Self-Motivating under Quarantine

Finding the intrinsic motivation to do work without the camaraderie of peers, the encouragement of a teacher nearby, and the academic tone of the classroom environment is one of the most challenging obstacles that students face in this period of remote learning. While getting them to finally finish their math assignment or write their paper might feel like pulling teeth, there are some tools parents can use to encourage children to feel less overwhelmed and frustrated, and more motivated and in control. Beyond the existential discussions of why learning a particular subject or honing a particular skill will be important to them, there are small strategies you can teach students to make their work feel more manageable. The amount of time and energy you will need to invest in teaching your child(ren) these strategies will depend on their age and how lacking they are in their motivation, but it will be well-worth the investment when you no longer need to nag them to do their work (or at least you will be able to do so less often)!

Make work bite-sized 

Looking at a month-long assignment and not having the tools (or in-person teacher support) to know how to split that project up into more manageable chunks would make anyone want to throw in the towel. Not only is long-term planning for assignments helpful in making sure work gets done, it is a crucial skill to build in order for students to be successful beyond the classroom as well. Help your child break down their assignments into smaller, more manageable chunks so that when they sit down to work on a particular piece of the assignment, they will have taken a tangible step forward towards completion.

Choices, Choices, Choices

One of the most effective teaching strategies to increase engagement in the classroom is to give students choices. So why shouldn’t they have options at home? Teach your child how to give themselves choices, even when their teacher hasn’t. Help them think of aspects of their school work that they can control, like environmental factors, where and when they complete it, or whether they are listening to music or having a snack (as long as those things are not distracting to them). Show them that they do have some control over how and what they learn! And if they have an idea for showing their learning in a way that the teacher did not assign, it can’t hurt to ask! Many teachers appreciate when students take the initiative to be innovative. The worst thing that’ll happen is they’ll say no.

Give them something to look forward to!

Whether it’s a TV show, an hour of video games, or some quality time with Mom or Dad, everyone is more productive when they have something to look forward to after their work is finished. Let kids choose one longer reward activity once all their work is done for the day, and let them take shorter 5-10 minute breaks (depending on age and work stamina) in between assignments or as needed. The Pomodoro Method, which suggests taking a 5-minute break for every 25 minutes of work, can be an effective time management tool as well.

Walk Away

While perseverance is an admirable trait, many students get stuck in a “frustration cycle” in which the work they are trying to do is too hard, so they get frustrated. And the more frustrated they become, the harder it gets. Productivity rarely comes out of these moments. Teach your child that it is OK to walk away from something for now and come back later. Sometimes just a change in perspective the next time they sit down to work can help them approach the obstacle in a more positive and productive way.

Provide them with a “work space”

Give your child somewhere they can go that is a dedicated space for their school work. Not all students have (or even need) a desk, so anywhere will do. A spot on the floor of their room, a chair at the kitchen table, just don’t let that work zone be the bed or a comfy couch! This spot should be solely for working so that when they are there, their brain is in work mode, and when they aren’t, their brain is in leisure mode.

Celebrate successes

Finally, try to acknowledge every small success your child has with their schoolwork, even if it’s just that they sat and worked for half an hour. If they get something wrong, or their work needs improving, don’t immediately point it out. Find something they did right and celebrate that success first. Of course our inclination as parents is to dispel misunderstanding and help our children “get it right”, but confidence is more important, especially if a child struggles with motivation! By pointing out what they did right, you’ll boost their confidence. Eventually they’ll take more pride in their work, become less self-critical, and maybe even start to enjoy the process of learning.

Changes to AP Exams in the Wake of Covid-19

The virus has disrupted daily life in myriad ways; of course, at Smarten Up, we’re particularly focused on its impacts on students. In this post, we’ll lay out the changes to AP exams planned for the end of this school year and offer some advice for how to adapt to the new format.

While some end-of-year tests, including for the IB (International Baccalaureate) program, have been cancelled entirely, AP exams will still take place! A wide selection of AP students were surveyed as the shutdown began, and the response was overwhelming: students who have spent their school year learning material in preparation for exams remained eager for the opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge to admissions officers and earn potentially valuable college credits. The College Board, which administers AP exams as well as the SAT (which, as of this writing, will not be administered in an online format -- although a contingency plan to that effect is actively being explored), responded quickly, putting forth a new plan for testing that includes unprecedented changes from previous years. Colleges across the country have committed to honoring the results of the adapted online exams - so what, exactly will they consist of? 

