Crafting the Ultimate Homework Routine

Creating a well-structured nightly homework routine can make all the difference when it comes to managing the pressures of middle school life! Middle school students have to balance an increasingly difficult workload, numerous extracurricular activities, time with family, and their social lives. This blog dives into specific strategies for crafting a homework routine that can help students streamline their study habits, ultimately leading to more academic success and more free time for preferred activities!

Understanding the Assignments

Before students can appropriately plan and manage their homework, it is important that they have a full understanding of the tasks at hand. Students should have a concrete and consistent method of keeping track of their assignments. Assignment trackers should include space for the assignment's name, any important details, a due date, and a way to indicate when the assignment is complete. It is also imperative that students understand the requirements of the assignment. The assignment tracker should be easily transportable between school and home so that students can check in with their teachers in class if there is ever any confusion about a particular task. Students can also ask their teacher about how long they expect an assignment to take.

Creating a Homework Schedule

Creating a homework schedule is key to ensuring assignments are completed in a timely and efficient manner. The first step is to take a look at the entire month. Consider purchasing a monthly whiteboard calendar to keep track of trips, sports games, appointments, etc. Then move into a weekly schedule. Write down when all activities that take place each day of the week, and then determine how much time is left to complete homework each day. Now, students will have a clear visual understanding of just how much time they actually have to study and work each day of the week. Consider using apps like Todoist or myHomework to help create these types of schedules.

Choosing the Right Workspace

Having a calm and quiet workspace can greatly enhance the study experience. In this previous Peak blog, a multitude of tips and tricks for creating the ultimate homework space were shared. Essentially, a home workspace should be free from the hustle and bustle of the home, have comfortable, upright seating, good lighting, and be clutter-free and organized.

Setting Up Good Homework Habits

Students need to experiment to find out what homework habits work best for them. For example, some students work better by tackling their easiest tasks first, while others might prefer starting with the most challenging ones. Some students might be night owls and able to work later into the night, whereas others might be more focused if they allocate extra time in earlier in the day to complete their work. Encouraging students to try out a few different methods can benefit them in the long run because they will discover what works best for them. A few other helpful homework habits include starting each session with deep breathing or a mindful minute, taking scheduled study breaks, or listening to calm instrumental music. This Peak blog also delves into some strategies for helping students when they have a hard time getting to work at night.

Creating a nightly homework routine will look different for each student. Expect it to take some time to figure out what truly works best for your child. Experimenting with different methods and honing in on the most useful ones for each individual will ultimately lead to better habits and academic success!

Written by Laine J.

The Do’s and Don’ts of Checklists That Work

For students with ADHD or executive function challenges, managing daily tasks for school and home can feel pretty overwhelming. For one reason, they tend to have underdeveloped working memory skills. This can influence many aspects of their life, from struggling to track assignments to misplacing materials to falling behind on daily responsibilities. While checklists are often suggested as a go-to tool for working memory support, they will only be effective if the student understands how to use and apply them. So, how can you make checklists more effective, less overwhelming, and actually productive for your child? Let’s take a look at the do’s and don’ts of checklists that ACTUALLY work.

DON’T: Overdo it. Expecting your child to jump right in and use a checklist for everything is an unreasonable expectation.

DO: Start by introducing 1-2 simple checklists so your child can feel success. You can offer scaffolding and support in other areas while they work on developing this new skill. Once they have mastered their introductory checklists, you can explore adding more!

DON’T: Only use checklists as to-do lists. Children should have the opportunity to see the function of checklists in multiple settings.

DO: Create checklists for important items to remember and routines to follow. Checklists can be used to make sure kids follow all steps while learning a new routine or to make sure they have all of their materials or equipment for an activity!

DON’T: Make one long list of tasks to complete. This can be overwhelming and cause confusion when trying to prioritize deadlines and due dates.

DO: Create an individual checklist for each aspect of life. Whether it be school-related, extracurricular, or personal, separate tasks into individual categories. This will help students prioritize tasks based on level of importance (i.e. school work should be completed before a fun personal project).

DON’T: Tuck checklists away in a folder or drawer. If they’re kept out of sight, they will most likely be kept out of mind.

DO: Keep each checklist organized and in a designated spot. Help children by placing checklists in common areas, or related areas, where they can easily access them as part of their normal routine. For example, a checklist posted next to a backpack may help your child remember to pack all of their belongings before leaving for school. If beneficial, lists can also be transformed into transportable bag tags or eventually put in electronic format on a phone for older kids.

DON’T: Only use checklists once per week. New habits are difficult to form if practiced infrequently.

DO: Encourage your child to check and revise their lists at least once per day so they can finish up or reassign any uncompleted tasks and prepare for the next day! Build a consistent routine at a fitting time each day. For example, it may be appropriate to check a “Turn In” list right after school before leaving campus to catch any missed items.

DON’T: Simply make a list. A list is a great starting point, but simply creating one does not teach kids how to use it.

DO: Model how to use a checklist and practice with your child. Physically checking items off on a list will clarify what is left and also feel rewarding!

DON’T: Expect children to be able to complete all of their tasks or prioritize their schedules independently. Executive functioning skills take practice and need to be taught! 

DO: Have weekly planning meetings to go over your child’s responsibilities. This is a great way to communicate expectations for the week, check school grade postings for missing items, and share family events/reminders. It also provides an opportunity for you to model how to create checklists for the week ahead. Try using the think-aloud strategy to demonstrate how your brain is processing information as you create lists.

Just remember, not everyone has fully developed working memory skills. Checklists can be a great support to help kids manage their daily to-do's but they might need to practice and try different strategies until they find some that work!

Written by Ami Z. and Krista G.

Strategic Organizational Systems for a Successful School Year

With the start of a new school year, it is the perfect time to lay a strong foundation for success through the use of student organizational systems. From transforming cluttered corners into calm and cozy workspaces, to navigating the chaos of lockers, backpacks, and binders, strategic systems provide students with the essential tools to manage their workload with ease.

Crafting an Effective Home Workspace

Crafting and nurturing an environment conducive to focused study time is a fundamental aspect of academic success. To establish an efficient home workspace, consider these key factors. Opt for a quiet and well-lit area. A dedicated room or a corner within a room can provide the calm vibes needed for optimal concentration. Adequate lighting and comfortable yet supportive seating also help to sustain study sessions. Assign a specific place for each item on and around the desk. By creating labels and designating spots for supplies, workflow becomes more streamlined. Introducing daily, weekly, and monthly decluttering checklists empowers students to maintain their workspace and keep it more efficient. For those who struggle with task initiation or require frequent breaks, employing time management tools, such as timers or alarms, can be beneficial. Lastly, personalize the workspace with items like fairy lights, potted plants, cheerful office supplies, or framed family photos to foster an inviting and warm atmosphere.

