As students kick off the second half of the school year, this is a perfect time for parents to reflect on their children’s academic progress. This mid-year mark is an ideal time to reassess what’s working, identify areas for improvement and implement strategies to set the stage for success. Whether it’s focus challenges, organizational struggles or waning motivation, now is the time to reset routines and address concerns before they grow into larger issues.
Keep communication lines open
One of the most important ways you can support your child is by maintaining open and honest communication. Checking in regularly in a calm, nonjudgmental way can reveal valuable insights into how your child is feeling about school. Rather than asking a generic question (such as “How’s school going?”), try something more specific such as, “What’s been the most interesting thing you’ve learned lately?” or “What’s been the hardest part of your week?” These conversation openers encourage your child to share their experiences and help you better understand their challenges. In addition, sharing your own struggles and successes, whether from work or school, can also show your child that setbacks are a natural part of learning and growth.
Create a supportive routine
Homework routines are another cornerstone of academic success, but they can sometimes feel like a battle. Collaborating with your child to create a consistent routine can make a big difference. Talk with them about what they need to feel prepared and focused, whether it’s the right supplies or a specific time and place for studying. A quiet, distraction-free workspace stocked with essentials can help your child stay on task. Encourage them to tackle the most difficult assignments first and use techniques such as the “25-5 rule,” which involves 25 minutes of focused work followed by a five-minute break. This keeps productivity high while preventing burnout. If homework remains a persistent struggle, it may be worth exploring cognitive brain training programs, such as those offered at LearningRx Irvine, that target critical skills such as memory and attention to help students succeed long-term.
Leanne DiSanto is owner and managing director of LearningRx Irvine.
Executive function skills — time management, organization and problem-solving — play a critical role in academic achievement. These skills act as the “managers” of the brain, helping students juggle assignments, stay organized, and complete tasks efficiently. Parents can support these skills by introducing tools like planners, visual schedules or timers. For example, breaking larger projects into smaller, manageable steps with clear deadlines can help children feel less overwhelmed.
Develop a growth mindset
Building a growth mindset is another powerful way to help your child succeed. Focusing on effort rather than outcomes reinforces the idea that hard work leads to improvement. Celebrating small wins, such as completing an assignment or staying focused during study time, builds confidence and motivation. When setbacks occur, use them as teaching moments. Discuss what went well, what could be improved, and how to approach similar challenges in the future. This helps your child see obstacles as opportunities to learn rather than failures to avoid.
Despite a parent’s best efforts, some children may continue to struggle academically. In these cases, it’s important to consider whether underlying cognitive skill gaps may be the root cause. Foundational skills like attention, memory and reasoning are essential not only for academics but also for overall emotional and social well-being. Cognitive skills assessments can identify these gaps, and targeted brain training programs can help address them.
January is an excellent opportunity to reset routines, reassess goals and implement strategies that can make a big difference in your child’s academic journey. By taking proactive steps now, you can help your children regain focus, build confidence and feel prepared for the second half of the school year. This is a perfect opportunity to start making life-changing improvements that will set your child up for future success.
Leanne DiSanto is owner and managing director of LearningRx Irvine, which is dedicated to helping students unlock their full potential through brain training programs tailored to their unique needs. To support families during this critical time, mention L.A. Parent when you call to book a cognitive skills assessment before the end of the year and get 50% off the test. For more information about programs or to schedule an assessment, visit learningrx.com/costa-mesa-irvine/.
With proper support and planning, there are ways to mitigate getting swamped by the new school year — and to help your child succeed academically.
Check out these study skills tips from the Sylvan Learning Center to help your child have a successful year.
Study skills by grade:
Kinder through 2nd: For these years, it’s all about creating routines and learning how to learn. During these years, you want to prioritize school attendance (don’t miss too much school), practice completing tasks, creating daily routines where you read books, practice writing and solving problems. This is where parents make the biggest impact on a child’s executive function and development. If a child is having difficulty with reading and phonics, get help now.
3rd-6th grade: Building upon routine, here is where you want to focus on time management and organization. For example, writing down assignments, keeping a calendar and understanding when things are due. Ideally, any reading and math skill gaps should be closed in these grades; otherwise, study skills will be severely impacted and negative behaviors will become habit.
Learning how to take good notes will give your child a leg up in these grades, but these grades are still about routine, getting things done and strong time management.
Follow the “10-minute by grade rule for homework” if your child is struggling to complete 4th grade homework in 40 minutes, 5th grade homework in 50 minutes, etc., talk to your teacher and explore getting a tutor. When students labor too much with how to do the work, they can become anxious and discouraged, /then, they stop doing the work and grades suffer.
7th grade onward: Building on time management and organization, students need to learn good note-taking, test-taking skills and writing skills. Writing is both an academic requirement and a study skill because it is through writing that students demonstrate how to process and analyze information from text. If your child has poor writing skills, they likely have poor study skills.
Understand teachers’ expectations
Students have the most difficulty at the beginning of the school year understanding teacher expectations and creating effective routines. In the lower grades, the best teachers reinforce expectations over and over and develop routines for their students so they can succeed, but at the higher grades (middle school and high school), teachers hand out a syllabus and/or spend their first class reviewing expectations and then jump into instruction.
Many students don’t understand how important that information is and don’t take that information too seriously. That is a mistake. Knowing what your teacher expects, knowing how you are going to be graded, etc., is critical to success. This is a foundational study skill. If your child is shy or struggles to ask questions in a large group of students, then you’ll need to get involved and teach your child how to speak with teachers . . . or, get a tutor.
Top organizational tips
Know exactly what is expected of you at the beginning of the school year, and if you are not confident that you’ll do well, get a tutor. Don’t wait for bad grades, as these are lagging indicators (backwards looking). The essence of study skills is “planning to succeed.” If you know you struggled in Algebra last year (e.g. you received a C+ or B or worse), and now you’re in Geometry or Algebra 2, why wait to get a tutor? The mindset should be, “If I’m getting A’s, then I can spend less time with my tutor on that subject.”
For the younger grades, my best advice is to get an academic assessment at the beginning of the school year. This way you know how prepared your child is for the upcoming school year. You want no surprises as a parent. Children need to experience success academically on a continual basis. It builds their confidence. Likewise, if they struggle for too long it damages their confidence quickly and many kids will just shut down. Be as proactive as possible. This is your child’s education!
Todd Crabtree is owner of the Sylvan Learning Center Pasadena.
Get The Fun Delivered Right to Your Inbox!
Sign up for our Weekend Guide and Everything Parenting Here