New format in brief:

All AP tests, normally 2-3 hours long, will be limited to 45 minutes, and include as few as one multi-part question, depending on the subject. All exam questions will be free response, rather than multiple choice, and all exams are now open book.  Finally, the College Board has announced that material that would have been taught in the final two months of the semester will not be assessed on the adapted exam. For a subject-specific breakdown of changes to each test in the new format, check the AP site directly. 

What this change means for students’ study plans

Now that we’re all stuck inside, finding time to study should be a breeze, right? Unfortunately, many students are reporting difficulty focusing as they struggle to stay motivated with the distance from peers and teachers. These conditions are similar to those students will experience in college in the near future: broad swathes of unstructured free time, and a personal responsibility to craft your own study plan. Luckily, there are resources to help. The College Board has enlisted master AP teachers from across the country to teach live online versions of their courses on YouTube, which are available here. You should also explore Khan Academy’s extensive AP-prep catalogue, which is well-organized by unit and includes helpful practice problems - take a glance through the AP Calculus AB course here, for instance, or search up the one that’s most relevant to you. And don’t be deceived into thinking that an open-note test will be simple; test-makers have made it clear that questions will be designed to test students’ ability to reason logically and apply concepts learned in the course, rather than merely recite information. 

What this change means for students’ test-day strategies

It will be up to students (and families) to work through the College Board’s explication of the procedure for test day, and to set up an individual testing environment for optimal focus. Even though the test is digital, students will benefit from using paper to annotate their thought process and outline free response answers. Although you may technically use the internet to find information for your exams, it’s recommended that you first refer to notes compiled from the course, since online resources may yield confusing or misleading answers. With only 45 minutes for the entire exam, time is another limiting factor on the usefulness of the open-book format. Keep an eye on the clock, and another eye on the AP scoring rubric for your subject; it’s a good idea to print this out for reference on test day.

Managing Schedules and Creating Structure for Students

For many of us, it is hard to appreciate the complexity of creating an effective schedule. We have an approximate idea of how long tasks should take given our life experience, we can intuit the best order in which to tackle the tasks on our to do list, and we know how to use scheduling tools to manage our time. Sure we sometimes procrastinate and avoid those tasks, which is only natural, but at least we know how to manage our time in order to know what our deadlines are and meet them.

In contrast, think of how hard it is for kids to develop those skills. For years and years their parents wake them up, help them get dressed and fed before dropping them off at school. Then, teachers take over and establish a set of activities for the school day with structured transitions from one class to the next. After that, those kids are picked up from school and helped through an afternoon of classes or playtime, before dinner, stories and bedtime. But then those young students transition to middle school, high school, and college (or they are quarantined at home thanks to a global pandemic!), and suddenly they have to take a lot more responsibility for managing their time and responsibilities, and they’re largely expected to magically know how.

We assume this transition to independence will be intuitive because children have had endless exposure to “scheduling” for so many years, and for some students the pieces do fall into place. For so many others, though, there is a lot more frustration and a frustrating learning curve. With that in mind, the guide below offers suggestions for how to support children as they learn to manage their time and responsibilities.

Write Things Down!

Our brain is really good at remembering a lot, but we rarely remember everything. Between homework assignments, planning for longer-term projects, after school activities, and the odds and ends that need to be brought back and forth, there is a lot for kids to remember in a day. Keeping track of those tasks in a consistent way in a notebook, or better yet using a tool like Google Keep or Google Tasks which can’t be misplaced as it lives on the cloud, means that it is at least a bit more difficult to simply “forget” about something that needs to be done, especially with the option to set reminders based on time or location! And it goes without saying, checking things off once they are completed is an important part of maintaining an effective to-do list, and this can be done on both Google applications.

Even better, Write Things Down in a Planner!

A daily to-do list is a good, but a daily, weekly, and monthly calendar is even more effective. Students can use Google Calendar or a paper planner to keep track of their classes and related assignments, to note after school activities or social plans, and to remember appointments with teachers or office hours. It seems intuitive, but all too often kids think knowing what they have to do is enough, so the idea of planning when to do it just isn’t important. I don’t think any of us would make the case that everything needs to be scheduled into a specific block of time, but noting a deadline on a calendar, and a plan of what to do each day to meet it is undeniably helpful to stay on track! By using Google Tasks and Google Keep alongside Google Calendar, all of these lists and deadlines can be easily noted on a shareable calendar that syncs across any and all devices, so it is always accessible.

