TIP SHEET #2: Suggestions by Teachers for Parents

1. Start strong during the first month of school each year by laying down the Rules of the Game to every class, but leave a little wiggle-room because if momentum trickles off later in the semester, as demonstrated by not turning in assignments on time or doing poorly on some (but not all) tests, the student has some cushion. This flexibility benefits both student and teacher: once kids get behind they feel overwhelmed, and even if they really try they may still only get to a ‘C’. But an opportunity to make up the shortfall is not only deserved, it can serve as a great motivator in later grading periods.

2. Organized notebooks help tremendously. Encourage your student to use color to highlight, underline and make symbols only they understand. Provide them with colorful tools. My seventeen-year-old neighbor uses the mirrored closet doors in her bedroom to make outlines, schedules and notes with colorful Dry Erase markers. It’s an entire wall of school stuff!

3. Don’t let your student cram-study on the night before a big exam. Instead, spread the study time over five days of shorter study sessions and re-reading during the week just before the exam.

4. Flash cards are great for certain subjects. Parents: don’t make the flash cards for your teens. The act of writing down the facts is part of learning. I tell my students to study the questions at the beginning or end of the textbook sections that might be covered in the exam.

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TIP SHEET #1: 8 Ways to Help Your Highschooler Do Best and Be Best In and Out of the Classroom

1. Teach time. Teens often don’t know what time “feels” like. Their evenings at home drag on endlessly with homework or they let the evening slip away without getting anything at all done. A digital timer or oven timer helps – let her have control over it. Cheerfully monitor her time but don’t hover.

2. You are his Wayfinder. Help your teen to clarify his path to success. Eliminate clutter from his life and help him get organized with his school notebooks, papers, backpack and binders.

3. Your home is a shelter from the chaos of the day. Help your teen study away from the TV, computer and other visual distractions. Keep her cell phone with you while she studies, but return it when she is done. This prevents endless distractions with texting.

4. Empower your teen. Set him up for success. Have clear family expectations about school success. Talk together about realistic hopes for his career, college and grades.

5. Don’t run interference, but be an involved parent. Allow your teen to solve her own problems without rushing in to rescue her. She is learning to negotiate the world now, and you are there to support and guide her in her learning to do this.

6. Make your home less crazy. Turn off unnecessary music, TV and computers until homework is done. Make your home as peaceful and quiet as you can to honor the time of reading and homework. This tells your teen that school is important.

7. Teach your teen to be a responsible person. Opportunities to serve the community are plentiful both in and outside of school. Let your teen choose what she wants to do and support her by your encouragement and praise.

8. You are your teen’s secretary. As a parent, you don’t need to know geometry or chemistry, but you can help him to get organized and stay on track with time at home and homework. Use a calendar together to view upcoming projects and assignments.

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