How to Help a Seventh Grader Succeed in School

The value of helping a seventh-grade student to succeed in school is invaluable because the adverse effects can mean illiteracy and poverty. As we all know, the decline of society is the lack of proper education. Reversing this decline is helping a child learn how to learn. These steps help you achieve that success.

Instructions

Develop Strong Study Habits

1. Demand that the student eats well and has plenty of sleep when. Studying under conditions that lack proper food or rest impedes any success with education. With all the activities and homework that come with being a seventh grader, she needs about 10 hours of sleep each night.

2. Help your child get involved with school activities such as student council, sports, drama or creative writing. Middle school means more responsibility for the child. Guide your seventh grader to take more responsibility and tutor other students.

3. Establish goals with the student. Middle school is the time to start thinking about college education. You can ask, "What type of college would you like to go to?" or "Do you want to travel while in college?" Together find out why he wants to learn and be successful. Set parameters that you both agree on for the intended goals.

4. Introduce your seventh grader to some of the classics in literature. Try books like Tolkien's "The Hobbit," Rowling's "Harry Potter" series, and for girls add the first few books in Meg Cabot's "Princess Diaries" series. Series books help your child to become acquainted with a character or cast of characters and promotes reading as your child will want to read book after book.

Setting Goals

1. Allow for reasons to succeed and avoid the "reasons" to fail. We live in an information age that supplies us with both positive and negative influence. Stick with the positive. If your child voices a negative "My teacher doesn't know anything....", point out the positive in a way he understands.

2. Drill, drill and drill the seventh-grade student until the information is down cold. Demand competence and achieve the desired goals. Total comprehension and critical thinking must be achieved in order to continue to succeed as a student.

3. Meet all the teachers and offer your support. Seventh grade consists of more than one teacher and each subject has its own teacher. Discuss your child's goals with the teacher. Make it clear that you are interested in helping her succeed as a student.

4. Do the best you can to praise your child for doing well in seventh grade. Acknowledge her hard work and success. Every now and then remind her of her goals and see how she is doing on achieving them.

Tips & Warnings

• Reward every big success with a pizza party, a kid's night out or kid's movie night.

• Research proves that less than a 100 percent comprehension slows the student down. Those schools which demand 100 percent understanding of what they learn achieve by far higher learning levels--eighth graders doing twelfth-grade math and so on.