Stick to a routine

Establishing as much regularity as possible with that schedule is also helpful. By sitting down to do work at approximately the same time of day, energy levels will be more predictable which makes it easier to approximate how long tasks will take, assuming a more or less consistent work load. And by completing that work in the same place each day (and no, that place should not be in bed or on a super comfy couch!), students can work more efficiently knowing they have the tools they need within easy reach, rather than always having to search the house for supplies. Routines are predictable, and for learning new skills and developing good habits, routine is key.

While this isn’t an exhaustive guide, it is a great place to start. All of these general concepts can also easily be applied to supporting younger students as well. If they can’t read, use pictures; if they can’t tell time, set alarms or have them cross out activities for the day as they are completed. If you need more guidance, reach out! We are always here to help.

Survival Strategies for Quarantine Day 3

Good morning and happy Friday. We did it! Week one of no school with everyone at home is officially behind us. And while I imagine there have been a lot of conversations with children about why they are at home, what COVID-19 is, how it is impacting our lives, and all that we can do to stay safe, this super quick video (just 1:29 minutes long!) provides some great guidance on how to talk with children about the Coronavirus and the uncertainty it is creating in our lives. My favorite takeaway is the importance of encouraging children to ask questions that are meaningful to them, as our perspective is so different than theirs! Older children might also appreciate this easily accessible comic on the virus from NPR.

 We also still have space in next week's workshops and we'd love to have your child join us. The drop in story time sessions have been lovely so far, and I'm sure the classes will offer an even more stimulating experience and a refreshing social escape. You can learn more about the offerings and sign up here. 

Today's tip: 

Given that we are all stuck inside, yet there are so many places we'd rather be, why not take a virtual escape to an amazing national park? At the Hidden Worlds of the National Parks, students can take a guided journey with a park ranger through Alaska's Kenai Fjords, the Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico, Bryce Canyon in Utah, Hawaii's volcanoes, or the Dry Tortugas in Florida. After being cooped up, the amazing views and magical encounters with nature offer a refreshing (imaginary) escape. 


After the adventure, kids can complete one of the following off-screen activities:
 

• Create a drawing or painting that shows their favorite part of the adventure

• Create a model of the park

• Put together a travel brochure about the park. This could be very simple for younger students (think a picture, the name of the park, names and/or drawings of animals or plants that are there), or a more advanced research project for middle schoolers.

• Draw an imaginary map of the park

• Tell you about everything they learned!

Survival Strategies for Quarantine Day 2

Good morning! We've made it to another day. While it is only Thursday, and the weekend will only bring the relief of childcare without work on top, we've got to celebrate the little things. And to make next week a bit easier than this one, we have a great line up of workshops to keep your kids busy beginning on Monday! In addition to a free story time at 9:00am and 4:00pm daily, we also have amazing offerings that are sure to keep your children thinking new and interesting thoughts.

Today's tip: 

There are so many math games that can be played with a deck of cards, and kids can never get enough practice with their math facts and basic arithmetic. Here are printable directions for a few great ones you can play with your kids, or that they can play together, but click the link for many more suggestions. Just one game a day will help to solidify important math facts in a super fun way, but I'm pretty certain they'll want to play even more.

Survival Strategies for Quarantine Day 1

Given the unprecedented disruption to schools in these strange times, families face a new challenge – how do you keep kids happy and engaged when they are stuck inside all day?! Given our expertise in all things education and learning, we've created this daily newsletter to offer quick tips and share resources for you to prevent learning loss, encourage productive distractions from the crisis, and help your child continue to develop and grow while stuck at home.

We know this won't be easy, but we are here to help!

With that in mind, we will also be updating the site daily with a wide range of creative, educational, online workshops for students of all ages.  From a free daily Story Time at 9:00am and 4:00pm, to writing, acting, math classes, and so much more, we are tapping into the vast pool of diverse talents at Smarten Up to create workshops that will keep students engaged with and excited about learning.   

Newsela is a news aggregator that curates high interest articles for students - this means that its staff gathers articles from news sources across the web, and then adjusts the reading level to make them accessible to students of all ages. While articles are organized by topic, there are also wonderful Text Sets that enable children to explore a specific area of interest with guidance. Plus, kids can annotate as they read and work through related comprehension activities as well. Newsela makes current events accessible to children, no matter their age or reading level, which should lead to some interesting dinner conversations for all!