Maintaining a Clutter-Free Backpack

Backpack organization is essential for management of school materials and staying on top of school assignments. Begin by designating distinct pockets for various items like phones, calculators, snacks, and writing utensils. Adding labels to each compartment or pocket can help maintain order as well. Preparing the backpack the night before school not only alleviates the dreaded morning rush, but also reduces the likelihood of forgetting crucial assignments or items. Regular sessions for tidying up, whether on a weekly or monthly basis, are essential for decluttering compartments and discarding old trash or papers. A laminated backpack checklist serves as a practical tool to ensure all essentials are prepped and packed each day.

Utilizing a Binder or Accordion File System

By creating a system to keep school assignments and papers neat and organized, students will easily be able to access their homework and class materials and be more prepared for quizzes, tests and long-term projects. Students should choose the best system based on their individual needs and preference, whether it be a traditional binder, a Trapper Keeper or Case-It, or an accordion folder system. It’s beneficial to use dividers and tabs to assign separate sections for each school subject. Color-coding offers an effective method for distinguishing subjects and assignments. Sheet protectors protect important papers from wear and tear, and keeping a three-hole punch at home facilitates easily adding unpunched papers into the binder. Consistently dedicating time each month to declutter, organize, and eliminate outdated papers ensures efficiency throughout the school year.

Unlocking the Key to Locker Success

A clean and tidy locker can make passing periods more efficient and help prevent students from losing school supplies and assignments. Purchase shelving and compartments to optimize locker space, making it functional for the assortment of necessities. Nowadays, there are many options for magnetic organizers or hooks to add to the locker's functionality. Placing a laminated class schedule within the locker aids in packing materials according to class order. Keep only the essentials in the locker to avoid a mess and schedule a weekly time for locker clean out. As with the home workspace, items such as pictures, uplifting quotes, or decorative magnets can instill a personal touch.

By embracing strategic systems as those outlined above, students can elevate their organizational skills, setting the stage for a successful school year!

Written by Laine J.

THE IMPORTANCE OF DOWNTIME IN YOUR CHILD’S DAILY ROUTINE

During the months of August through May students’ days are filled with a combination of school and non-school related activities from homework and projects to sports, chores/errands, play dates, extracurricular activities, and hobbies. Many days are filled with tightly wound schedules with little room for downtime — even on the weekends. During the summer months, schedules can easily be filled with things to do and places to be all day long. Regularly scheduled downtime can easily get overlooked or pushed to the bottom of a priority list. While this is true, it is important that children are still given the opportunity to explore this uninterrupted time.

What is Downtime and Why Is It Important?

Lindsey Frey explains that “Downtime or quiet time is unstructured time, away from screens or other stimulating play, to allow kids to engage in independent activities” (Frey, 2023, para. 4). Kids of all ages might have difficulty finding activities that do not involve other people or electronic devices. However, this unstructured, quiet downtime allows individuals time to process new information and experiences, independently explore interests, and building executive functioning skills.

Incorporating Downtime into Your Schedule

Even if you are an expert in rest and relaxation yourself, your child might not have the tools to master downtime right away — and that is absolutely okay! Just like any new skill, your child may need guidance, practice, and modeling when they first start routine downtime. Here are three quick tips for implementing downtime into your child’s daily routine:

1. Set a timer and start in small increments! Make sure your child has time to explore their interests, but give them a set time to practice time management and organizational skills. You can start with a small amount of time and slowly build their stamina as your child is ready. Don’t forget to celebrate their wins! For older students, a set amount of time will allow them to plan how they would like to spend their downtime.

2. Create a choice board or lists! This gives your child the opportunity to make a choice and helps them understand the boundaries of downtime. It is a great way to help children with task initiation if they are unsure of how to start. Sometimes as children get older, it can get harder to manage schedules, assignments and tasks. Creating a list, or specifically a to-do list, can promote independence and college/career readiness.

3. Change the environment as needed! For the younger children, this could mean playing independently in different areas of the house or even outdoors. For older children, it may be reading, writing, etc. in a public setting such as a library, park, or coffee shop.

Starting a Routine This summer

Although summer break can easily be filled with camps, vacation, and special activities, family schedules are usually a little more relaxed than during the school year. Summer is a wonderful time to incorporate routine downtime so children master the concept before the upcoming school year. For younger children downtime could look like reading/listening to books, playing independent games inside or outside, mindfulness activities, playing with chalk, bubbles, or play-doh, watching the clouds, coloring, or drawing. For teenagers it could look like reading, journaling, mindfulness/yoga, nature walks/hikes, puzzles, rest/sleeping in, creating and following routines, adult coloring books, and even listening to podcasts/books.

A healthy combination of playtime, downtime, and family time, or PDF, will have a lasting impact on your child! One of the best things you can do for your child during downtime this summer is to model and set an example for them. Who knows, you may even discover a hidden talent or hobby yourself!

References:

Frey, Lyndsey. “Busy Schedule? The Benefits of Daily Downtime for Kids May Surprise You.” Inside Children’s Blog, 19 Mar. 2023, www.akronchildrens.org/inside/2023/04/03/busy-schedule-the-benefits-of-daily-downtime-for-kids-may-surprise-you.

Written by Ami Z.

Cultivating Cognitive Flexibility in Your Child

Of all the executive functions, cognitive flexibility stands out as one of the most crucial skills to develop in our youth. Cognitive flexibility is the ability to adapt, revise, and shift behavior in response to roadblocks, changing situations, mistakes, and new information. By nurturing cognitive flexibility, you can empower your child to approach new challenges with creativity, problem-solving skills, and resilience.

The Role of Cognitive Flexibility

Life doesn't always go as planned! Being cognitively flexible allows you to explore alternative solutions, adjust based on new ideas or information, think creatively, and ultimately be more successful. School-aged children thrive with routine and consistency, which is fantastic for them, but it can also lead to somewhat rigid thinking. By explicitly teaching strategies to build a sense of flexibility, you can help your child balance their love of routine while also freeing them to problem-solve, think creatively, and thrive in all of life's complex and ever-changing situations.

Change in Routine

It is easy to get stuck in the same routine day in and day out. By adding small and manageable changes to your daily routine, you can actually improve your child's cognitive flexibility. Try changing the work environment for your child's homework time. If you normally work at home every day, maybe head to an outdoor picnic table one day or the library and see how it goes! If every weekend your child likes to play at the same splash pad, change it up and go to a completely new one! These small adjustments to the routine may seem simple, but they can play a huge role in strengthening mental flexibility.

New Experiences

Engage your child in opportunities for new experiences often! Trying new foods, experimenting with new hobbies, traveling to new places, and learning new skills can all help your child develop more cognitive flexibility. New experiences actually allow the brain to develop and strengthen new connections!

Sports, Games, and other Fun

What could be more fun than playing a sport, a board game, or learning a new dance? The best part is that all of these activities are awesome ways to cultivate your child's flexibility. Let's take soccer as an example. If a kid has the ball and wants to try to make a goal, but a player on the opposite team blocks them, they must adapt by either passing the ball or going another way. This kind of thinking will be required in almost any sport or game, and all will help with this executive function. Puzzles, brain-teasers, and art projects also apply here.

