Many students in the northeast will have their mid winter recess in the near future. It’s been my experience that many students seem to fall through the cracks so to say, from February to Spring Break. What causes it….let’s look at some possible reasons
1. Third quarter starts at the end of January. The school work is more demanding with increased amount of projects, assignments and homework.
2. If students haven’t developed study strategies, time management skills, and test taking skills, the increased work will present as a terrific challenge.
3. Students are coming off Christmas vacation and heading into February’s winter recess for the northeast schools. For some students, they’re just counting the days until they have off again.
4. Don’t forget about midterms. They’re thrown into this mix during the end of January, beginning of February. Students are emotionally and intellectually “fried” after this week. Some students take a mental “vacation” from school work.
How to help you child stay on task
Remember that your child’s frontal lobes do not fully develop until she/he reaches the mid 20’s. And that means what? Well, you will have to loan your lobes to them. The executive functioning that is housed in the lobes may need a boost from you. I’ve listed a few brief strategies for parents helping their children through this journey:
1. Contact teachers to see if your child is on task. Any missing homework, projects, assignments? Any unusual grades on exam or tests? Let them know that you would like to be contacted if there is any missing work from your child.
2. If you find that your child is procrastinating, he may be feeling overwhelmed with the amount of work. Develop a time management plan with your child. Keep in mind that your child may have a different organizing style than you. It would be in your best interest to determine your child’s ”style” before constructing this plan.
3. Check the website. Some teachers are fantastic about posting the school work on the school website. You can keep track of your child’s assignments instead of hounding your child for information.
4. Have a conversation with your child about the benefits of staying on track. You might have to help them with the foresight and hindsight aspects of this conversation. For example, “ Remember when you left your project to the last minute? You had to stay in the entire weekend to finish it.” Or “If you plan ahead, you can have the homework completed to be able to go to the movies with your friends.”
Keeping your child on the track will result in a successful year. You child’s confidence will increase and your blood pressure will remain at a normal level .