students typically do. An elementary school student would need more assistance from their parents gathering all the information necessary for them to complete their project; however, a middle school or high school student will require little, if any, assistance from their parents because they become more independent as they get older. As an elementary student reading projects can be harder because they do not have experience with these types of assignments causing them to need more help from parents or older siblings; however, a high school who has completed several reading projects and has much more experience is not gonna need as much help or any help at all from parents. Projects can be extremely easy or super complex depending on the materials needed and amount of work that is needed to be put in, but either way help from a parent can be very helpful for students of any age.

Student designed projects provide the opportunity for students to work at their own pace and get the work done around their own schedule. During the summer many students go on vacation which can last a couple days or several weeks, so having students design their own project would allow them to complete the project when they can around their busy schedules. Some students also go to camps, such as 4H or YMCA summer camps, which can take up a lot of their time and if these students had to complete a teacher designed project that had to be worked on for a certain amount of time and they did not have that much time then they would not be able to complete it. Time management is super important especially for people with very busy schedules and if their time is not managed correctly they will not be able to finish their projects as they wish to. These projects being student designed would be more beneficial for students who have very busy summers and for parents as well making them not have to worry about their child getting their work done on time.

To conclude, student designed projects can be much more helpful for not only students but teachers and parents as well. Because the projects would be created by the students they would be more likely to be completed because it is something they would enjoy doing, the parents can become more involved and engaged with their students, and the projects would allow the students to work at their own pace to complete their projects.