Perspective and Open-Mindedness

Encourage your child to be open to new ideas and perspectives that might differ from their own. This can be achieved through discussion, reading books about other cultures, and even role-playing. Having an open mind and the ability to tolerate different perspectives fosters both empathy and flexibility.

Mindfulness Practices

Introducing mindfulness activities, such as deep breathing or meditation, can help your child develop focus and emotional regulation. Strengthening these skills will enhance cognitive flexibility while also reducing impulsivity.

By fostering cognitive flexibility, you can provide your child with the tools to navigate the complexities of life, adapt to new situations, and approach challenges with resilience and creativity. As your child's cognitive flexibility grows, they will become better equipped to embrace the ever-changing world with confidence, curiosity, and adaptability.

Written by Laine J.

7 Ways to Reinforce Executive Functioning Skills this Summer

As the final school bells ring and the summer heat kicks in, many families are gearing up to enjoy a summer break filled with quality time, relaxation, and planned activities. Before school ends, many teachers give tips, tricks, and resources to avoid the “summer learning slide”, referring to a student’s loss of reading and math skills during the summer months. While these resources often include practice pages and suggestions to maintain academic progress, it is equally important for students to exercise the executive functioning skills they frequently practiced through school systems, structures, and routines. Here are 7 ways these skills can be easily incorporated into your student’s summer break through a combination of day-to-day routines and fun, engaging activities.

Get organizeD

During the summer months, many families experience less structure in their daily schedules and may fill their time with non-routine events such as camping, vacations, playdates, summer camps, and more. This transition can be challenging for students who may have relied on visual supports or daily routines during school. You can support this transition at home by using organization/planning tools to keep track of important dates and information, setting timers as needed to display how much time your child has left to complete a task, and helping your child create morning/afternoon checklists to stay organized and keep track of any routinely scheduled tasks that need to be completed.

Be mindful

Another way to practice executive functioning skills is through daily mindfulness exercises. Angela Pruess, a licensed clinical family therapist, highlights eight benefits and examples of mindfulness for children. Practicing mindfulness can look like daily meditation, “down time” or “quiet time”, yoga, nature walks, spending time outdoors, mindfulness apps, blowing bubbles, coloring, journaling, and listening to music.

Play, play, play

Playing games is a great way to practice skills like planning, memory, self-regulation, flexibility, self-control, organization, and goal setting. Specific games like Monopoly, Uno, Bingo, Connect 4, Jenga, Mancala, Memory, Battleship, and Guess Who can work on these skills. Prepped Learning offers additional suggestions for games to improve executive functions. Not only are games a great way to improve critical thinking skills, but they are also a fun way to make connections and create memories with your child.

Create a summer activity wish list

Have your child create a summer “wish list” of realistic activities and goals for this summer. Goals can range from “read 10 books” to “see a new movie”. Then, encourage your child to plan out and set a timeline to accomplish each task. You can add this to your family organizational system or create a personal calendar with your child so they can view and self-assess their progress.

Join an organized sport or activity group

Your child could join a summer camp, team, or program to increase their team building and executive functioning skills. Many sports and activity groups (band, music, theater, martial arts, etc.) help children develop skills such as organization, self-awareness, self-regulation, attention, memory, vision, and goal setting.

Run a lemonade stand

Your child can plan an activity with friends, family, or independently to run a lemonade stand. They can create a list of materials, set goals of how much lemonade to sell, practice following multi-step directions while making the lemonade, organize their stand, modify plans as needed, and improve task initiation skills. This can also give an opportunity for children to reflect, using developing their metacognitive skills, and problem solve for any necessary improvements.

Create checklists for planned activity days

If you have an activity planned, such as a beach day, vacation, camping trip, etc., you can ask your child to get involved in the planning process by creating a checklist of necessary items to pack. Not only does this checklist help create responsibility, but it also works to improve skills like planning, organization, and prioritization.

Whether your summer has a jam-packed schedule, or is filled with rest and relaxation, there are many fun, and exciting ways your child can continue to develop their executive functions and prevent the summer slide!

Written by Ami Z.

Simple Strategies to Teach and Enhance Annotation Skills

Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a way to help students connect better with a text that was both simple and enjoyable for them? Well, learning to annotate a text can be just that! Annotation does not have to be complicated or intimidating. This blog explores some simple, yet effective, strategies for middle and high school students to learn how to annotate a text in order to better comprehend and retain the information they are analyzing.

Why Annotate?

Simply put, the annotation of a text is, “any action that deliberately interacts with a text to enhance the reader’s understanding of, recall of, and reaction to the text.” So, why is this important for students to effectively learn how to do? Middle and high school students are busy with extracurriculars, family events, school and then homework each night. Oftentimes, it can be easy for them to go on auto-pilot when reading an assigned text and “check it off” of their to-do list, while not actively engaging with the text. When revisiting that same text on a quiz, test or paper they might have very little memory of what they previously read. When a student actively annotates a text, they will better connect with it, develop a deeper understanding, and retain more of the information presented within the text.

Strategy 1: Model the Basics

One of the most effective strategies for teaching a student how to annotate is to first model the process. Basic annotation concepts to teach might include: highlighting a phrase or sentence and writing a small note about it, circling words that need to be defined, putting a star next to important ideas or themes, and writing a short summary after each key section of the story or text.

Strategy 2: Practice, Practice, Practice

Students should practice annotating texts outside of their regular reading material to gain confidence in their annotation skills. Practice passages should be short in length. It can be beneficial to share examples of different types of notes to make beforehand. It is also very helpful to provide opportunities to openly discuss and go through notes that were made after a practice session.

Strategy 3: Use an Anchor Chart

Making, or buying, an annotation anchor chart can be a useful visual tool for readers. There are often pre-made annotation charts on platforms like Etsy and Teachers Pay Teachers. Or, they can be tailor-made to suit a specific type of text annotation based on the subject or type of literature. Making an annotation bookmark, with a list of all the associated symbols and what they stand for, serves as a great cue while reading.

Strategy 4: Color-Code

Color-coding is another visual tool that is an alternative to an anchor chart. Sticky notes, or colored circle stickers can be used with this method. Assign each color a specific task. For example, red might mean “character development”, blue might be “themes or symbols” and yellow might be “questions”.

Strategy 5: Make it Fun

Especially for those students just starting to annotate, playing annotation games can make the learning process enjoyable. Each number on a die can be assigned something to look for while reading. Students can take turns rolling a die and practicing what to annotate based on the number rolled.

Strategy 6: Don’t Forget about Digital Platforms

Most digital reading platforms nowadays offer fabulous annotation tools within them. Many have highlighters, underlines, circle or drawing tools, sticky notes, and fun symbols. Students should explore and take advantage of this function on all reading platforms they use when they read digitally.

