3 School Success Tips

This school success plan will set your child up for her best year yet!

By Sharon Duke Estroff

Ages

4-13

3 School Success Tips

When my kids hit the terrible twos, I consoled myself with how blissful life would be once they started school. They’d return home from a day chock-full of learning, jabbering about their adventures. I’d trade them a plate of freshly baked cookies for a pile of A+ papers. They’d gobble; I’d gloat. That’s it. 

It didn’t cross my mind that the reality of my kids’ schooling would make the terrible twos seem like a spa treatment. Maybe it should have: As an elementary school teacher myself, I’d seen scores of otherwise sane moms and dads transformed into neurotic disasters over the course of a 10-minute discussion about their child’s report card. I just didn’t think it would happen to me. 

Now that my kids have been in grade school for a while, I’ve learned what types of situations can make — or break — the school year. And along the way, I discovered four little secrets that can transform beginning-of-the-school-year angst (mine and theirs) into a road map for success. Follow these steps, and your child will be well on his way to a happy new year. 

Step 1: Set Goals

Step 2: Team Up with the Teacher

Step 3: Create a Stress-Free Homework Space

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