What I'm hearing from St. Louis Park families this September

Two questions keep coming up in my conversations with parents this month. The first is about our learning plans. Parents will ask why their child is working on material below their grade level instead of just keeping up with what's happening in class. Here's the thing, math builds on itself, so if there are gaps from a year or two ago, we have to fill those in first before anything new really sticks. Once a kid has a solid foundation, everything else gets so much easier, including the confidence to work through problems on their own.

The second question is about scheduling. Families are stretched thin with sports and other activities this fall, and I get it. What I tell parents is that twice a week is really the sweet spot for keeping progress steady. Kids who only come in once a week make about a third of the progress of kids who come twice, so we'd rather work around your schedule than cut back on frequency. We don't lock you into the same days and times every week either, so there's more flexibility than people expect.

On the struggles I'm seeing, a lot of kids have gotten used to leaning on a calculator or letting a computer do the thinking instead of working through a problem themselves. We spend a lot of time asking questions instead of just handing over answers, so kids build the habit of finding the simplest path to a solution instead of grinding through the long way every time.

My advice to parents is simple. Don't wait until it feels urgent. Every spring we get calls from high schoolers scrambling to pass Algebra II or AP Stats, and by April it's a much harder climb than it would have been in September. If your child is behind, or if they're bored because school isn't challenging them enough, now is the time to bring them in, not later.

We're settling back into our regular back to school hours, and if your child is struggling with something specific from class, remind them to bring their homework in so we can target exactly what's tripping them up. We also offer extra homework support time for kids who need more than a few minutes of help.

Locally, our team had a great time at the Susan Lindgren Fall Festival this month, and we're excited about our partnership with Coder's Clubhouse. Stop by the open house at our Edina center on September 26, and Coder's Clubhouse is hosting their own open house on October 10 if you want to check that out too.