Text annotation does not have to be incredibly complicated. By using some of these simple strategies, students can begin to gain confidence in annotating and comfort with interacting with texts.

Written by Laine J.

Stress-Free Ways to Incorporate Breath Work into Kids' Daily Lives

Learning practical self regulation tools while young equips kids to manage big emotions and stressful situations throughout their entire life. Deep breathing is one of the easiest, most effective tools that kids can use to self regulate. Breathing exercises activate the parasympathetic nervous system, the part of the nervous system that controls reactions to stress. These exercises help relax the body, refocus the mind and reduce anxiety. Teaching your kids deep breathing exercises in an intentional, personalized manner will encourage the daily use and auto-retrieval when stress gets high.

Teach the concept in a calm moment

When emotions are running high, kids’ brains are not in a state to learn a new self-regulation tool. Teaching breath work during calm moments allows children to receive the information in a positive, relaxed manner. The more they practice breathing exercises while they are calm, the higher the chance they will pull on these tools when they are experiencing big feelings of anger, sadness or worry.

Model deep breathing during stressful times

Modeling deep breathing can be a great way to demonstrate how and when to use a relaxation technique. If you, as a parent, are experiencing a big emotion, you can talk through your process of calming down out loud and incorporate breath work. One example might be, “I’m feeling so frustrated right now because traffic is moving so slowly. I’m going to try to relax and take 5 deep belly breaths while I wait at this red light.” You might find that your children begin to breathe with you as you model the behavior.

Use Visual Cues around your home

Sprinkling visual cues around your home helps teach and remind kids about breathing techniques. You can hang a breathing chart on the refrigerator or place a custom deck of mindfulness cards on your kids’ desks. There are even tasteful pieces of art you can display in your family room that subtly reinforce the importance of deep breathing. Simple daily reminders will signal your children’s brains and remind them about the tools they can use for self regulation.

Find ways to make it Enjoyable

Kids of all ages enjoy learning new breathing practices in a fun way. Little ones love to use their imagination and more willingly participate in activities with motivators, like bubbles or stuffed animals. Older kids appreciate the use of scents, such as essential oils or flowers, and guided meditations with themes of interest.

Create a daily routine

One of the best ways to normalize the concept of deep breathing is to create a family routine. Every morning before breakfast or each night at bedtime, you can share a mindful minute with a deep breathing exercise. Find a moment in your family’s schedule that feels natural and manageable and hold it as a sacred practice. This can be a bonding experience and help to create a peaceful home.

Written by Krista G.

Strategies to Improve Memory and Retention for Exams

Test-taking can be quite difficult for students if their foundational memory and retrieval skills are weak. Luckily, there are an abundance of strategies out there to help improve memory and retention of academic concepts. According to Judy Willis, a master in the neuroscience of learning, “The more regions of the brain that store data about a subject, the more interconnection there is.” This idea is so vital in thinking about the way we have our children work on memorization and retention of new information for exams. The key is to choose not just one method to improve these skills, but to apply several to create interconnections in the brain and reinforce understanding and retention of what is being learned. Students can use these five strategies to improve their memory and retain information in preparation for their tests.

Setting the stage

We’ve all been there before…it’s the night before an exam and your child hasn’t even looked at the information once…so it’s time to cram. Understandably, this is not the best way for them to retain learned information. Strategies to support memory and retention will only be useful if the brain receives information in a well rested state and in digestible pieces. Students benefit greatly from creating a study schedule, chunking information to be learned over time and using the power of sleep. A couple of weeks before a scheduled test, setting aside even just 10-15 minutes a night to review information is very beneficial. Getting a good night’s sleep after studying has also been shown to improve memory. Breaking down the process of studying this way not only makes it less overwhelming, but also converts the information to our long-term memory much better.

Writing it Out

Let’s say a student has to read the next 4 chapters of their book for English class for homework. Then they go to school the next day, there’s a pop quiz over the material and they can’t remember a thing. Oftentimes, when students are just reading a book or textbook, they tend to go on autopilot and not truly absorb the information being presented. That’s why taking notes, especially in one’s own words, can help to improve the understanding of the key concepts and events. One example of “writing it out” might include taking notes during lessons at school and then at the end of each week creating flashcards that summarize all of that week’s notes. Another example is to jot down all of the key events, characters or important ideas at the end of nightly reading assignments. Creating visuals, like mind maps, or drawings that represent concepts is another way to engage different parts of the brain retain new information.

Using Memorization Tricks

Mnemonics and songs are wonderful ways to help improve memorization, especially of long lists of things that need to be remembered. ‘Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally’ to learn the order of operations is likely the most common mnemonic device that everyone learns in grade school. But mnemonic devices can be applied across all subjects to help memorize lists, orders and details. Creating a song or jingle can be especially helpful when memorizing math facts or math concepts.

Creating a Self-Test

It is not enough (for most people) to simply read through a set of flashcards five times and expect to have all of that information stored and ready to pull out in a testing situation. The idea of self-testing is a crucial one to enhance memorization and knowledge of what concepts need to be studied more and which ones are already mastered. There are now great websites, like Quizlet, where students can input terms, definitions, concepts, etc. and the website will create a quiz or test based on the details provided. Alternatively, students can ask a friend or family member to quiz them for a more interactive approach!

Teaching it to Someone Else

Playing the role of a teacher has to be one of the best ways to truly know if students understand a concept or piece of information. Try teaching it to a friend or family member. Being able to teach something to someone else means that you yourself must have a very solid understanding of the ideas at hand. This might be a good final step in the studying or memorization process!

There are many different strategies out there to help retain more information. It is not necessary to use ALL of these each time, but it is beneficial to experiment with different methods and find which ones work the best for each unique individual!

Written by Laine J.

Curing Those Homework Time Blues

Homework time can be one of the most stressful times of day. After all, kids already spend 6-7 hours per day at school and are then asked to do even more work once they get home. This can feel frustrating and draining. By putting structures and positive practices into place, homework time can become more manageable and feel pleasant for the whole family. While tutoring is a great option for support, there are steps you can take to create the perfect homework routine for your family.

Set up a Daily Routine

One of the first steps you can take at home is to set up a dedicated workspace for your children for their homework time block you set each day. This space should be inviting and distraction free. Although your children may initially complain and whine, setting up a system where they put their cell phone and other electronic devices away in a specific spot during their homework block will greatly reduce distraction. If you stay consistent with this practice, they will soon build good habits that will translate to other independent work time.

Use Sustained Attention Tricks

Sustaining attention during work time can be particularly challenging for students with ADHD and executive function deficits. One helpful strategy you can try if you have a child who struggles with this is body doubling, a technique where you sit quietly in the same or an adjacent viewable room to model focused work time. This makes your child feel more comfortable and encourages completion of tedious tasks that might otherwise be neglected. For those who still have difficulty, students can also try to stimulate one of their senses by using a fidget or putty in their non-dominant hand, sucking on a mint or listening to soft instrumental music. By giving their bodies something to do, it can enable their brain to focus better on the work task at hand.