Building Foundational Math Skills

For some students, looking at numbers can feel like trying to read text in a foreign language. No matter how hard we try to drill that language, they just can’t seem to make meaning of what they see. But regardless of how challenging a student may find math, there is always a way to make the content more accessible, no matter what is holding them back. 

Because each subsequent grade in math builds off of prior concepts, any gaps in understanding will affect a student’s ability to make sense of more complex topics. So, for example, if a student does not understand the reciprocity of addition and subtraction, they will struggle even more when eventually faced with more complex algebraic equations. For this reason, it is crucial that we address our student’s challenges with math as early as possible. Otherwise, they run the risk of falling further and further behind.

The “traditional” math instruction of years ago, which consisted of mostly rote memorization of facts and formulas, just doesn’t cut it anymore; math mastery requires so much more! Children used to have to adapt to learn the way math content was being taught. Now, teachers are adapting their instruction to teach the way students learn. There are many opportunities to supplement and replicate this new approach to math at home, and it won’t require you to remember any formulas or re-teach strategies you learned in your childhood.

Here are some common early challenges and ways to address them at home:

• Fact fluency

  • All kids love games! Why not help your child build the crucial skill of knowing their addition/subtraction and multiplication/division facts through play? All you need is a deck of cards. Play “Go Fish” with Make 10 pairs, or play any number of other games that will build addition and subtraction fluency. 

  • A deck of cards works just as well for multiplication and division facts. Just multiply the cards chosen instead of adding. Have your child build an understanding of the inverse relationship between multiplication and division by having them work backwards from the product to get to the original number. (Example: student draws a 4 and a 6, they write the equation 4 x 6 = 24, followed by the inverse, 24 / 6 = 4.)

• Word problems

  • Have students make sense of word problems by drawing a picture of the information. This can help them understand and keep track of what is being asked.

  • Have students generate their own word problems. They can either solve them, or give them to a family member and then check their work.

• Precision (counting and calculating)

  • To build your child’s skills with one-to-one correspondence (counting accuracy), have them count household objects like buttons or coins, moving one at a time from one pile to another as they say each number out loud. As simple as it sounds, many math errors are a result of weak one-to-one correspondence, so it’s important to develop this skill.

  • Have your child estimate their answer before they solve using strategies like rounding. This will help them become more likely to catch errors as they work, or at least recognize more quickly when they’ve arrived at an incorrect answer.

• Developing an “I can’t do this” mentality

  • Many math struggles come from a student’s simple belief that they “just can’t”. This mentality can quickly spiral, and when students focus primarily (or exclusively) on whether they are right or wrong, it becomes impossible for them to grow their thinking. Help your child re-frame their perspective by encouraging them to talk through their process and not just focus on their answer. Have them explain a problem to you and how they solved it, explaining each step and what they were thinking. Even when they do make mistakes, finding those mistakes and fixing them not only prevents them from happening again, but might just boost their confidence when they understand where they went wrong!

With patience, persistence, and some creativity, we can help our children not only begin to understand puzzling mathematical concepts, but we can also begin to cultivate a love for (or at least an interest in) problem-solving and the often perplexing language of numbers.

Cultivating Confident Readers

A common hurdle for parents and teachers alike is convincing kids to read. While there is the eternal challenge of finding an amazing book to get lost in (not to mention learning to get lost in a book!), video games and social media present intense competition for kids’ limited attention. Plus, it isn’t enough to just pick up a book and read the words in it! Today’s classrooms demand that students engage with text in more ways than ever, and that starts with strong comprehension. 

There are a number of tools and strategies that can help improve a child’s ability to comprehend text, but first, it’s important to make sure they actually enjoy reading. For a child who despises reading, whether that’s because it’s “too hard” or “boring”, there is hope! It just takes a little legwork. Help them find a book that sparks joy. It might take some digging, but there IS a book out there that will get him or her to fall in love with reading (or at least with that particular book...but we have to start somewhere.) Help your child discover what that genre is that they just won’t be able to put down, and find as much of it as you can. It might be graphic novels, cookbooks, magazines, instructional manuals...if it has text, let them read as much as they want! Then help them develop their comprehension skills with the tools and strategies below.

Supporting Young Readers

In the early grades (Kindergarten through around Fourth Grade), students need a balance of instruction in phonics, fluency, and comprehension. While these skills can be isolated in lessons or through homework activities, it is crucial for students to engage in multi-faceted reading instruction during these formative years. This starts at school, but there are many ways to supplement instruction through fun activities at home. 

