Monthly Tip
August 2022
Monthly Tip
Effectively Preparing for a New School Year
TO Blog
Transitioning from Summer into the Academic Year
Effectively Preparing for a New School Year

We’re in the midst of the dog days of summer, but this hot month means only one thing: that the new school year is almost upon us. Many students will likely tell you that they are still on vacation and do not need to think about school yet. This is understandable; after the first full year of in-person learning since the COVID-19 pandemic started, students deserve a break from the rigors of academia. However, waiting until the night before school begins to start thinking about academics can be detrimental to students’ success. To prepare effectively for the new school year, there are several steps that your children can take.
Reflect
Reflection is an important step when preparing for the new school year. By thinking about the successes and challenges of the previous academic year, your children can better determine what they should maintain or change to achieve success. Encourage your children to ask themselves open-ended questions, such as:

  • What went well? It is important to start with the positives! Ask your children to think about moments from the previous school year that made them proud. Did they ace a really hard math test? Did they use their planner more often? Did they successfully juggle being on the soccer team with their academics? If your children think through their successes and the steps that they took to achieve those successes, they can implement them again for the new school year.
  • What did not go as well? When thinking about elements of the previous school year that did not go as well as planned, encourage your children to not pass judgment. It is much easier to see flaws than successes, so your children may feel inclined to say that they “just weren’t good at school” or that they “weren’t smart enough.” To avoid negative judgments, have your children think about specific actions or habits; for example, did they struggle to consistently study for tests or meet with their teachers for help? If they recognize consistent challenges, they can take steps to alter them for the future.  
  • What did my support team see? A student’s support team can consist of family members, teachers, tutors, therapists, and more. These individuals tend to work hand-in-hand with their students to help them succeed, so it is important to get their perspective on how the school year went. For example, if your children feel that they studied well for their Spanish tests but their subject tutor notices that they struggled with conjugations, that disparity needs to be addressed. If your children believe that they had a hard time writing “good” essays, they should seek out their teacher for feedback on what specific elements of writing they could improve on. 
Set Goals
After reflecting and gathering feedback, your children can begin planning for the new school year. Based on the information that they articulated and learned, your children can then set a variety of goals.

  • Daily goals. Daily goals are perfect for promoting progress with both personal and academic tasks. These small goals can include items such as meditating, writing in a journal, practicing with Duolingo, working at a desk, and more. Tasks that should be completed every day can instantly give your children a sense of accomplishment if they consistently attend to these items. 
  • Weekly goals. Sometimes, students’ after-school schedules are so hectic that they have little free time to attend to daily goals. If that is the case with your children, encourage them to set weekly goals. For example, they could aim to work out three times a week, update their homework app at least four times a week, or review chemistry for 20 minutes twice a week. These goals are a little looser than daily ones but still provide your children with structure to help them think more long-term. 
  • Monthly goals. These long-term goals can guide your children in thinking through their overall performance in a class or personal activity. For example, if they want to earn an A in their U.S. History class, what steps do they have to take to meet that goal? Will they have to meet with their teacher once a week to review the material, create Quizlet sets to study vocabulary terms, etc.? If your children want to rise to the next level in their piano class, what steps do they have to take? Will they have to practice three times a week, attend lessons for an hour each week, etc.? Monthly goals are perfect for teaching students how to break a big goal down into smaller steps that they can attend to throughout a week.
Meeting Goals
It is one thing to set goals and another thing to meet them. Even if your children create specific and realistic goals, it is important that they follow through. Motivation levels may decrease over the course of the year, new obligations may pop up, and dozens of other reasons may evolve that impede progress. To help your children reach their goals, encourage them to do the following: 

  • Write down goals. Trying to mentally keep track of goals can be detrimental to success, as your children may forget everything that they want to accomplish. Allow your children to choose a method to record their goals; they can write them on paper, a Google Doc, a whiteboard, a wall calendar – the options are endless! As the school year commences, your children should update their chosen platform with their progress. That could be as simple as adding a checkmark next to tasks completed or as complex as writing down the amount of time spent on each. 
  • Revise goals. Students’ lives are never stable; new assignments or obligations always arise. As a result, it may be necessary to revise goals as needed. That is okay! If a goal becomes unrealistic, trying to achieve it may decrease confidence and motivation. Instead, ask your children to consider which goal they are struggling to meet and why. From there, help them to consider whether to change the parameters of the goal so that it better fits within their new circumstances.
  • Share goals. In order to be accountable, encourage your children to share their goals with another person. That person could be a parent, a friend, an executive functioning mentor – the important thing is that your children have someone checking in on them. When students feel that their goals matter to others, they may feel more inclined to work towards achieving them. Oftentimes, students respond better to non-family members checking in on them because they can be more open about their challenges. 
Final Thoughts
It is still summer vacation, but this is the ideal time to start thinking about the new school year. Reflecting and setting goals now can better enable your children to start off on the right foot when the school bell rings. 
TO BLOG
Transitioning from Summer into the Academic Year

Summer is a time to play, to explore, to be outside, to have fun, and to carelessly throw caution to the wind. During summer vacation, time and structure often lose their meaning, and academics can be thrown to the side (right now, hundreds of kids are probably insisting that they’ll get to their summer homework eventually). With all of these things at play, it’s no wonder that the transition back into school can sometimes be physically, emotionally, and mentally hard for both kids and their parents. We’re about a month out from the start of a new school year, and as stores begin putting out their “Welcome Back to School” supplies, parents might be Googling “best ways to get my kid ready for school without losing my mind.” While every child responds differently, here are some of the methods that my mom used to help me get ready for that inevitable return to school.