10 Ways to help your child succeed in junior high school & bull; hello healthy

Parental support is the most important thing in helping adolescents through their years of junior high school (SMP). But along with their desire to be more independent, it can sometimes be a bit difficult for parents to know when to be directly involved and when to support them from behind the scenes friends.

Here are 10 ways to help your child progress during junior high school.

1. Get to know the teachers

Your teenager can do better if their parents are involved in their academic life. Attending school events is a great way to see how your child's school is doing, as well as get to know the teacher. You can also meet with the homeroom teacher to discuss school programs and rules, as well as options that parents and guardians need to know.

Attending teacher and student meetings is a great way to stay informed of the school. In many schools, teachers will usually only call parents when there is a child's behavior problem or if grades are dropping, but feel free to make an appointment with the teacher and meet up to discuss your child's academic development, or special needs.

Remember that a parent or guardian has the right to meet with the teacher, school principal, or other staff as long as the child is still registered as a student at the school.

2. Visit the school

Knowing lay out and the layout of the school building can help you connect with your child while talking about his day at school. Find out where the class is located, the UKS, the canteen, the gym, the field, the playground, the hall and the teacher's room, so you can imagine your child's world as he is telling stories.

Many teachers now have specialized websites that contain details of homework, test dates, and class events and trips. Or maybe it is listed on your child's school website. If so, you can use the website to always stay updated.update with things that happen at school.

3. Create a supportive atmosphere and place to study and do homework

During junior high school, there will be more homework (homework) than during elementary school, and it usually takes up to 2 hours per night to do it.

The most important way to help your child is to make sure that he has a quiet, tidy, comfortable, and uninterrupted place dedicated to studying and doing homework. No distraction means no phone, television, or anything unrelated to her homework every night. Make sure you check on him regularly to make sure he doesn't get distracted by anything else.

Accompany him while he does homework, while you do other things. Always remind him to do homework according to a schedule.

Encourage your child to always ask for your help when he is having a hard time. Many teachers are also available to provide additional after-school assistance, and you can take advantage of it.

4. Make sure your child goes to school ready to learn

A nutritious breakfast helps your child get ready to learn all day long. Generally, children who eat breakfast have more energy and will do better at school. Children who ate breakfast were also rarely absent and rarely entered the UKS with stomach problems related to hunger.

You can help improve your child's concentration and memory by providing a breakfast that is rich in nuts, fiber, protein, and low in sugar. If your child doesn't have time for breakfast at home, bring him a lunch of milk, nuts, yogurt, and bread with peanut butter or banana sandwiches.

Teenagers need about 8.5 to 9.5 hours of sleep each night while pre-teens (ages 12-14) even need at least 10 hours of sleep every night so that they are alert and ready to study all day. However, the very early hours of school, plus homework, extracurricular activities, and hanging out with friends make many teenagers experience sleep deprivation problems. The effect, he will have difficulty concentrating, decreased short-term memory, and slow response.

5. Cultivate the ability to manage time

No one is born with time management skills. This is skill that must be learned and practiced. Time management is one of the most important things for junior high school students, because this is the first time he is undergoing many new subjects with different teachers, and his extracurricular activities are much busier than during elementary school. As a parent or guardian, you can help by teaching time management.

Teach your child how to organize lesson notes, class schedules, and other activity schedules in special binders and calendars. Don't forget to also include a schedule for other activities that have nothing to do with school, so that he can organize his daily schedule and adjust his priorities.

6. Teach learning skills

One of the challenges for a junior high school student is that he or she has to adjust to homework and test preparation from a variety of teachers and subjects, which could all be for the same day. Make sure you and your child know when exams are scheduled, and make sure that they have sufficient time to study before each test. When there are many tests on the same day, help him create a study calendar in advance so that your child doesn't have to study a lot at once in one night.

Remind your child to take notes in class, and review the notes when he or she is home.

You can help him review his home lessons with a few techniques, such as asking a simple question test, or doing exercises for a test. The more information is processed by the brain (through writing, reading, speaking, listening), the more information is memorized. Repeating words, rereading a book aloud, rewriting notes, or transcribing the information to others can help your child's brain remember data.

When it comes to math and exact science, practice is the most effective way to increase understanding. You can even find resources for practice questions on the internet that your child can do.

But always remember, getting a good night's sleep is better than studying all night. Research shows that students who sacrifice sleep to study tend to have more trouble the next day.

7. Know the school rules

All schools have rules and consequences regarding the behavior of their students. Schools usually list their disciplinary policies (sometimes called school codes of conduct) in student handbooks. These rules cover student manners, how to dress, use of electronic devices, and the consequences that must be faced if you break the rules.

This policy may also include rules and penalties for attendance / absence, vandalism, cheating, fighting and carrying weapons. Many schools have specific rules about bullying. It is better if you know the definition of the school about bullying, consequently, victim support, and follow-up reporting procedures bullying.

It is very important for your child to know what to do and what not to do in school, so you must support the consequences that the school has when your child commits an offense. It will be easier for students if the rules at school are not much different from the rules that are applied at home. It is important to note that educators can summon law enforcement officials to schools for serious offenses and the consequences depending on the age of the student.

8. Get involved in school activities

Volunteering at your child's school event is a great way to show that you are interested in his or her education.

But remember, some junior high school children may be happy when their parents attend school or at school events, and some may feel embarrassed. Understand their cues to determine how useful the interaction will be to you and your child, and whether or not you will volunteer for school activities. Make it clear that you didn't mean to spy on him, you were just trying to help him at school.

9. Monitor children's attendance at school

Your teenager should rest at home when he has fever, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, or other illness that makes it impossible for him to do activities. But apart from that, it is very important for them to come to school every day, because catching up with class assignments, projects, exams, and homework is more difficult and will affect the learning process.

If the child often seems to have excuses not to go to school, there may be other reasons that he doesn't tell you, for example bullying, difficult assignments, low grades, social problems, problems with friends, or problems with teachers. Talk about this with him to find out the cause and find a solution.

Children who are often late for school may also have sleep deprivation problems. Keeping your teenager on a regular sleep schedule can help him avoid being sleepy at school and reduce tardiness.

For youth with chronic health problems, teachers will work with families and limit their assignments so they can adjust.

10. Take time to talk about school

Establishing a relationship with a child as he grows older and wants to be independent can be a challenge for parents, but it is very important. Indeed, activities at school, new hobbies, social life, maybe even a love life are top priorities for most high school students, parents and guardians are still their anchor places who always provide love, guidance, and support.

Make an effort to talk to him every day, so that you can find out what is going on at school and in his life. When your child finds out that you are interested in what's going on in their academic life, they will study more seriously.

Since communication is a two-way street, the way you speak and hear can affect how you hear and respond to you. It is very important that you listen carefully, maintain eye contact, and avoid doing anything else while the child is talking. Make sure you ask questions whose answers are not just "yes" or "no".

Apart from dinner or breakfast time, a good time to talk is during trips to school (if you are taking them to school) or when doing household activities with your child, such as shopping.

When your child learns that they can talk openly with their parents, it can be easier to overcome challenges at school.