Back-to-School Traditions for a Great Academic Year

After the excitement and nervousness of starting a new school or a new grade has worn off, the new clothes have become old friends and your student is feeling more settled and at home, it’s time to start some new back-to-school traditions. New habits only take a couple of weeks to instill, but they will mean a happier home life and a better academic performance. Here are some back to school traditions that will help you and your students to have a wonderful semester.

Smooth Morning Routines 

Get your family together and ask them to write down the things that they don’t enjoy about your morning routine. Perhaps they would like more bathroom time, or maybe they don’t like to rush in the mornings; whatever their suggestions and gripes, write them down in a list.

As a family, find ways in which you can reduce the stress of morning routines. This may mean being more organized. If bathroom time is an issue, set out a schedule so that everyone has a fair amount of time that everyone agrees with. You can move hair and makeup to a different room so that the bathroom is free for washing and showering.

If you don’t like rushing in the morning, suggest to your students that they start packing their bags and laying out their clothing the night before.  This way the morning runs much more smoothly.

Make a lunch menu that everyone can enjoy and share the morning chores so that everyone feels that they are equally helping. If one of your students is a better morning person, they may want to do their chores in the morning and have a free evening.

Academic Goals

Knowing where you are going makes it so much easier to navigate. Work with your students to set out clear academic goals for the year. It’s smart to provide incentives for the achievement of those goals in the form of rewards. Work with your student’s teacher and tutor to ensure that the goals are realistic and most importantly, attainable. If goals are set that your student feels are not attainable, more than likely, those goals will not be accomplished.  Setting short term as well as long-term goals will give a sense of accomplishment.

After School Activities

Discuss what activities your students wish to do after school and ensure that they have a healthy balance of school work and fun activity. Sometimes activities that are outside of their comfort zone give them a chance to be active and meet new friends.  Getting involved with sports help to foster friendships, teach discipline and teamwork and keep your students healthy and active.  Creative activities help relieve stress and develop higher cognitive functions, as well as give your students the opportunity to meet new friends that may have similar interests.  Starting back-to-school routintes which become traditions will mean that your students are working toward their goals, can look forward to rewards and anticipate fun activities. A little planning at the start of the school year means that your students will develop habits that help to make this the best academic year ever!