We’re preparing our daughter for middle school this summer. Do we sound like awful parents who won’t allow our daughter to enjoy her summer vacation? Just take a look at what we’re doing and then judge us!
Social Skills Readiness
In middle school, children will be meeting new students from other schools and from home school. This is a time of making new friends. For some children, this is something they can handle easily, for others it is one of the most frightening events in their lives. Our daughter is in between. She’s not shy, but doesn’t make friends easily.
We’re preparing her by registering her for summer activities where she doesn’t know anyone. When we travel, she’ll go off to the children’s events on her own. She’s been reading books about friendship and I’ve bought one for her as a surprise to read over the summer – Fab Friends And Best Buds: Real Girls On Making Forever Friends
Getting Organized
We’ve already started helping our daughter get better organized during the end of this school year, but will work on it more over the summer. She’s going to be responsible for getting herself ready in the morning. When we go out for the day she’s going to be in charge of bringing her belongings. When we travel, she’s going to pack for herself. We’ll be buying school supplies that she can use to help in this area too. She’ll be using her calendar and the one on her computer to remember important dates.
She’ll be rewarded for her accomplishments over the summer and of course when school begins again. She wants more time on the computer, to see movies and to have friends over the house. All fine with us.
More Focus on Academics
When we went to the middle school open house, we were given a list of the Florida Sunshine State books, which are recommended reading for students based on their grade level. The principal stated in his speech to us that this was not required reading, but since our daughter enjoys reading, she’ll be going through the list. To keep her focused on math, one of problem subjects, we’ll be using math in our daily lives. We’ll have her choose the lowest price items when we shop, figure out the tip when we eat out, help with measuring when we cook, etc. She’ll also play math games online.
She enjoys meteorology so she’ll track the weather for our trips, keep track of the tropical storms and hurricanes and play with a new weather device she received as a gift. None of these are things that she doesn’t enjoy. We plan on making them fun and exciting for her.
Keeping Communication Open
We have worked at keeping communication open between us and our daughter, but this summer we are going to work extra hard at this. We want her to voice any concerns she has about starting middle school.
Visiting The School
There are a few opportunities to visit the middle school over the summer and we’ll take advantage of them. We need to fill out forms when she decides what sport she’s interested in. I signed up for the PTSA so I’ll go to any meetings or see if there’s any volunteer events where we can help. There’s also another open house right before school starts which we’ll attend.
Book Recommendation
We already purchased this book and highly recommend it – Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook, The: Middle School (Worst Case Scenario Junior Editions)
. It covers everything from what to do if you’re bullied to how to cope with pimples.
Are you more concerned about moving on to middle school than your child? What did you do to prepare your child for middle school?
