Sunday, August 18, 2013

Back to School: Ready or Not


Teresa is ready for the first day of school tomorrow.She teaches 7th grade in a center for gifted studies and loves her job! From first hand experience I'm here to tell you that she's really good at what she does. Her classroom is picture perfect ready. Her lesson plans are ready. She has all her supplies and knows all the names of her new students. Being a teacher requires you to be ready. What we may forget is that just because we're ready doesn't mean all our kiddos are ready for that first day.

As a parent you may have bought everything on the school supply list for your child. You may have altered their schedules in preparation to make sure they don't stay up late and can get up early. You may have 5 lunches already packed for this upcoming week. But is your child really ready?

Nick, who is about to enter his senior year in high school, hates the prospect of returning to the school routine. He dislikes getting up early after sleeping late all summer long. But what bothers him most is the return to a structured routine that defines how he is expected to learn. Nick's main concern is an academic one.

Nick's youngest sister, Bree, is about to enter middle school, and she's apprehensive about what kind of work will be expected of her in this new environment. But Bree's main worry is that she won't know many kids and will have to deal with people she doesn't like. Bree's concern is mostly a social one.
There are many reasons why children may not be excited about returning to school. . .

Read more about what to do if your child has the back-to-school blues and then really ask the question "Is my child ready for school?"