It’s 2018! It’s a whole new year, and that brings with it a new semester at school. Much like over the summer holiday, it’s always possible that some key learning from the previous semester has been forgotten over the long break. Thankfully, there’s always something you can do to help prepare for a new semester and make sure that your kids are well-equipped to get back to work.
1. Go Over Old Materials
If you’re anything like my parents, you kept a lot of schoolwork. At least, anything that you deemed to be important. For me, that meant just about every test, every quiz, and a lot of notes. So when it came time for a refresher of everything I’d learned so far, it wasn’t difficult to do. Break out the old notebooks, read through the tests, and make sure I remember everything I learned during the previous semester.
2. Find a Tutor or Join a Learning Center
Some subjects can’t explain themselves. If you’re talking about English or Geography, you can always reread or look at a map and be able to relearn anything you may have forgotten. When it comes to something like Math, it’s not always quite that simple. You can look at a problem you’ve solved before and not have any idea what you did. The steps might look like a foreign language, or feel like something out of a dream that you can vaguely remember, but none of the details will stick. In cases like this, it’s important not to guess. Find someone who can help. That may be a tutor, or it may be a center like Mathnasium that is specifically designed and structured to make sure that you’re not only learning math concepts, but also understanding them.
3. Make Sure You Have All Necessary Supplies
Don’t stress, you probably have most of what you need from last semester. This isn’t like going back to school after summer break. But sometimes, some materials will have run out, or there’s a new list of materials for new classes or new teachers. If your child is moving into a subject like Geometry, he or she may need specific equipment like a compass or protractor that may not have been used during the first semester. These types of occurrences aren’t frequent, but they’ll help you to make sure your child is ready to get back to school.
4. Get Lots of Sleep!
This one is easy to forget. Usually, after a long holiday, people are used to staying up later and sleeping in longer. On New Year’s Eve, people are staying up later than they ever do during the school year. Classes start up again not too long after that, so make sure you start setting your child’s internal clock back to the regular school schedule. Even if it’s just going to be a half hour earlier every day for the few days leading up to school, it will help a great deal if your son or daughter is getting the proper amount of sleep before attempting to learn.
5. Set a New Year’s Resolution
This can be academic or personal, but since the New Year is starting, it’s not a bad time to try to form new habits. They say it takes 21 days to form a habit, so try to stick to whatever it is you’re doing for at least three weeks! After that, you might not be able to stop! Whether your habit includes longer study periods or more time exercising, you can better yourself as long as you’re dedicated.
The New Year means new possibilities and a new start, and the new semester at school is just the beginning. Enjoy the new learning, and do your best to set yourself, and your children, up for success. Good luck!
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