Summer School

Ahhhhhhhh - hear the sound of summer time lurking right around the corner? Most of us are really looking forward to it. However, the millions of parents who are faced with the impending possibility of summer school, we are constantly wondering about how to make sure that our kids who will be replacing a failing grade, can accomplish this goal...especially without us constantly nagging.

Teachers recommend summer school for many reasons. Some are to help students sharpen their skills in various subjects, but if it’s mandatory, keep in mind that it is a shorter and more intense class specifically focusing on the "meat" of the academic subject.

With this thought in tow, find out who will be teaching the class your children need. If it's the same teacher who taught the subject in the regular school session, it might be a negative experience, though it could be a positive one.

If the former holds true, think about registering your children at a different school where the same class is being taught. Another reason to possibly sign up at a different location is that if you know some of your kids’ friends will be attending the same class, and your kids are social butterflies, having them attend a summer school session at a different school might help them focus better.

In fact, they might even take a keen interest in it and quite possibly enjoy it. Either way, as long as they get their homework assignments done, hand them in on time and asks questions on any part that they don’t understand, they will more than likely do well.

According to Susan Kruger, author of, SOAR® Study Skills (Grand Lighthouse Publishers, First Edition, $24.95), it’s a good time to help your kids learn strategies for studying efficiently. For great tips, see her site, www.soarstudyskills.com, study tips and download her FREE Homework Rx® Toolkit, that features 25 Ways to Make Homework Easier...Tonight! Just click on FREE Stuff.

Remember, the key is to limit their extracurricular summer activities while they are in summer school and to adhere to a regular semester school schedule. Having a daily schedule for bedtime, homework and morning ritual will help.