Supporting Your Teen In High School

by | Jan 10, 2023 | From the Heart | 0 comments

Parents can do a lot to help their teens do well in school by keeping them informed and giving them some support and direction. Even though teens want to be on their own, parental help is essential to doing well in school.

Go to Parent-Teacher Conferences and Back-to-School Night
Teenagers do better in school when their parents help them study. You can learn a lot about your teen’s teachers and what they expect by attending the school’s open house or back-to-school night. School administrators may talk to parents and guardians of juniors and seniors about school-wide programs and rules, and options for after high school.

Attending parent-teacher conferences is another way to find out what’s going on. However, in high school, these conferences are usually only set up when parents need to help with problems like destructive behavior, not meeting grade-level expectations, or getting more out of advanced class work.

Have A Look At The School’s Website
When you talk to your teen about the school, knowing how the building and grounds are set up can help you connect with them. It’s helpful to know where the main office, school nurse, cafeteria, gym, athletic fields, auditorium, and special classes are.

On the school’s website, you can find information about:
– Contacting school staff about special events like dances and class trips
– Dates of tests, current grades, and unfinished work
– Information on how to sign up and when for sports, clubs, and other activities outside of school
– Help for students with life after high school
– High school mental health activities
– Many teachers have their own websites with links to textbooks and other resources and information about homework, quizzes, and tests. There are often extra resources for parents and students on the district, school, or teacher websites.

Help With Homework
In high school, there is more homework, and grades are more critical for college plans. Students who want to attend college must also study for the SATs or ACTs. Many teens are learning how to balance school, jobs, and social lives during all these changes.

Make sure your teen has a place to study that is quiet, well-lit, and free of distractions. This is an important thing you can do to help. Distraction-free means you can’t use the phone, TV, or websites that aren’t related to your homework. Make sure to check on your teen every so often to make sure they haven’t gotten sidetracked.

Sit down with your teen regularly to discuss his or her schedule and ensure it’s fair. Also, help him or her stick to a homework and study schedule.

Tell your teen that it’s okay to ask for help when they need it. Most teachers are available before or after school to help students who need it, and they may also be able to suggest other resources.

Offer Your Help With Homework
Planning is crucial if you want to help your teen study while they are juggling homework from different subjects. Since grades matter in high school, it’s essential to plan for studying, especially if your teen is busy with activities outside of school.

When your teen has a lot to study, help them break it up into smaller tasks and stick to the schedule on the studying calendar so that they don’t have to study for multiple tests all at once. Remind your teen to take notes in class, organize them by subject, and go over them at home.

If your teen gets good grades, he or she might not need help studying. But if grades start to drop, it might be time to step in. Most parents still need to help their teens with organization and studying. Just because they’re in high school doesn’t mean they can do this independently.

You can help your teen study and remember things by asking simple questions, asking them to fill in the missing word, or taking practice tests. The more ways like writing, reading, speaking, and listening to the brain uses to process information, the more likely it is that the information will be remembered. Repetition of words, re-reading passages aloud, rewriting notes, visualizing information, or drawing it all help the brain remember things.

Get Involved
Helping out at your teen’s high school is a great way to show that you care about their education.

Keep in mind, though, that some teens like to see their parents at school or at school events, while others might feel embarrassed. Follow your teen’s lead to figure out how much interaction is best for both of you and if your volunteering should be done in the background. Make it clear that you’re not there to spy on people; you’re just trying to help the school community.

Parents and guardians can take an active role by:
– Serving as a grade-level chairperson, organizing or working at fundraisers and other special events like bake sales, car washes, and book fairs, or working at a concession stand at a sports game.
– Taking care of kids on school trips, dances, and proms
– Attending school board meetings
– Joining the school’s parent-teacher group working as a library assistant, mentoring or tutoring students reading a story to the class, giving a talk for career day, going to school concerts, plays, and sports games
– Check the school or school district website to see if any volunteer opportunities work with your schedule. Even if you only give a few hours during the school year, your teen will remember it.

Attendance Is Important
If a teen has a fever, feels sick, is throwing up, or has diarrhea, they should stay home from school. Aside from that, it’s vital that they get to school every day on time because having to catch up on classwork, projects, tests, and homework can be stressful and make it hard to learn.

Teens may not want to go to school for many reasons, such as being bullied, having hard homework, getting bad grades, having social problems, or having problems with classmates or teachers. Talk with your teen, and then maybe with a school administrator or counselor, to find out what’s making him or her nervous.

Students may also be late to school because they didn’t get enough sleep. Keeping your teen on a regular sleep schedule can help him, or she avoid being tired and late.

Be Open About Communicating About School
Parents and guardians can find it hard to keep in touch with their teens because they spend so much time away from home at school, in extracurricular activities, on the job, or with their friends. High school students spend most of their time discovering new interests and making new friends. However, their parents and guardians are their primary sources of love, guidance, and support.

Try to talk to your teen every day so he or she knows you care about what happens at school. When teens know that their parents care about how well they do in school, they will also work hard in school.

Because communication is a two-way street, how you talk and listen to your teen can affect how well he or she listens and responds. You must listen carefully, make eye contact, and not do other things simultaneously when you talk to someone. Don’t talk to your teen; talk with him or her. Make sure to ask questions that can’t be answered with a simple “yes” or “no.”

Aside from family meals, good times to talk are driving (though you don’t have to make eye contact), walking the dog, cooking, or waiting in line.

When teens know they can talk to their parents about anything, it can be easier for them to deal with high school problems.

How To Find Peace In Your Daily Life

by | Nov 2, 2022 | From the Heart | 0 comments

Whether you’re overwhelmed at work or dealing with issues in your personal life, it can sometimes feel as though peace is hard to come by. After all, there’s so much happening in the world around us (and within our own minds), that we’ve come to accept feelings of stress and anxiety as part of our routine.

Photo by Sage Friedman on Unsplash

However, it does not have to be that way – and it’s crucial that you make positive changes that will enable you to better care of your mental health. With that in mind, here are some simple ways to find peace in your daily life. 

Identify the cause
Sometimes, it can feel as though we are stressed or anxious for no good reason – whether these feelings manifest in our thoughts or through physical symptoms such as dizziness and chest palpitations. However, identifying your stressors will enable you to reduce your exposure to them or at least help you determine which coping mechanisms come in handy during these times. 

Turn to your faith
Whether you are a part of the Living Church of God or a smaller church, many people find peace through reaffirming their faith. For example, you could attend church more regularly or pray. Many people also find that faith can help with loneliness and anxiety by providing you with a community to rely on when things get tough. 

Practice self-care
Adopting daily self-care habits is another great way to find peace in your daily life. This is because self-care is geared toward teaching you how to relax but ensuring that your needs are met daily. Simply put, the more you practice self-care, the less likely you neglect your wants and needs, making finding peace within yourself much more manageable. 

Accept what you can’t control
Sometimes our worries and anxieties are grounded in practicality. For example, you may be worried about a job interview as you want this new position. However, on other occasions, worries are impractical because what we worry about is beyond our control. For example, this could include worrying about the weather in a few days. Accepting what you cannot control will help you find peace, as you’ll be able to spend less time in your head thinking about the what-ifs.

Learn from, then let go of, your mistakes
We all make mistakes from time to time – but how we respond to them determines how they impact us. For example, when you hold onto a mistake and continue to chastise yourself for it, or wonder what other people are thinking, you’re putting a barrier between yourself and peace. However, when you view the mistake as an opportunity to grow or learn something, you can put the past behind you and move forward with your head held high. In short, it stops you from dwelling on the past, so you can focus on the present.