Set Movement Breaks

Each student’s attention span is unique. Some kids can sit for an hour straight and some need a brain break every ten minutes. Whatever the case may be for your children, you can set a timer for each of their work cycles and then encourage them to get up and move their bodies for five minutes to reset. The trick is to learn how long they can work before losing focus, as you want to catch them for a movement break just before. To reenergize, they might like to jump on a small indoor exercise trampoline or have mini dance party to their favorite song. To recenter, they can try choosing a couple yoga poses or stretches that they enjoy. The key is, however, to structure your kids’ movement breaks so that they know after five minutes they need to get right back to work.

Find Pick-Me-Ups

Let’s face it, homework isn’t always fun. Finding small ways to make the time a little more enjoyable is important. Some ideas your kids can try (depending on their age) include: having a stuffed animal nearby, eating a small handful of their favorite snack after each task, having a family pet sleep at their feet or setting up a homework date with a friend. Study time can also feel more pleasurable by turn studying into a game or to use a white board with fun colors and visuals for practice.

Develop Metacognitive Practices

Encouraging your kids to attempt their homework assignments independently first is a great way to foster independence. You can offer small colored Post-It Page Markers to your children to flag items that feel confusing or difficult and invite them to check in with you near the end of their homework block for assistance. Having them communicate what they do versus do not comprehend enables them to build important metacognitive skills.

Written by Krista G.

Start the Morning Off Right: Tips and Tricks to Create a Smooth Before-School Routine

Has your family’s morning routine become a race to get out the door? With a consistent, peaceful morning routine, you can help ensure that your kids get to school on time and that they are prepared for their day mentally, physically and emotionally. Here are some tips and tricks you can try with your kids to help them start their day off right!

Prepare the Night Before

If your mornings tend to feel rushed, try creating a ‘night before’ organization checklist to tackle some of the to-dos before the busy morning even arrives. Some items your children can accomplish the evening before include: putting their homework and belongings into their backpack, packing their lunch, filling their water bottle and picking out their outfit. Not only does this allow your children to check items off their morning list, but it also reduces the stress of having so many morning to-dos.

Let a Little Light In

Building appropriate sleep and waking habits are instrumental to your kids’ wellbeing. With a good night’s sleep and sunlight cues, your children might wake naturally without the use of an alarm clock. This synchronizes the body’s biological clock and increases immunity and mood. Since it’s not always possible to wake with the morning sun, there are also really cool electronic tools, such as Hatch, that can illuminate a mock sunrise and even play peaceful morning sounds, like chimes or birds.

Set Clear Expectations

In particular for little ones, it is beneficial to create a morning routine checklist to set clear expectations for your children. This checklist can be hung in a central area of your home, like on the refrigerator in the kitchen, and can incorporate the use of choice items, such as stickers or dry erase markers. The list should be clear and concise, yet the level of detail can vary depending on your kids’ age and degree of independence. Younger kids frequently enjoy charts with visual cues. Older kids tend to do fine with a simpler format. It generally works best not to allow the use of electronics during the block of time before school so that your kids can stay focused on the tasks at hand.

Practice What You Preach

In order for your children to learn good habits, it is imperative that you, as the parent, model the behaviors you wish to see from them. Hopping out of bed, getting dressed and brushing your hair and teeth are behaviors your kids will expect to see from you before they follow suit. Sitting down for a balanced breakfast, whether it be a quick protein smoothie or a more elaborate oatmeal bar, is another important routine to have as a family. Kids look to their parents as role models, even when it comes to building their morning time management skills.

Use Fun Weekly Rewards

Offering your kids a weekly reward for leaving for school on time five days in a row might be just the extrinsic motivation your kids need while they are developing their good habits. Providing them the opportunity to earn a Friday afternoon hot cocoa or ice cream treat is a great way to increase their buy-in. You can keep a simple sticker chart in your vehicle for tracking and motivation purposes!

Written by Krista G.

Structuring a Balanced After-School Routine

Let’s face it…life for kids is busy. Between school, homework and extracurricular activities, they have so much to manage. Helping your children plan out and structure their time can help them feel organized, reduce their stress level and ensure they have balance in their lives. Below are some tips on how to create a well-rounded weekly schedule for your children.

Extracurricular Activities

It’s crucial that kids find passions in life and begin to develop a sense of self through the activities they do. Giving your children a choice of weekly activities (art, music, dance, sports, martial arts, yoga, etc.) allows them to feel a sense of control and confidence. It’s helpful to provide guidelines, however, to ensure that the choices include physical activity for exercise, are age and ability appropriate and work with your family’s overall schedule. Many programs offer free trial classes, which is a fabulous way to let your children try a variety of activities before committing to specific choices for a whole season or semester. To avoid over-scheduling, start with a single activity per day no more than 3-5 days per week. As kids get older, they might be able to manage a longer daily commitment. It depends on the individual. High interest activities tend to have very specific time constraints, so other components of your children’s after-school plan can be scheduled around their choices.

Consistent Homework Time

While there is an ongoing debate about the ideal amount of homework, many schools follow the research-based rule of thumb that students should receive 10 minutes of homework per class per night. That means, for instance, that a fifth grader should expect to spend 50 minutes on average per night doing homework. Teachers don’t always accurately estimate the length of time that activities take and each individual student has their own work pace, so the amount of time your child needs to block off for nightly homework should be individualized based on their actual circumstances. Scheduling a consistent daily time block for your children’s homework completion helps them get into a routine and emphasizes the importance of completing their assignments.

Family Dinners

Carving time out of each day to spend as a family is important. Putting family rituals into place while your kids are young will also help once they hit adolescence. Having family dinners at least four nights per week is a wonderful way to enjoy time together. It opens up space for dialogue, develops relationship-building skills and provides the opportunity for your kids to share details about their experiences and reality. One fun idea might be to let each child choose one dish for the family’s weekly meal plan and to have them help you prepare it so you have extra bonding time.

Daily Duties

Despite your fast-paced life, your kids can benefit and start to learn a sense of responsibility from doing age-appropriate chores. Having a set daily or weekly time for your children to accomplish a short 15-minute checklist of tasks is really helpful. A few ideas of age-appropriate duties for a 10-year-old, for instance, are (un)loading the dishwasher, folding and putting away their laundry and keeping their bedroom tidy. As kids get older, they gain interest in earning money for their work. As they approach their tween years, you can help them explore opportunities for a weekend neighborhood job, such as doing yard work, babysitting or dog walking. It is important, however, that they do not overcommit to a job so they can continue to manage the other aspects of their weekly schedule.

