Summer School - Day 5 - Get Ready to Go

This week has been so much fun warming up the kids brains and getting them ready for school.
Monday I talked about summer slide, Tuesday was all about summer reading - with a free printable, Wednesday was summer writing and Thursday was a really big list of math games.

Today I want to talk about how to start for success.

Adjusting from a more laid back summer schedule to a more rigorous school responsibilities can be unpleasant.   Get kids ready with communication and practice.

Communication

• Talk with kids about what is coming.  Homeschoolers can talk about how the schedule will change to include learning opportunities.  If you send kids to school talk about what to expect, how will evening and morning routines change, and what will happen at school.
• Give expectations.  If you want the kiddos awake at a certain time, let them know that.  If they need to put out their clothes the night before, let them know that too.
• Make a plan. Work with your child to come up with a way to make your expectations happen.  By including your child in the planning, they can take ownership of the behavior.

Practice

• Do little bit at a time.  With any goal moving slowly but surely will ensure greater success.  Waking up two hours earlier will just lead to a tired, crabby child.  But waking up 10 or 15 minutes earlier each day for a week will ease the child into the new habit. 
• Work on one habit at a time, working up to the full schedule change in a few weeks. 

I hope you have had a good time reading all about summer school this week.  Don't forget there are 90 other bloggers blogging about great topics this week.  Be sure to check it out by clicking on the button below.