You’ve set the stage for success early in life by incorporating positive educational activities before your child even started school. So, when your child begins to develop independence (late elementary school or early middle school), pull back a little from your involvement in work time.

• In middle school, your children may begin to have homework from multiple classes with various due dates. Discourage them from starting an assignment the night before it's due. Instead, make sure that they do a little bit of work every day.
• When your children are in 8th grade or high school, reduce your reminders of work time, and see how they respond. If they complete homework without prompting, you have successfully instilled effective study habits! If not, give consequences for their lack of responsibility and continue to monitor their work time as necessary.
• As your children are exposed to more and more difficult material, teach them effective study strategies for dealing with this new, more demanding workload. Suggestion they:
  • Write down every task in a to-do list or booklet with the due date.
  • For long-term projects, set due dates for each stage of the project leading up to the actual final due date.
  • Make flash cards for memorizing vocabulary words, key figures, dates, foreign language concepts, etc.
  • Study for tests at least three days before the day of the test to maximize retention of the material.
  • For midterms or final exams, divide the studying into units and decide when to study each unit beforehand.
  • Find classmates to create a study group.
  • Take careful notes in class and review them after school to reinforce the material early.
• Even when your children are in high school and should be managing their own work, ask about upcoming projects and tests and how their plan to complete the work. You don't need to ask them to go into the details, but your question will remind them to start ahead of time, create a plan, and finish early.
• Continue to show your interests in their academic success and reward them for their good study habits with a special treat or additional time to be with their friends.
• Allow your children to negotiate work time with you. If they have a reasonable justification for postponing work time, listen and be willing to compromise.
• Don't let your children get away with violating work time without some sort of consequence.
• Strictly enforcing work time is the only way to establish studying as a consistent routine for your children.
• If your child isn't naturally gifted in a subject or doesn't enjoy a subject, help them out with the work and continue to encourage them. Start by providing easier problems they can complete successfully on their own to give them a boost of confidence for the harder ones.

By incorporating these actions and supporting your child in their school activities, you have set the stage for continued success throughout their life.

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