Grades aren’t everything. There’s a lot more to life than getting an A+ on every paper that a student hands in. In middle school, however, students need to know that grades are important in terms of career and the college that they’re able to get into. That is why, as parents, we should be doing all that we can to help our children to get good grades. So that when it comes to it, they have the future that they deserve – that’s what education is about, getting to where you want to be.

To help your child get good grades –  there are a few simple things that you can do. The key to helping your kids understand that their education is important is the attitude you take to it. With this in mind, here are six ways you can help your children to get good grades.

1. Make reading a part of family life

Reading shouldn’t be something that your children hate doing; it should be something that they enjoy. If you make reading a part of family life, this will help your children to enjoy it. Reading is important when it comes to grades as kids who are able to read confidently tend to do better on assignments. Have a quiet space in your home for reading where there’s a bookshelf and comfortable seating. This will encourage your children to read for pleasure, as well as for school.

2. Offer them help with homework

A lot of the time, kids who struggle at school do so because they don’t have the support that they need. When homework looks daunting, a lot of children get themselves into a state about it. However, if you offer to help your kids with tricky homework, you can help them to get the grades that they need. Sometimes, all kids need is a helping hand. When homework looks too hard, children don’t always know where to start. This can put them off doing it and affect their grades. That’s why offering them help is so important. Whether they struggle with fractions or the different types of essays, being there to support and help them is important.

3. Incorporate educational toys and games

At home, have lots of educational toys around. This doesn’t only work for younger kids, but older ones too. Have sudoku puzzles, word searches, and crosswords lying around, as these encourage brain power. You could also load tablets with educational games, to help your children to develop their skills. Once children understand that learning can be fun, they’re a lot happier to put effort into their school work. This is important as without hard work; they’ll never get good grades.

4. Make learning part of life

Learning isn’t just for in the classroom. If you want to help your child get good grades, you need to make learning part of life. Whether you practice fractions with chocolate cake or teach spelling with rhymes, it doesn’t matter. If you want your children to be eager to learn, then making learning part of your everyday life is essential. To get a few unique ideas for how to do this, have a look online. There are plenty of ways you can do this, you just need a little inspiration, that’s all.

5. Reward good grades

Make sure to praise good grades. To encourage your children to work hard at school, always make sure to reward good grades. This is important as it teaches your kids that getting good marks is something to be proud of. The rewards don’t have to be big, just little things that say well done. It could be a trip to the cinema, dinner out, or a little gift – whatever you think they deserve.

6. Encourage their dreams

The best way to help your child to get good grades is by encouraging their dreams. Whether they want to be a firefighter or a school teacher, by telling them that they can do anything, you will drive them to be successful. When your child shares with you what they want to be when they grow up, tell them that to do that they need to get good grades. This will encourage them to try hard at school so that they can go where they dream.

Make your child’s dreams come true by helping them to get good grades. Whatever they want to be when they grow up, having a good education will come in handy throughout their life.

Jennifer Wolfe

Jennifer Wolfe, a writer-teacher-mom, is dedicated to finding the extraordinary in the ordinary moments of life by thinking deeply, loving fiercely, and teaching audaciously. Jennifer is a Google Certified Educator, Hyperdoc fanatic, and a voracious reader. Read her stories on her blog, mamawolfe, and grab free copies of her teaching and parenting resources.

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The other night I sat at our dining room table, across from my daughter and her forever friend, A. It was late, and everyone else in the house had long since gone to sleep. As tired as I was, I couldn’t pull myself away from the moment – the chance to look across at them, remembering their fourth-grade sleepover faces and times before life threw boys and jobs and college and adulthood in their path.

I could see it in their eyes. They’re feeling the insidious creep of growing up, the heaviness of choices that at times seem overwhelming and exhilarating all at once.

I wasn’t exactly sure how much to say. I didn’t want to sound preachy or teacher-like. They both passed my 8th grade English class long ago.

So I listened. I hesitated, I looked in their eyes as they shared their fears and hopes, and finally, I took a breath and broke in.

Life isn’t always a straight path ahead.

