Back-to-School-Basics

•   Make sure your child/teen has breakfast before leaving for school. According to scientific research at Harvard Medical School funded by Sodexo Foundation, children who fail to get sufficient dietary energy, particularly in the mornings, suffer from low brain function, decreasing their ability to pay attention, concentrate and learn. Physical and mental health issues are also connected with poor diet.
•   Proper sleep. Studies in neuroscience have shown that performance on a task improves after a night of sleep. An example would be to learn to play a series of notes on the piano, after a night of sleep, a person's performance improves.
•   A quiet environment for studying. Provide a place with few distractions where your child can concentrate.
•   Support your child in the process. To support your child means that they do the work, you are available to talk through things they do not understand. Perhaps you have a child who has difficulty remembering to turn in their assignments or tends to leave things to the last minute, help them create a system that will keep them on track. Do not do the work for them. When you do the work for your child you are rescuing and denying them the opportunity to learn from their mistakes.
•   Keep to a "no call" policy during the school hours unless there is an emergency. Parents should not be calling their child during class time, disrupting the learning process.
•   Set boundaries. Children will not learn how to hold themselves accountable if parents do not set boundaries and hold to them.