• To help students who find decoding to be an obstacle, Scholastic has some creative ideas for making your own phonics games to reinforce this skill, and Homer is an amazing app to support early phonics learning. 

• To practice fluency, many kids love Reader’s Theater scripts, which are an excellent way to help your child bring characters to life by practicing vocal expression and changing intonation, an important part of fluency development. 

• If your child struggles with self-monitoring while reading--making many errors and not catching them--, see if they would be open to recording themselves while they read, so that they can hear how they sound as a reader. Most students love hearing their voices on tape (but some don’t)!

If your child struggles with understanding what he or she reads, here are 7 essential skills for building comprehension:

1. Previewing text - Skim pictures, look for keywords, think about what the book will be about based on the title/blurb on the back.

2. Asking questions - Ask who, what, when, where, and especially why and how questions before, during, and after reading

3. Making predictions - Use clues from the text to guess what will happen next

4. Making inferences - Use clues from the text to draw a logical conclusion about what is happening that is not stated in the text

5. Making connections - Relate the text to yourself (text-to-self connection), another book (text-to-text connection), or the world (text-to-world connection)

6. Summarizing the text - Put the important events and details into your own words

7. Evaluating the text - Look closely at how the author wrote the book, think about what you learned from this book, and what you will do with what you learned 

To make the most of their time reading, kids should be active readers. This means being engaged in the text, having a pencil in hand, asking and answering questions, re-reading for deeper meaning, and above all, reading books they love! To learn more about supporting early readers, check out our post on talking to kids about books and reading to learn.

Building Reading Skills in Secondary Grades

By Middle School, most students have mastered the skill of decoding, and can now focus all of their reading energy on building fluency and getting better at deciphering what the text means instead of what it says. For the former, the most important thing for kids to do is read, and read a lot! From books and comics to recipes and social media posts, the more kids practice their reading, the more fluency and vocabulary they’ll build. As for building their comprehension skills, active engagement with the text is key and purposeful annotations are the best tool for their reading toolbox! 

Students in upper grades should always have a pencil in hand for underlining, highlighting, and note-taking while they read. Here are our suggestions for how to use these tools most effectively.

• If a child struggles with figuring out what to highlight, it can help to use different colors to highlight for different foci such as important figures, themes, dates, and events.

• Students can write down questions, predictions, or connections to prior knowledge in the margins or in a graphic organizer. 

• They can write down connections between what they are reading and what they already knew about the topic. 

• Students can also look for things like text structure, which can help them determine what information is most important and what is more peripheral. 

• In order to navigate the new vocabulary they may come across, especially in content-specific texts, students should practice using context clues to try to determine the meaning of unknown words, then check their definition using a dictionary. 

• It can also help students to vocalize while they are reading; hearing their own voice speak the information out loud can help their brains more fully process that information. 

Ultimately, mastery of a text boils down to engagement; the more actively a reader engages with a text, the more he or she will get out of that reading. While so many kids see annotation as an annoying or distracting extra step in an already complicated process, it is important to explain that this extra step will become easier and more natural with practice, and will lead to immeasurable gains in learning. Not only will they gain a better understanding of what they read, they will also be able to more effectively and efficiently navigate that text to find the information they need to write their essay or build their study guide. Learn more about annotation strategies through our post on next level annotations!

The Importance of Becoming an Interesting Person

When we think of kids and learning, academics generally come to mind. But while schoolwork and grades are undeniably important, the value of extracurriculars shouldn’t be overlooked. Most kids aren’t “passionate” about school. Sure, they are motivated (we hope!) to do well, but students rarely love to do homework, and they generally don’t look forward to studying or working on academic projects. Yet, learning is and should be fun, and it is important for students to identify the things they do like to learn about, and invest themselves in developing those passions. Not only will it make them a more well-rounded person, it will also make them a more unique and interesting applicant to universities and jobs. This month’s posts are all about the importance of extracurricular pursuits, an especially timely topic to consider as the weather warms and summer break nears!

Helping Your Child Discover a Passion

As children grow and mature, they slowly but surely discover those things that excite them and figure out the activities they do not enjoy. Little kids are generally up for anything, so they will participate in just about any activity their parents sign them up for. As they get older, however, children develop more specific tastes and interests, and learn more about who they are and what special skills or passions they might possess. With this in mind, it is important that students begin to explore a wide range of extracurricular activities at an early age, so they can discover the passions and interests that will enable them to thrive inside and outside of school.

