October - Greene County Schools

Reinforcing Learning   

Time management is a critical skill for your child

Middle school children are faced with many competing demands. Their homework takes up more time than in years past, and they’re involved in more activities.

Children are creatures of habit. Learning to adjust their behavior to accommodate more demands can be tough. In fact, nearly all children find this challenging, but for some, it can be completely overwhelming. Overwhelmed children have never learned to manage their time, and they are soon buckling under the weight of everything they have to do.

Help your child avoid this. Teach him how to manage his time with these four steps:

1. Set goals. Goals and time management are directly related. Example: Your child has been a C student in English, but wants a B this quarter. He’ll have to commit a certain amount of time to meet that goal.
2. Put priorities in order. Even well-managed time has limits. The “must-do’s” (like homework!) have to come first. Encourage your child to list everything he has to do under one of three headings. “Must Do,” “Would Be Nice to Do” and “Can Skip This One.”
3. Make a schedule. After your child sets his priorities, he needs to figure out when he can actually do those “must-do’s.” That’s where a schedule comes in. Some children can draw up a schedule for the whole week and stick to it. Others need to make a schedule every day to keep them on track.
4. Stick to a schedule. This may be the hardest step of all. Few children want to spend a sunny day doing research for an upcoming paper when five of their friends are planning to ride bikes to a nearby restaurant. Encourage and praise your child for staying on track. And don’t forget to leave some time in the schedule for fun!

Reprinted with permission from the October 2006 issue of Parents Still make the difference!® (Middle School Edition) newsletter. Copyright © 2006 The Parent Institute®, a division of NIS, Inc. Source: Lawrence J. Greene, The Resistant Learner: Helping Your Child Knock Down the Barriers to School Success, ISBN: 0-312-31919-3 (St. Martin’s Press, 1-800-221-7945, www.stmartins.com).

Attendance Matters

Get your preteen out the door on time in the morning

Your preteen won’t do well in school if he doesn’t go to school. Good attendance is key to his overall academic success.

To make sure your child doesn’t miss class, lay down the law. Let him know that, with few exceptions (such as illness), he’s not allowed to skip school. Try these suggestions:

• Follow school-night routines. Get him in the habit of laying out his clothes and loading his backpack before going to bed. By preparing at night, he’ll be less likely to panic the next morning—or miss the bus—over a lost assignment or a disappearing notebook.
• Enforce a bedtime. Don’t let your overly tired child snooze through his alarm. Insist that he go to bed at a decent hour. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, adolescents require nine to 10 hours of sleep. Determine what time he should wake up and count backward.
• Keep mornings simple. Encourage your preteen to avoid trying to do too much in the morning. His before-school activities should consist of dressing, eating breakfast and leaving. If he’s trying to squeeze extras (like completing assignments), build more time into his afternoon homework sessions.