Academics

Can your child find their supplies, their books, their homework? Can they keep their locker and binders organized? If this is a tough area, be sure to go through their stuff with them on a regular basis to help keep together. Show them how to organize papers in a binder, and use dividers to separate different subjects and sections. Having several different teachers usually means several different sets of expectations. Using some kind of assignment book is critical.

In middle school, students start getting more long term assignments than they are used to. Help your student learn how to break these bigger projects down into smaller chunks and use a time map to plan how they are going to tackle them. Kids often underestimate the size of a project and procrastinate until there’s not enough time left to do a good job. Help them learn to manage their time by making sure they do some work each day instead of leaving it all until the end.

Do they want to make the honor roll? Are they striving for an A in Math? Help them identify what they wants to accomplish and make a game plan for getting there. You can even work together to choose some tangible rewards for hitting the mark. Keeping their goal in mind will help them continue to make strides towards reaching it.

Lots of students hit obstacles and then get stuck because they don’t have good problem solving skills. Teach your child how to brainstorm solutions to roadblocks that get in his way. Do they keep forgetting to write down their homework assignments? Maybe they can copy down the numbers of several classmates they can call in a pinch. Do they keep losing pencils? They can keep an extra package of pencils in their locker. Having trouble with that persuasive paper? Ask the teacher for extra help.

Often kids don’t ask for help because they’re afraid of looking dumb. Remind kids that it’s the smart people that ask the best questions! Help them develop the assertiveness skills to ask for help before they get too far behind.