Help Your Child Succeed
Middle schoolers need lots of direction, guidance, and support. To help your child succeed, follow these suggestions.
- Provide school supplies and a place to study
- Help set academic goals
- Insist on daily attendance
- Attend all parent programs (B-4 High meetings)
- See all mid-term progress reports and report cards
- Use rewards and consequences to encourage change
- Encourage a healthy lifestyle
- Help improve organizational skills
- Make homework your child's responsibility
- Encourage involvement in school activities
- Encourage independent problem solving
- Provide academic support
Stay involved! Don't assume that once students get to middle school that they don't need your involvement. They do!
When Is It Time to Call a Teacher?
Sometimes parents wonder if they should "bother" a teacher with a problem. "Should I just keep quiet and hope for the best"? they wonder.
Teachers say they want to know what's going on in their students' lives and the earlier the better. Chances are if you've noticed a problem, your teen's teachers have probably seen it too.
With any problem, it's usually best to start by contacting the teacher involved. Here are three times when you should definitely call the teacher.
- If Grades drop whether it's in one subject, or all of them, a dramatic drop (more than one letter grade) indicates there's trouble.
- If you suspect your teen may be telling you things that aren't true. When, day after day, your teen says there's no homework-but other parents say their kids have assignments-you want to get the real story.
- There's been a change in your family. A new marrage, a divorce, a serious illness or a move can all affect school performance.
