Last but not least in our series, we sat down with Yara Alemi, one of our highly-regarded high school student tutors, to tell us how best to tackle the transition back to school after break.
(Read our post about Elementary Students Here or Middle School Students Here)
What’s hard about January for your high schoolers?
Yara: One of the things that I always notice with my high school students is that jumping back into the higher level content, once they’ve had that big winter break, can be very difficult for them.
I also work with a couple of juniors, and this is around the time when the pressure of college applications can become really overwhelming.
How do you approach this with your students?
Yara: With the higher level content, one of the big tips is you have to stay organized, and you have to stay on top of it. So with my kids, we go through their syllabus, we make sure that they know when all of their tests are coming up, making sure, for example, that they don’t have three tests on the same day they didn’t realize.
What are some strategies that you take with your students to help them break down all of the work that they’re going to have due in January?
Yara: I’m a big fan of a planner, like many of our tutors. So just spending some time and looking at the monthly view is key, but then I always have my kids make a weekly docket.
So it’s not, “Oh I have to do all of these things by the end of January, it’s so overwhelming.”
It’s, “Okay, this is what I have to do by the end of the week to make sure that I’m still on track.”
And a lot of times, they get a lot of joy from being able to just click “Check” on one of the tasks that they’ve done.
What can parents do to help?
Yara: This is a difficult time for a lot of kids, and I think that one of the biggest things that a parent can do is they can listen. When your child comes to you, and they sound like they have a million problems, as a parent the natural inclination is to jump in and help them out by solving those problems.
But your kids are more likely just looking for a shoulder to lean on, and someone to listen to them. So instead of saying, “I can solve this, and I can help you,” let your son or daughter experience what it’s like to be an adult and have them come to their own solutions. They will lean on you when they need to.
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If you’re looking for extra help, a Subject Tutor can deliver that “quick boost” your high schooler needs to feel confident going into January exams.
Contact us if you’re interested.