Social Time

It’s important that kids have time to be social and have fun. Life should not feel like it’s all work and children learn, develop and grow trough their social experiences. Outdoor and screen-free play are amazing. It is also acceptable for kids to set aside one hour each day for gaming or talking with friends online. There are really great parental control tools, like Bark, to help you manage and protect your kids on their electronics.

Down Time

Winding down with an hour of screen-free time at the end of each night can help ensure your kids’ minds and bodies prepare for sleep. After a nice warm bath or shower, some great activities you can suggest to your kids are reading, journaling, doodling, guided meditation and restorative yoga. Encouraging your children to create their own ritual will help them buy into this practice.

Reasonable Bedtime

Getting a good night’s sleep on a regular basis is important for kids’ overall wellbeing. Research indicates that children with appropriate sleep habits have improved attention, behavior, learning, memory, emotional regulation, quality of life, and mental and physical health. Depending on their specific age and unique needs, school-age children should get between 8 and 12 hours of sleep per night. Sticking to a consistent sleep schedule will benefit your kids greatly.

Sample After-School Schedule

Here is a sample after-school schedule that is appropriate for a 5th grader. Individualized times would vary depending on the specific age of your children. It’s very helpful to post a weekly version with your children’s specific activities per day on a whiteboard or wall calendar so they can start to develop their time management skills.

3:45pm Activity 

5:00pm Homework

6:00pm Family Dinner

6:45pm Daily Duties

7:00pm Social Time

8:00 Down Time

9:00pm Bedtime

Written by Krista G.

HOW TO HELP PREPARE YOUR CHILD FOR FINAL EXAMS

With the end of the semester approaching, many secondary students are feeling anxious about their final exams. As a parent you can incorporate specific practices in your home to help your child feel more at ease and make their testing experience a positive one. Here are five useful tips to help your student enter their exam week with confidence and ease.

Get Clear on Expectations

Before your child dives right into the studying process, set aside time for a brief check-in to offer support and encouragement. Taking a few minutes to go through your child’s course materials and communications from teachers together can ensure your learner has a complete, accurate list of all test and project requirements. Making a to-do list for each course is a huge help! If your child has any gaps in materials or understanding, you can suggest they reach out to a classmate for guidance or you can help your child craft a message to their teachers to clarify expectations.

Create a Visual Plan

It is extremely beneficial to create a visual plan that includes the dates of all of your child’s exams and a study plan for each day for 1-2 weeks prior to the test dates. You can use a large month-view wall or desk calendar or create a multi-week sticky note calendar  that allows for manipulation of information as plans change. With your guidance, your child should be the one to actually fill in the details on the calendar with colors and markings they enjoy so that they feel in control of their own study plan. Encourage your student to make a logical plan based on how much preparation is necessary for each exam, the actual date of each test, as well as any other activities they need to work around during those weeks. Your child might need a gentle reminder that it will be best to study multiple days for each exam.

Block Off Time to Study AND Time for Breaks

Setting up an efficient study schedule often requires time for the actual studying to take place and time for rest, movement or recharge. For each study day, it is important that your child blocks off chunks of time in this manner. For the available study time, suggest a certain pattern based on your child’s unique needs. One method that might be useful for final exam preparation is the Pomodoro Technique, where a student uses a timer and takes a 5-minute brain break after each 25-minute study period. After 4 study rounds, the student can take a well-deserved longer break to eat and do something enjoyable for an agreed upon time. You can even incorporate a reward system with this study model if it is beneficial for your learner.

Use Tailored Study Techniques

There are many useful study techniques and some might work better for your child than others. It can be very helpful to have a dialogue with your child prior to their study time each evening to ensure they are making logical technique choices based on the subject matter they need to review. You can offer to quiz your child over material once they have reviewed information independently, or they can flip the role and try to teach you or a sibling the information they are learning to really make sure they are clear on the concepts. More than anything, however, it is incredibly important for you as a parent to maintain a positive outlook so your student feels good about the work they are doing and the support you are offering.

Focus on Health and Wellbeing

Since your child will be expending great amounts of energy on assimilation and retention of information, it will be essential that they drink plenty of water and eat ‘brain’ foods and balanced meals with limited sugar. They should also aim to get at least 8 hours of sleep each night. To help calm their nerves, you can also suggest they set up a daily ritual to destress, such as spending 10 minutes using items from their calm down kit each morning, afternoon and bedtime during their final exam week. Throughout the week it will also boost your child’s mood and confidence if you find opportunities to acknowledge their hard work and let them know that their personal best is always good enough for you.

Written by Krista G.

Creating the Ultimate Calm Down Kit: Using the Five Senses to Reset and Regulate

What is a calm down kit you ask? Well, a calm down kit is a tool that can be used to help children self-regulate, center themselves, and reset. Building a calm down kit does not have to be expensive or complicated. You and your child can create a simple and effective calm down kit by focusing on items that engage with the five senses. So, grab a basket, box or bag and let’s begin to curate the ultimate calm down kit!

Below are some ideas for items or activities that your child might enjoy placing in their calm down kit that correlate with each of the five senses: Sight, Touch, Listen, Smell, and Taste.

Sight:

Items to add to your child’s calm down basket that will appeal to the visual senses might include:

-breathing exercise cards

-glitter jar or snow globe

-I Spy book

-family photo album

Touch

Below are some tools to help your child engage with the sense of touch:

-fidget toy, like a Pop-It

-palm or scalp massager

-putty or slime

-stress ball

-sensory bag or pillow

-Rubik’s cube

-soft and cozy blanket

-if younger, a favorite stuffed animal

Listen:

Items that will create a sense of calmness through listening might include:

-headphones to listen to a calming playlist

-rainstick

-sound machine

-music box

-chimes or gentle bells

Smell:

Aromatherapy is a great way to immediately trigger a sense of calm. Here are some objects you can add to your child’s calm kit to ignite the sense of smell:

-essential oils

-nature scents

-lotions

-scented markers

-scratch and sniff stickers

-candles

-diffusers

Taste:

It’s always nice for your child to have a little treat or something appealing to their sense of taste:

-dark chocolate

-mints or gum

-tea

-hard candy or lollipop

-favorite quick snack

Other Items to Include:

Some other items you may want to think about including in your child’s calm down basket might include:

-mindfulness coloring books

-yoga pose cards

-small puzzles or crossword books

-gratitude or regular journal

-bubbles

Depending on your child’s age and general self-regulation needs, invite them to select about 8-12 items to place in their calm basket to start. Objects can be swapped out monthly or seasonally. After selecting items for the kit, set some boundaries about when and how to use it. Your child should find a special place to put their calm down kit, ideally in a quiet and comfortable environment. A good time to use this kit is whenever they are feeling overwhelmed or frustrated or experiencing any other big emotion.

Calm down kits should be used for around 10-15 minutes per session as a quick brain and emotional reset. During this time your child should choose 2-3 items that they are drawn toward and that they feel will help them regulate their emotions and lift their mood.

