• The demands of sixth and seventh grade students are much greater than elementary school.  Some of the following tips can help your child be more successful:
        
    • Consider having a FAMILY MEETING on Sunday evenings with the goal of reviewing a monthly calendar for the upcoming weeks, signing any paperwork, organizing agenda books and backpacks.
    • If your children are feeling bad about missing assignments, remind them that the fastest way to feel better is to start working on it.  If they put it off, they will just feel worse about it later. If they get started now, and make it through the first 5-10 minutes, they will feel a great sense of confidence & accomplishment, and a lot of the stress will go away.
    • TAKE 10 every day: When students sit down to do their homework each evening, they should take the first ten minutes to organize papers and review notes from all of their classes.  TWO minutes to clean out the backpack and organize papers in folders or a binder and EIGHT minutes to review all the notes and handouts that were distributed throughout the day. This daily review helps the brain process information much faster and more effectively, ensuring long-term retention.  Students benefit from dramatically reduced study time, the ability to complete homework faster, and greater success getting assignments turned in on time!
    • Research has demonstrated that one of the most effective ways to study for a test is through SELF-TESTING.  When students take tests on to-be-learned material (ie self-testing) it provides a huge memory advantage. 
    • These recommendations will not require as much effort if they become a habit or ritual.  Pairing a new ritual with something that naturally occurs on a daily basis (such as walking the dog or after dinnertime) will help your children to remember to engage in this new behavior.
    • Your children will continue to need to be prompted, praised and reinforced for working on these new behaviors.  Try to remind your children about their personal strengths and how these traits will help them to accomplish their goals
    • See below for more research on effective study habits