Tutor Tips: 5 Ways to Help Your Kid Adjust to Middle School

5 Ways to Help Your Kid Adjust to Middle School

Middle school is a major academic and social adjustment and can be one of the toughest times of a child’s upbringing. It’s so important for students to feel comfortable in their classroom environment so they can ask questions when they’re confused and take the initiative to manage their own time and start assignments without prompting. However, much of these things are easier said than done because students are adjusting to so many things at once at this age. Luckily there are a few things that help any kid adjust to being a middle school student.

1.  Organization saves the day

At this stage, kids are not great at organization as a general rule. Unfortunately, lack of organization can cause a ton of undue stress and cause students to get lower grades than they’re really capable of. The first thing a middle school student should adjust to is becoming more of a self-starter when it comes to getting homework assignments completed on time. It’s hard to self-regulate at this age, so middle school students need help figuring out how long it takes them to complete a particular task as well as be able to sit down to start an assignment several days before it’s due. Organization can save the day at this point in a child’s academic upbringing so it should be one of their top goals.

2.  Navigating the social scene

It’s also extra tough for kids to navigate their school’s social scene at this age. Kids sometimes decide they don’t like their elementary school friends as much as they did in previous years and they may be developing new interests or struggling with academic challenges. It’s really important for kids to find their social group and feel like they fit in with a good group of kids who encourage each other to do well and make good decisions. Once middle schoolers have a few great friends, their academic situation tends to improve and their early teen years become less stressful (READ: Irvine AP Tutor: 5 Ways to Improve AP Exam Score).

3.  Opening the door to communication

This is an age where students want to start initiating communication, but they might not know exactly how to go about it. The teacher will no longer check up on each and every student at every stage of an assignment but rather expect students to come to them if they need extra help. Students will also need to learn to communicate when they’re getting overwhelmed at school or in their social life in an efficient manner. In many cases, parents and teachers who open the door to communication find that kids have a ton to say but just don’t know exactly how to express it.

4.  Accepting supplemental education

This is also a time in many students’ lives where they need help with academics for the very first time. Some students who used to get straight A’s and B’s feel frustrated that they need a little bit of supplemental education. However, it’s very normal for students to need a little bit of extra help at this point and they should be told that there is nothing unusual about working with a tutor or needing extra help from their classroom teacher. In fact, students who learn when to ask for help become more successful not only in middle school but high school and beyond.

5.  Developing an interest or hobby

Many middle school kids don’t have a hobby or interest they’re particularly excited about outside of school. However, when kids have a chance to explore new things, either through taking electives at school or exploring after school opportunities, they discover they have a lot more interest in extracurriculars than they originally thought. Students who have a fun hobby at this age tend to be more well rounded in general, be less stressed out, and do well on their assignments.

Private Irvine middle school tutoring is a great way to make your kid confident and successful. Call us today for more information.

replace logoAll blog entries, with the exception of guest bloggers, are