A calm down kit is a simple and effective tool for social and emotional regulation that can be added to your house today! Here is an example of a calm basket shared on Peak’s Instagram account.

Written by Laine J.

Tips and Tricks to Strengthen Working Memory in Math

Of all of the executive functioning skills required to succeed in mathematics, working memory may be one of the most important! Working memory refers to how the brain uses, holds, processes and manipulates the information stored in our short-term memory. Working memory allows us to plan, problem solve and reason, all of which go hand-in-hand with the necessary skills to complete a math problem. Let’s dive into some tips and tricks which can help to strengthen working memory, specifically in relation to the world of math!

Play Games

There are many popular games that can be played as a family that utilize working memory. Games like Concentration, Uno, Crazy Eights and Go Fish all require the players to use their working memory system. Simon Says, Follow the Beat, Tongue Twisters, puzzles and brain teasers are other excellent examples of activities that can be used to strengthen working memory. In many of these activities, our brains must actively recall information, and in-turn manipulate it to make the next move!

Put Your Child in the Teacher Role

When working through a new math concept, once a child has begun to master the concept at hand, they should attempt to teach someone else how to do it. When the child becomes the teacher, they are switching into a more active role and thus enhancing their working memory skills. For example, if a child is working on adding fractions with a different denominator, they should be able to walk someone else through each step necessary to solve this kind of problem and explain the “why” behind it.

Practice Every Day

For things like math facts (simple and quick math problems across the four operations), practicing every day can help to reduce the strain on working memory capacity. The more automatic these quick facts become, the more space is freed up in the brain to utilize other math skills and solve larger and more complex mathematical equations and word problems.

Visualize

When working on word problems, it is best to come up with various visualization strategies that can be used to solve each problem. Examples of visualization strategies in math might be drawing an array, making pictures or using math manipulatives.

Make a Plan

A great general rule of thumb for math problems (especially those tricky word problems) is to NEVER leave math in your head. This means write down as much as possible. Circle, underline or highlight the key words in a math problem and then make a plan to solve. Write out each step as a number sentence, and use the visualization tools mentioned above to help solve the problem.

Practice Yoga & Mindfulness

Research has shown activities like yoga and mindfulness can improve working memory. Both of these practices aim to draw our attention to how and when our mind wanders, which in turn can help increase focus and the working memory function of the brain. There are many wonderful YouTube channels for kids yoga, such as Cosmic Yoga that can be completed daily. Alternately, try simple breathing exercises in the car on the way to school as a way to practice mindfulness each day.

Use Mnemonics and Songs

Making a mnemonic device or turning something that needs to be memorized into a song are two more fantastic ways to strengthen working memory. The most famous mnemonics device in Math is PEMDAS with “Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally” as the words to remember the order of operations. There are also fun and silly songs on YouTube to help learn and memorize math facts. Putting information into a catchy song allows our brain to more easily store and remember it!

Written by Laine J.

Organization: Tips for Creating and Maintaining an Inviting Home Workspace

Did you know that having a clean and organized personal workspace can actually have psychological benefits? Studies show that having a well organized and clean workspace can increase persistence by as much as 84 % and help sustain attention longer than a messy one. With summer vacation coming to an end, now is the perfect time to begin getting organized and work with your child to create their own personal workspace for the upcoming academic year. Providing your child with a dedicated home work space is a wonderful way to instill responsibility over personal space and develop an organizational foundation. Here are a few ideas to create a winning workspace!

Encourage Use of This Space with Personalized Details

Find fun ways to personalize the desk or work area and tailor it to your child’s specific interests! For younger kids this might be a little framed photo of their pet or family or some fun posters! For older kids this might be adding some twinkle lights or small plants! Adding some inviting elements to make the space peaceful and cozy help invite your child to want to spend more time in their workspace. You could also give it a name like “Katie’s Home Office” or “Jeff’s Work Cave” to make it extra special to them.

Design the Ideal Workspace

An ideal workspace for your child will have a desk with plenty of space to write and draw on and perhaps a few cubbies, drawers or shelves nearby. It is best if the space is quiet and removed from extra stimuli as much as possible (not by a TV or right in the middle of the living room). Keep only the most necessary items present on the desk space so that it isn’t cluttered. Use shelves and drawers to store papers, folders, books, writing utensils etc. It can be helpful to label specific spots for things so that everything has its designated space.

Make an “All Tidy” Reference Photo

When you first set up this workspace, take a clear photo of how everything looks and where each item is. Print the photo out and tape it to the desk or a clipboard. This serves as a wonderful visual cue for how to maintain organization and cleanliness in the space from day to day.

Create a Routine to Keep It Clean

At the end of each work session, your child should do a quick 5 minute tidy up of their space. You could even make them a little written check list with items like “throw away any trash”, “put away extra papers”, “pack homework into back pack” “tuck in chair” etc. They can use their “all tidy” reference photo to try to make sure they leave their space looking the same way each day. Once a month, do a de-clutter session to pack away papers, books and other items not needed anymore. An incentive for keeping their space clean and tidy might be getting to buy new decorations or special office supplies for their desk every once in awhile!

Written by Laine J.

Simple and Fun Ways to Incorporate Math Skills during Summer Vacation

Taking two months off from essential math and computation skills can be worrisome for many parents of little ones. After all, many math skills build upon each other and require year round practice to not fall behind or forget important facts. Luckily, there are many fun and unique ways to incorporate math skills into summer break and help your child reinforce the skills they have been working on all year long in school.

Acknowledge and Work on Math in Real World Situations

One of the simplest ways to use math during the summer is to point out all of the times in everyday life that we use math skills, perhaps without even realizing it! If your child is working on ratios, fractions or division, invite them to make a recipe with you from start to finish. Going through a recipe together is a great way to strengthen understanding of all of those skills. Another example might be having your child start to notice how much items cost at places like restaurants or grocery stores and use basic computation skills to tally up totals or how much change they might need. Lastly, try giving a back-to-school shopping allowance to your child and tell them they need to buy a certain number of items with the set amount of money you gave them. This activity is fun and puts real world problem solving and computation skills to work!

Make it an Experience

Another way to use math in summer is to come up with experiences that rely heavily on certain math skills. Things like garage sales, lemonade stands or bake sales are perfect examples! Children can calculate how much they need to spend to buy the items for the sale, how much they’re going to charge for each item and (depending on their age) can even start working on concepts like how much profit they are making.

Keeping Score

Family game night is another scenario where math skills can be reinforced. Games like Sudoku, Set, Monopoly, Connect 4 and many more help with math computation skills as well as problem solving skills. There are also endless card games that can be used to work with math concepts.

Apps and Games for Basic Reinforcement

Finally, to make sure your child does not lose their math facts, try to find a fun app or game that can be used to do a daily 10-15 minutes of math facts practice every day!

Written by Laine J.