There are many ways to encourage your child to get involved in extracurriculars; you might start by asking your student what he finds appealing or what she has always wanted to try. Because kids at this age don’t always know what appeals to them, you might ask a teacher or counselor if they have observed any special or specific aptitude your child might possess and then encourage him or her in that direction. The truth is, however, that at this age, your student might not yet show a passion or talent for any one activity as they simply have not yet been exposed to all the options. With that in mind, the more you can encourage them to try a wide spectrum of activities, the better. Below are many extracurricular options and the potential benefits they might provide your child:

Arts: the arts are a great way for your child to develop and express those parts of themselves that they may not be able to find in an academic setting. These might include, visual arts (painting, drawing, photography), drama (acting, singing, set design), writing/reading (newspaper, yearbook, poetry, book club), music (chorus, band, voice), dance and design. Involvement in the arts, even if they do not end up loving the activity, instills the values of self-confidence, communication, intrinsic motivation, creative problem solving, self-expression and improved cognition. Even if your student ultimately decides that the arts is not where their passion lies, by exploring an artistic extracurricular early on, he/she will still develop a deeper self-understanding.

Sports: taking part in a sports activity can provide a healthy outlet for young students who might feel constrained by academics. Most schools offer a wide variety of sports activities, whether intramural or clubs, competitive or not, and there is usually something for everyone. Encouraging your student to join a sports club can offer a nice counterbalance to the hours they spend sitting at a desk in school. Students at this age have a lot of physical energy, and there has been a great deal of research correlating participation in athletics with improved academic performance. Beyond the obvious physical benefits, taking part in a sports team teaches teamwork, perseverance, skill-building, commitment and time management and allows for important social bonding. 

Volunteering: when young students take part in an organization or extracurricular that focuses on giving back, your developing child will gain insight into the lasting social and health benefits of volunteer work, both on their community and themselves. Many schools offer volunteer programs within the school, (National Honor Society, peer tutoring, community gardening, library work, etc.) and in the community at large, (tutoring at under-privileged schools, parks and museum work, Big Brother, Big Sister, YMCA, etc.). Volunteer programs for middle schoolers have been shown to have the greatest positive impact on the social and mental health of students; he/she will gain a sense of agency, learn about teamwork, develop a passion for community building and allow the child to feel that they are giving back and accomplishing something, which can often translate to accomplishment in academics. 

Leadership: for those students who enjoy academic work but would like an outlet to display more agency and assertiveness, you might encourage them to join an academic extracurricular such as speech and debate or student council. Many schools have a Student Court, a Debate, Mock Trial/Mock Congress or Model United Nations club. This provides a great opportunity for kids to develop their public speaking, writing, and debate skills. Additionally, they will learn about diplomacy and problem solving, cooperation and leadership, while also developing self-confidence and grit. This provides long-lasting benefits to your child as they enter high school and transition into professional careers that will inevitably require strong writing and oratorical skills. 

Science/Math: some students, even in middle school, find certain academic subjects so exciting that they would like to explore them outside of the rigid school requirements. If your child has an interest in science, technology, engineering, and math, you might consider encouraging them to join an extracurricular program, such as STEM, that allows them to experiment, play and explore those elements they might not get to tackle in class. Taking part in an academic extracurricular allows students to get messy, explore real-world situations and take part in alternative learning methods. These clubs can also be beneficial for those students who might struggle with the structure and presentation of material in their math and science classes. Ideally, they can discover the potential love of learning through risk-taking, hands-on work and creative problem solving. This positive reinforcement and increased confidence can, in turn, improve academic work within the classroom. 

Extracurricular activity has long been linked to academic and mental health and there is no more important time for extracurricular exploration than in middle school. Students at this age are often vulnerable and unsure of themselves as they navigate a new social setting; joining a team, an organization or a club can give these young students the chance to be a part of something, and begin developing valuable life skills such as teamwork, cooperation, leadership, and problem-solving. If your middle schooler begins to explore options early on, and tries activities at which they are afraid they might fail, they will begin to conquer the fear of failure that plagues all students. Ultimately, the way middle school students spend their free time can have a huge impact on their academic work and hopefully plant the seed that will blossom into a full-blown passion as they focus their interests in high school!