“I’m proud of you, you know,” I said, pushing my glasses to the top of my head. “It takes guts to listen to your heart. It takes a lot of courage to admit that the path you’re on isn’t the path that you want – that where you thought you wanted to go when you were 17 might not be the destination you want to head in right now. And that’s ok.”

They both looked down and back up at me. “Thanks, mamawolfe,” A. replied. I couldn’t tell if she was going to smile or cry.

“Life isn’t always a straight path. In fact, for most of the people I know, life was a curvy, squiggly, up and down and all around kind of a journey – especially in college. The idea that someone could know enough about themselves to make a decision about their future when they’re only 17 is crazy – you should know that decisions can be changed, courses can be altered, and if you listen to your gut and trust the journey, everything will work itself out.” My words hung there for a minute until the corners of their mouths started to turn up, their eyes met mine, and by the end, the three of us had exhaled.

I watched as they hugged and whispered goodbye, promised to see each other soon and that they would miss each other.

The only thing you shouldn’t miss

Later that night, after I’d tucked my girl in and kissed her goodnight, I was browsing online and came across Oprah Winfrey’s quote, “The only thing you shouldn’t miss is what matters to you”.

I know – you’re saying ‘easier said than done, Oprah’ right about now, aren’t you?

Of course, we shouldn’t miss what matters to us. Makes perfect sense, doesn’t it. Why would we spend our time paying attention to those things that in the long run really don’t mean a thing?

But why do we miss it so often, then? What does matter most, I wonder?

These are the kinds of things I think about when I’m taking my dog for long walks. Or lying under the air conditioner on a hotel room bed, alone. Or when my hands are immersed in sudsy, grapefruit scented warm water and I’m unconsciously scrubbing the remnants of last night’s pasta sauce off the Teflon coated pan. Definitely when I’m elbow deep in dirt and weeding in my garden.

One thing you shouldn’t miss- spring flowers in your garden.

When I was in my twenties, what was mattering most to me? Did I even know?  I remember feeling like my two girls did tonight – the fear, the insecurity, the cold sweats and second thoughts and absolute stupefaction over what life had in store for me once I graduated from college.

I stumbled alone, crossing my fingers and hoping the Universe would reveal the shortcut I needed to take to get where I thought I should be. It wasn’t a straight line for me, either. The circuit was tumultuous, terrifying and exhilarating, for sure, and for the last 25 years, I’ve towed the line in teaching.

All along, I’ve been trying to figure out just what Oprah reminded me of – what matters most.

Maybe it’s turning 50 this year, or perhaps it’s been watching my daughter move away and my son battle health challenges that has cleared the path for me. Because today, more than ever, I’m realizing that the words I shared at my dining room table were words I needed to remind myself – “It takes guts to listen to your heart. It takes a lot of courage to admit that the path you’re on isn’t the path that you want.”

The passageway of my life is narrowing with age, but widening with perspective. I know now, more than ever, that listening to my intuition and trusting the journey is the route before me.

I know that like the crack of daylight at dawn, it’s the glorious moments of each day, the little extraordinary ordinary moments that offer a glimpse into the world, are what matters to me.

These are the only things you shouldn’t miss.

Just an ordinary, extraordinary moment with my two babies- what matters most.

Jennifer Wolfe

Jennifer Wolfe, a writer-teacher-mom, is dedicated to finding the extraordinary in the ordinary moments of life by thinking deeply, loving fiercely, and teaching audaciously. Jennifer is a Google Certified Educator, Hyperdoc fanatic, and a voracious reader. Read her stories on her blog, mamawolfe, and grab free copies of her teaching and parenting resources.

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I’ve been a working mom for nearly 20 years, if you count teaching-middle-school-while-pregnant (not an easy feat, believe me). I have to say – it’s made me a better mom.

I’m not trying to judge here. I wouldn’t assume to know your story – I’m just sharing mine.

I strongly believe we all make choices in life, and sometimes we choose things that we realize aren’t in our best interest – but I don’t believe they are wrong choices; instead, they’re opportunities for learning more about ourselves and choosing another path.

I could have chosen to stay at home – I just would have had to choose everything that went along with that. For me, being a working mom was what offered me balance, a center, and a way to indulge all aspects of my self.

