School Success

Making the Transition to Kindergarten: Preparing Your Preschooler

Starting Kindergarten is a traditional rite of passage in our culture. Even children and parents who have experienced several years of preschool education perceive this transition as a big step forward, generally met with a combination of excitement and anxiety. This workshop helps parents of upcoming kindergartners understand and evaluate the changes in kindergarten of recent years and make decisions about their children’s readiness for this big transition. When to go and when to wait a year is addressed. Strategies for helping children (and adults) feel prepared for and successful at making the transition to kindergarten are also shared.

Helping Your Child Succeed in School

The building blocks for school success begin at home. Parents are key players in facilitating children’s sense of competence and encouraging those values and habits that enable children to do well. This four-part series helps parents understand their role in helping their children succeed in school; through setting up a home environment that encourages success and working together with teachers, parents have tremendous influence on their children’s accomplishments. Parents will also learn about homework strategies and commonly experienced issues children have during the school age years and how to deal with them.

Session One

The Facilitating Environment: Creating A Homebase for Success

Children of all ages need a predictable and nurturing environment in which to play, work, read, and express themselves. When parents are able to provide a safe and supportive environment in which children can experience both success and failure, children are better able to cope with the complexities of learning that they will undoubtedly encounter throughout their school years. This session gives parents specific strategies for supporting and encouraging their child’s success in school.

Session Two

Fostering Parent/Teacher Partnerships

Open communication between parents and teachers and the active building of parent/teacher partnerships have great impact on children’s school success. Research on school success suggests that children get higher grades, score better on tests and have more consistent long term academic achievement when parents are involved in their education. This session helps parents make the most of parent/teacher conferences and build partnerships with teachers throughout the school year.

Session Three

Homework Battles: Easing Tensions, Getting Down to Work

Homework can be a major battle in many families. Parents often find themselves feeling angry, frustrated, and confused about how to get children to successfully complete their homework without nagging or doing the work for them. In this session, participants will have a chance to analyze their own situations, clarify strategies for improving communication around homework, and establish expectations and routines that enable children to do their best work.

Session Four

Predictable Challenges Through the Elementary School Years

There are predictable developmental challenges that children typically experience throughout their school careers. Once school begins, parents and children are thrust into the larger and more complex arena of the world beyond home. Most parents wish they could protect their children form some of the more painful trials and tribulations of growing up and find it difficult to talk with children about their hurt, sad, or anxious feelings. This session helps parents become aware of the developmental challenges children face. It also helps parents learn how to respond to their own feelings and to their children’s needs with encouragement and support.