ST. GEORGE – The new year provides a great opportunity to review the first half of the school year and set new academic goals for the rest of the year. While children can make their own academic resolutions, you as parents can significantly help your children achieve these goals by making a few resolutions of your own.

The following six common sense resolutions can help put your child on the path to academic success in 2014, Clark Hatfield of Sylvan Learning in St. George suggests:

• Have students keep an up-to-date calendar. Whether it’s a reminder on a smartphone, notes tacked to a bulletin board, or entries in a planner, your child should resolve to keep an updated calendar.
• Prepare for tests in advance. Cramming for tests can become a bad habit. Students can avoid late-night cram sessions by scheduling regular study time in advance. Studying should start the first day of school, not on the day before a test.
• Meet with a guidance counselor. Encourage your child to make a resolution to meet with a guidance counselor at least once. This will help your child realize how many different ways a counselor can help throughout the school year.
• Understand Common Core. When it comes to today’s standards of learning, it may sound like teachers are speaking a foreign language during parent-teacher conferences. That’s why you should resolve to understand what is going on in the classroom in terms of Common Core and other educational standards.
• Trust yourself. You may not always know the ins-and-outs of every school standard, or the answer to every algebra problem, but you do know what’s best for your child. As your family’s “chief education officer,” you should resolve to trust your own instincts, especially regarding when to bring in additional resources for your child.
• Treasure every moment. Homework and the daily routine of life can be a lot to handle, but don’t let life and your children’s younger years pass you by. Take in every moment and treasure the time you spend with your children, even if it’s the hour you spend trying to figure out that one math problem.

For additional tips an resources, please contact Clark Hatfield of Sylvan Learning, located in St. George at 435-656-1700 or via email at [email protected]

Related posts

• House members hold town hall meeting on national parks, Common Core, John Swallow investigation
• Skating in Southern Utah? Ice rink projects past, present, permanent
• Middle School Survival Guide Challenge No. 2: Acquiring new academic tools
• Perspectives: Why we study history
• What the HAYnes? Compulsory education, liars and the parental mandate
• Kids’ summer reading can be fun and educational; Sylvan Learning book list
• Relationship Connection: Raising children in a pornified culture
• Op-Ed: School districts and FERPA are eroding parental authority
• Commissioner of Higher Education: Utah legislature ‘has done a good job’ of supporting state’s schools, students

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @STGnews