As a teacher, being a working mom created definite problems – papers to grade during every karate class or gymnastics meet. An inability to feel like I could always be open about what my kids were experiencing while enrolled in classes taught by colleagues. A lack of salary increase, no 401k to retire on or work ‘vacations’ they could tag along to interesting places.

However,  being a working mom had certain perks – similar schedules to my children, an understanding of what their days were like, and, since they went to my school, an opportunity to know all their friends and classmates.

With 25 years of teaching and two teenagers later, I still feel the pull for balance, I still feel the urge to create boundaries and keep my priorities front and center. Today, I’m sharing my words for working moms on The Educator’s Room in hopes that my experiences can connect with yours and that together we can find strength in this parenting journey.

“I’ve always been a working mom. I guess I should qualify that – I’ve always been a work-outside-the-home mom. Since I was in my thirties before I had both children, I spent several years teaching before they rocked my world…and to be honest, it was a struggle to figure out how I could balance it all. I loved being a teacher.”

http://theeducatorsroom.com/2016/03/balancing-teaching-mothering/

Jennifer Wolfe

Jennifer Wolfe, a writer-teacher-mom, is dedicated to finding the extraordinary in the ordinary moments of life by thinking deeply, loving fiercely, and teaching audaciously. Jennifer is a Google Certified Educator, Hyperdoc fanatic, and a voracious reader. Read her stories on her blog, mamawolfe, and grab free copies of her teaching and parenting resources.

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I get really tired of excuses. In fact, in my classroom when my 8th graders try to excuse their behavior, lack of homework, or unpreparedness I tell them kindly yet firmly, “Excuses are useless.”

Initially quizzical looks form on their faces, and then they start to stammer…which is exactly when I interject my reasoning. Everyone has issues. Everyone is busy. Everyone can blame someone, something, or some “whatever” for anything. But what’s the point?

Last week I had a day ‘off’ to attend a workshop. For teachers, attending workshops is equivalent to taking a course for a day, except that we have homework before (lesson plans) and after (fixing up messed up lesson plans). I knew I’d have a mess to fix up when one of my college interns texted me to tell me how horribly things had gone in my absence. She was absolutely devastated.

I wasn’t surprised. Kids don’t always make the best choices with substitutes, right?

To find out what happened next, please visit The Educator’s Room, where I share stories about education and life as a middle school teacher – it’s a terrific site full of thoughtful and well-written articles by a diverse group of educators from around the United States.

http://theeducatorsroom.com/2016/03/teaching-teens-making-excuses/

Jennifer Wolfe

Jennifer Wolfe, a writer-teacher-mom, is dedicated to finding the extraordinary in the ordinary moments of life by thinking deeply, loving fiercely, and teaching audaciously. Jennifer is a Google Certified Educator, Hyperdoc fanatic, and a voracious reader. Read her stories on her blog, mamawolfe, and grab free copies of her teaching and parenting resources.

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Most days, teaching middle school is a pretty neat job. I get to be on the front line of education. I get to create lessons that not only educate and align with state mandated curriculum, but also that occasionally spark a 13 year-old’s curiosity (no easy feat, believe me). I’m rewarded with smiles, silly jokes, and the occasional, “Thanks, Mrs. Wolfe – I learned something today!” Seriously – they say thank you!

I’m alwo rewarded with germs – lots of them. I know there are many well-meaning parents out there who want their kid to get their education, but if you child is goopy, drippy, sneezy, coughy, bleeding, feverish or has vomited in the last 24 hours, PLEASE, keep them home. Because as much as I love teaching middle school, teachers really can’t get sick – click below to see why:

http://theeducatorsroom.com/2016/02/teachers-get-sick/

Jennifer Wolfe

Jennifer Wolfe, a writer-teacher-mom, is dedicated to finding the extraordinary in the ordinary moments of life by thinking deeply, loving fiercely, and teaching audaciously. Jennifer is a Google Certified Educator, Hyperdoc fanatic, and a voracious reader. Read her stories on her blog, mamawolfe, and grab free copies of her teaching and parenting resources.

More Posts - Website

Follow Me: