Next up in our top tutor series: Middle Schoolers!
(Read about Elementary Students Here and High School Students Here)
We asked one of our top tutors, Jan Rowe to share her thoughts on working with middle schoolers as we kick off 2019.
What’s so hard for middle school kids about January?
Jan: January can be a little difficult for kids coming off of the holiday break because before the break, they have worked so hard at establishing good habits for the first few months of the school year. But then during the holidays, they get out of their habits and sleep in, stay up late, things like that.
Whenever January comes around, it’s a little difficult for them to get right back into those habits that they had formed at the beginning of the school year. So not only are students forgetting some of the information that they learned, they also have to establish those habits again.
How do you approach this with your students?
Jan: It’s family by family, but what I have taught is this. Whenever I start working with kids in January, it can be somewhat frustrating for them because they’re a little overwhelmed, thinking: “Oh my goodness! I’ve forgotten this, I’ve forgotten that. What do I do?”
So instead what we started doing is having a conversation about what’s coming up to get them mentally prepared: “Alright. What do you see that’s going to happen right away now that you’re back in school?”
Is there anything else parents can do to help?
Jan: Another big thing, especially with middle schoolers, is over the holidays they have free rein to stay up as late as they want. It is very difficult for them to get back to going to sleep at a reasonable time during January.
So the quicker they can start going back to sleep at the same time that they did during the school year, the easier the transition is to getting enough rest for the first week back.
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Our Educational Coaches strike just the right balance of positive support, while also challenging students to be responsible and accountable for their schoolwork: the perfect formula for getting your son or daughter’s school habits back on track.
Click the link below if you think they could benefit from some extra help to get back on track.