Life has so many distractions: soccer, church, scouts, that squirrel over there. But when it comes to finding success at school, it’s important to stay on track right from the start!
No matter what that last report card said or what last year was like, you can start fresh at school. Yes, you can.
How to Stay on Track at School This Year: FREE Guide for Parents
It all starts with planning and preparation. Sounds hard? It isn’t!
Let’s walk through the easiest ways for you to help set your child up for success at school!
Get real
Right now, call a family meeting. Talk honestly about what happened at school last year. Write down what went right and what went off track. For each situation or big topic that didn’t go so smoothly, really dig deep to figure out where it went wrong.
Be super honest with yourself and each other.
Write it all down. Then let everything sit for 24 to 48 hours. Everyone should reflect on what you talked about.
Find solutions
For every area that was a trouble spot, create a poster. You’ll need a 
On each poster paper, write down one problem across the top as the title.
Underneath write why it was an issue (who, what, when, where, why, how). Use your notes from the other night.
As a family, come up with solutions and consequences.
For example:
Susie had low grades last year in math. Solution: let’s hire a tutor!
Then, if grades improve, reward your child for their success!
Need help with your goals and solutions? Get in touch! Let’s see if we can find ways to solve your problems together.
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Stay on Track
Whatever you write on your charts it’s important to follow through. Put your posters up somewhere in your home where you can see them daily.
If you can see something often, chances are that you will stay on track!
As you start school and work through the fall, check in with your goals often.
Have more family meetings to talk about how things are going.
- Are you all doing your part to meet the goals you talked about?
- What needs to be changed or tweaked?
Keep track of your child’s successes! Use a chart to track awesome grades or days with good behavior. Make a big deal when they reach a milestone and earn a reward.
After about 3-5 cycles on your original reward system, level up and make it harder.
Instead of 3 good test grades, make it 5. Instead of 2 weeks of good behavior, make it a month.
Eventually, you can lose the rewards altogether because the new system will have become THE system!
Go all in
It’s super important that the whole family, or at least the parents and individual child involved, be all in on these goals.
The more invested everyone is, the better the results. I’ve seen this time and time again in the classroom. When everyone buys in, the system works!
When you all are honest about concerns, thoughtful in finding solutions, and consistent in your follow through, your school year can be awesome!
~Meg
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