A brand new school year offers endless opportunities for students to sharpen their #2 pencils and start fresh. There may be a new social scene, a host of different teachers, clubs, and sports to investigate, and the opportunity to really enjoy learning, which ultimately results in good grades.
Even if your student did not excel during the previous school year, fear not, Mighty Mommy has 6 tips to help your child get on track right from the get-go and get her best grades ever this year.
Tip #1: Create a Quiet Place to Study
Give your child a quiet place to study, free of distractions, away from TV and video games. In our house, our dining room is used as a multi-purpose study/craft room because most of our meals are enjoyed around our kitchen island. We always have their "go-to" supplies such as pencils, markers and crayons, computer paper, a stapler, construction paper, calculators, rulers, and any other study items that they use routinely on hand. This saves a lot of wasted time searching for supplies. Help your child organize her school papers and assignments so she feels in control of her work. If her task seems too daunting, she'll spend more time worrying than learning. Check in with her regularly to make sure she's not feeling overloaded.
See Also: Organizing Tips for Tackling Homework
Tip #2: After School Routines
The after school routine can actually be one of the trickiest parts of the day, especially when your kids become a bit older and start getting involved in numerous extracurricular activities that don’t leave them with much homework or leisure time. It’s also a bit more difficult, though certainly not impossible, to oversee a routine if you are working full time and your child goes to after school daycare or has a babysitter.
Depending on your children’s ages, you will need to make sure they have time to decompress when they get home from school. This can include having a nutritious snack, playing with friends in the neighborhood, riding their bikes, or even watching a bit of TV.
At our home, our elementary school-aged children have a different afternoon routine than our middle school and high school kids. Regardless of whether I am home in the afternoon or they have a babysitter, the routine is the same. The younger kids get off the bus, come in and put backpacks and lunch boxes in their proper places, eat a snack, and have an hour or so of play time. We eat dinner at 6 PM each night, so they start homework by 5:15 PM and it’s completed (hopefully) before dinner.
Our middle and high school kids usually have afterschool sports/activities so they come home right before PM, put their things away, wash up and eat dinner, and then do their daily chores, such as putting laundry away or taking out the garbage. Then it’s homework time, showers, getting backpacks and outfits ready for the following day, and if there is free time after that, they can chill out with some TV or an activity of their choice.
Tip #3: Work with the Teachers on Problem Areas
If you find out that your child has specific problem areas in school, work with the teachers on these areas. Keep communication open between you and the teacher. Together you'll be able to come up with the best plans for your child. Your child's teachers may even be able to give you some advice on ways to bring up the grades and can even provide you with some teaching tools so you can provide your child with extra help at home.
If you find out that your child has specific problem areas in school, work with the teachers on these areas.
Tip #4: Decide on Homework Spaces
If your child doesn’t have a quiet spot, such as a desk in his bedroom, to tackle homework on a nightly basis, spend some time now thinking together about where he can set up a functioning reading and work space in the house. Choose special places, like corners of rooms, or certain tables or chairs, that are dedicated solely to your kids’ most important task: schoolwork.
Organize the space in advance with the essentials, such as a good lamp, pencils, a sharpener, crayons and markers, a ruler, paper, and anything else you think he might need to start the school year off on a fresh, orderly note. And don’t forget to set up a system for yourself to keep your children’s school paperwork organized. This may include communications from the teacher, field trip slips, PTA newsletters, and other documents. My colleague the Domestic CEO has tons of useful organizational techniques to help you manage paper clutter.
Tip #5: Set Study Expectations
Though some kids are self-starters and will get their homework done without any prodding, the majority need guidance. If homework is a struggle, calmly take your child aside and let him know you want to help him succeed, and part of that means having a regular routine in place. Consider the location in the house where he can study without too many distractions, the time of day that he will do homework, and the availability of you, your partner, or even an older sibling to help whenever necessary.
Tip #6: Get Everything Ready the Night Before
This is one of those routines that will pay off for the entire family. Taking a few minutes the night before school to organize backpacks, homework, lunches, gym clothes, musical instruments, and field trip slips can add years to your life and help your student stay organized and on task for the entire school year. This small investment can prevent that stressful chaos of wondering if Tommy’s left sneaker is actually buried in his closet or hidden in the toy box. Get your kids involved in the night-before organizing so they too can breathe easier when the morning rush hits.
What's in place at your house to help encourage good grades?
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