Reflecting on and Celebrating Big Accomplishments from the School Year

As the school year winds down and comes to a close, now is the perfect time to do some reflecting and some celebrating! Looking back on the year’s biggest successes is a wonderful way to strengthen the executive skill of metacognition and continue the upward momentum into the summer and next school year. It is very important to celebrate a students’ successes no matter how big or small for a variety of reasons. This positive reinforcement provides motivation, builds confidence, acknowledges their effort and ultimately reinforces and strengthens the better habits they’ve worked so hard to build all year long. 

Let’s start with reflecting upon the year as a whole. Hopefully, at the beginning of the school year, or at the start of each semester, you and your child created some specific and measurable goals. Examples of goals you may have set throughout the school year might be: getting all A’s in each course taken, arriving to school on time every day, only having one missed homework assignment per month, or remembering to check off a daily planner. Take a look at whether these goals were met either month by month or each semester and hopefully you will see progress in some, or all, of the goals set throughout the year! It could be worthwhile to create a chart or graph as a visual way to show the progress made. Try to highlight all the positives, make a note of what went right and what strategies worked the best so you can continue those into the next school year! If some goals weren’t met, those can be moved to the top of the priority list for the upcoming school year. 

Let’s celebrate! It’s possible you already had an incentive system in place when certain goals were reached throughout the school year. Now may be a good time to look at the progress made for the year as a whole and pick out an extra special way to celebrate. Experiences are a great option for celebrating accomplishments since they are so memorable. Perhaps you can plan a special family dinner out, a staycation or day trip, or a shopping spree to your child’s favorite store! Acknowledging your child’s successes throughout the school year in a unique and personal way goes a long way toward sustaining the skills they have worked so hard on all year long and helping them to see that it is worth it to continue to build upon these skills and strategies into the future. 

Written by: Laine J.

Tips and Tricks To Help With Task Initiation

Imagine this: a high school student has an essay due in one month. They know they have the whole month to finish it so they focus on other assignments that are due sooner. One week from the due date, the teacher reminds the class about the essay due at the end of the month, yet now that student also has two tests, two quizzes, a busy extra-curricular schedule and one more project all due at the same time. Suddenly, the once small task that they had plenty of time for, they now have zero time for. This is an example of where task initiation skills would have come in handy. Task initiation, the opposite of procrastination, can be one of the hardest executive functioning skills to improve. Let’s dive into some strategies and tips to help strengthen this vital skill that is needed not only during school years, but into adulthood as well. 

Have a discussion with your child about obstacles that they feel inhibit them from starting their work. Make a list of these obstacles on one side of a paper, and then work together to come up with specific strategies on the other side of the paper of how to perhaps overcome these obstacles. For example, a common obstacle for starting a task might be “This assignment is going to take way too long, and I don’t have time to start on it tonight.” A solution may be to break down the assignment into smaller pieces, i.e. picking two of the fifteen total math problems, or writing just the introduction paragraph of the essay. Have this chart of obstacles and solutions easily accessible so your student can pull it out whenever needed. 

For particularly hard-to-start tasks, consider rewards. For example, if there is an assignment that your child has been avoiding all week long, perhaps they can earn a small reward (like their favorite smoothie or a special dessert) if they get started and make significant progress on that work. It will be helpful to specify exactly how much of the assignment they need to complete to earn the reward. 

Try using a timer to help with short bursts of work. Set a timer for twenty minutes and tell your child they are going to work on this assignment for twenty minutes only today and then take a break and move onto something else. Sometimes, having a set time to work on it can make the task seem less overwhelming. 

Set up a prepared environment for homework time. Make sure that your child has a clutter and distraction free place to get their homework done each day. Consider if they may need reduced access to their phone or the internet during their set homework time. Having a calm and organized environment with minimal distractions can help with task initiation. 

Provide extra support at the beginning of hard tasks. It can be helpful to sit with your child as they begin a task or assignment that they have been putting off. Tell them that you are going to get some of your work done while they start to get their work done. This may be enough to give them the structured push they need to get going on their work. 

Written by: Laine J

Metacognition: Reflecting Upon First Semester and Setting Goals and Rewards for the Second

The start of a new year is an excellent time to both do some self-reflection on the past semester and look ahead at the upcoming semester. One of the key executive functioning skills, metacognition, is essential in doing both of those things. Metacognition, in its most basic definition, is the act of thinking about thinking. Sounds simple, but in reality it is one of the hardest skills to strengthen because we often just don’t take the time to sit down and think about what went wrong and what went right and why. However, if we can improve this self-regulatory process we can begin to strengthen all of our other executive skills because they all work interdependently. So, let’s take a look at what it means to reflect on the past semester and set goals and rewards for the second semester!

Helpful strategies when reflecting on the previous semester: 

• Be Specific: When we begin to “reflect” on the past semester, it is important to be as specific as possible. Hopefully, you had some goals previously set that were measurable. For example, your child’s goal might have been “turning in all homework assignments on time with no more than one missed assignment per week.” Now is the time to go in and see if this goal was met and how often it was met. If possible, giving a percentage here is helpful (i.e. this goal was met 80 percent of the time).

• Open Discussion: After looking as specifically as possible at previous goals or grades from the last semester, spend some time discussing what went wrong and what went right. It can be helpful to do this for each class individually, especially if there are one or two classes that goals were or were not met in. For a class where goals were met, ask questions like, “What were some things you felt helped you the most to stay on track in this class,” or “What do you feel you did really well in this class?” For classes where goals were not met, it may be helpful to ask questions like, “Can you tell me what the hardest aspects of this class are,” or “What are some things that you felt you struggled with in this class?” Jot these things down and spend some time discussing strategies to adjust or improve in each area!

• Future Planning: Once we have identified the successes and areas for improvement from the past semester, we can better plan realistic goals and rewards for the semester ahead.

Setting New Goals and Rewards

• Setting New Goals: January is naturally a great time to look ahead at the remainder of this school year and either make new goals or adjust previously set ones. Let’s say in the previous semester your child had a goal of turning in all homework assignments on time with no more than 2 missed assignments per month and they did this 90 plus percent of the time. Now may be a good time to adjust this goal to “completing all homework assignments on time with only 1 or no missed assignments per month”. If a goal is consistently being met (85 percent or more of the time) it would be good to either adjust it to strengthen it more, or possibly look to see if there’s another area that could be worked on instead.

• Defining Rewards: Rewards can be extremely beneficial in all scenarios but especially if many of the goals from the previous semester haven’t been met. Let’s go back to the goal of completing all homework assignments per month with two or fewer missed. If this goal was only being met 50 percent of the time, now may be a good time to add a reward in for reaching this goal. It is good to offer a mix of smaller attainable rewards and then possibly a larger reward. In the scenario of turning all homework assignments in on time, there could be a weekly, or even daily, small reward for turning work in and a larger reward to look forward to if the month-long goal is met. It’s great to discuss with your child what rewards are most interesting or exciting to them and work together to come up with an incentive plan as the new semester begins!

Written by: Laine J.