It’s officially summer break! School is out and you officially do not have to do anything academic for three fantastic months! Yay! However, if you do not use your brain over the summer, you are most likely going to suffer from summer brain drain. So, how can you use it and not lose it this summer while still having fun? You could read some books or do the New York Times crossword, or you could check out these fun iPhone apps.

Big Bad Sudoku Book Do you love playing sudoku? Personally, I can’t get enough of it. This app has many different puzzles and different levels, challenging you up to the expert level. The Big Bad Sudoku Book also has decorative backgrounds and fun visuals, which make it much more fun to look at than a black-and-white newspaper sudoku.

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Worried about how you’ll pay for next semester’s tuition bill? Summer may be the only free time you have to make the big bucks, but you’ll also want to spend your time off from school relaxing. This may sound like a major dilemma, but if you look at the following suggestions, you’ll be able to have a blast while bringing home some cold, hard cash.

Here are four jobs that will pay the bills and give you time for summer fun:

Bartender: Talk about making the big bucks; they can bring home $250 a night. Though you won’t have your nights free, you’ll have plenty of time to lounge at the pool during the day.

Movie theaters: I worked at a movie theater for three years and loved every minute of it. I got to see free movies on my day off and eat free popcorn on my break. Friday and Saturday evenings were always hectic, but the rest of the week was stress-free. Though you’ll likely have to work a lot of weekends, you may be able work less than 15 hours per week. That will give you plenty of time to hang out with your buds.

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Many people are aware of the phenomenon that affects thousands of students every summer: summer brain drain. Basically, during the three months of summer break, many students regress in their academics. They forget what they learned the past year and, as a result, have to spend the first few weeks of each school year relearning what they should already know.

On December 13, the Oklahoma City School Board voted unanimously to actively fight summer brain drain by instituting a year-round educational calendar. This new calendar will eliminate the three things that most students love about school: June, July, and August vacations.

Many students who hear that their summer break will not exist fear that they will be spending more time in the classroom. However, according to a press release, this new calendar will not require students to spend more days in school. It will simply divide summer break and split those days between other breaks, such as winter break and spring break.

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If you’re sleeping in until 1 p.m. or spending your evenings watching the television, you’re probably wasting away summer break. The first day of school will be here before you know it. So instead of staying home to watch your favorite daytime talk show, try to be productive, and do the things you didn’t have time to do during the school year.

Here’s a list of activities that will help you make the most out of your summer:

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When those last final exams are returned to the professors, college students head for home and they don’t look back. A year at college can be mentally taxing, and by the time summer appears on the horizon, everyone’s ready to put their brains on auto-pilot and coast through the break. While students are encouraged to get their much needed R&R over the summer, they’re also encouraged not to let all those new smarts vanish.

Johns Hopkins Center for Summer Learning has conducted much research on the summer learning gap, or summer learning loss, and found that students of all ages do in fact experience learning loss if they don’t engage in educational activities during the summer. Read the rest of this entry »