You have school-age children and your life seems to revolve around all of their academic needs: daily homework; science project; foreign language test; English essay; social studies maps. And that’s before you even consider the schedule for after-school activities.
You don’t remember this fast-paced schedule from when you were growing up, do you? Well, chances are that your schedule from days long past is very different from the one your children and family are currently experiencing.
Many children today have a schedule-filled existence with little room to spare. Parents don’t want to deprive their children of any experience, so choosing is simply no longer required.
- You want to take dance lessons?
- Great, tap, ballet, or jazz?
- Soccer?
- No problem; a select team for the superstars, or the neighborhood team?
- What about chess lessons at school after the last bell rings?
- Great, I’ve heard that’s supposed to help with science and math, as well as problem solving skills. That will be great.
- Wait, you want to play soccer on both the select and neighborhood teams?
- Ohhhhhh, select because you’re just that good, and neighborhood so you can play on the same team as your friends.
Do you think it might be time to re-evaluate the situation?
Organizations like Challenge Success out of Stanford University have been around for more than a decade dealing with these exact issues. Their topics revolve around over-scheduled and over-stressed children who rush to get from one activity to another, and who are expected to excel at everything to improve chances for high school, college, and careers of their dreams. This organization will tell you what you’re probably already hearing from that little inner voice inside your head: This is craziness and it’s time to get our lives back to a manageable pace.
Looking at a video to Create a Home Environment to Support Student Success may be just the answer for you. Being considerate of your scheduling and location demands, the video allows you to take the opportunity to watch according to the time and place of your choice. It offers guidelines for goal setting in a variety of areas, how to start a practice of having family meetings, and explains the role of the children vs the parents.
Another video option is Study and Organization Strategies. Topics include realistic goal setting, establishing a home study area, the home environment during study time, how to calendar assignments, and study methods according to brain research. Finally, the video offers helpful tips for taking notes, preparing for essay questions, general study tips, and strategies to better manage stress and anxiety such as one might experience before tests or class presentations.
Regardless of whether you choose to view the videos as a guide for making changes to your family’s practices, or to literally take the lessons to heart and take each of the steps suggested by either video, the information will spur you to modify your family’s current reality.
Go to the site. Review the information, and decide what is best for you and your family. Whatever you decide, I feel sure your family’s frantic pace is sure to be modified for the better.
