Parents facing four years of high school with their teens know that it is going to be a whole new experience. In addition, their teenagers are going through the terrible adolescent phase at this time. These parents deserve a little help. This parents guide to high school offers tips and resources to help them and their teens sail through the high school years without any major problems.
Parents Should Get To Know Their Teenager’s Teachers
To start the year off right, parents should attend the school’s scheduled orientation. At this meeting, staff may be introduced, and important school policies will be reviewed. This important information will supplement the advice in this parents guide to high school.
After the school year has begun, the school may host an open house night. At some schools, teachers may give a short presentation to explain their grading strategy, behavior expectations, and contact information. Other schools may only have one large presentation for everyone. Then, the parents and students go to the classrooms for personal introductions to the teachers. Regardless of the type of open house program presented, parents can make that first personal contact with the teachers.
Parents Should Sign up with the School’s Online Learning Management System
Many schools use an online learning management system, such as edline.net, to post weekly grades. Each student – parent team can login to a free account to monitor the teenager’s grades. Incomplete homework and tests may even be listed. If the teenager is doing poorly, the parent can question the student or email the teachers to find out why. Then the parent can push the student to work harder to catch up before it is too late.
Parents Should Ask about Afterschool Tutoring to Promote Their Teenager’s Success
To improve student performance, many schools provide free afterschool tutoring. This can greatly help both the parent and the teen. Parents should ask which days each teacher will stay late to help with a specific subject. Then their teenager can get assistance as needed. They should also ask if the school has a late bus for students that stay afterschool. This one resource tip from the parents guide to high school can make a big difference in each student’s academic progress.
Parents Have To Learn To Do a Balancing Act
The high school years are the transition period between childhood and adulthood. Thus, parents have to find the perfect balance between keeping their teens on course for success while also giving them more responsibility for their own progress. Here are a few tips to establish that balance
o Since teenagers are always focused on their friends, the parents must always remind them that school is the top priority. It outranks friends, afterschool activities, and part-time jobs.
o Parents should routinely check the online system for progress on grades. If work is incomplete, the parents should make it the teen’s responsibility to arrange with the teacher to make up the work.
o Parents should express approval when teens communicate with their teachers and work hard to catch up.
o When teens fail to take action to improve their grades, parents should find out why. If needed, parents should discipline the teens to get them to pull up their grades.
o For high school teens, grounding them for a period or taking away privileges can be very effective.
o The goal is to get the teenagers to become responsible for their own academic success.
Parents still need to have some level of involvement with their high school teenagers. However, with the tips found in this parents guide to high school, they should be able to get their teens off to a good start.
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