The phone – Do you know how often students are texting each other these days?  It’s unbelievable!  How is a student possibly going to focus on his/her work with the phone constantly buzzing?  Take the phone AWAY and put it somewhere where you can keep an eye on it while your child studies.

The TV – Make sure that your child cannot even hear the TV in the background or he/she will get “sucked in.”

The iPod – I’m sure your child has tried to convince you that he/she gets more work done and can focus more easily with music on.  THIS IS JUST NOT TRUE, period.  No music is the best scenario.  If you must, quiet music without lyrics (jazz or classical for example) may be acceptable.

The Computer – now this one can be tough because students often need access to a computer for schoolwork.  The problem, of course, is that students often spend time on non-school related sites and activities while on the computer: Facebook, instant messaging, etc.  You need to closely monitor your student when he/she is on the computer.  Here’s the key: your child cannot see you as you approach to check on their work or they will quickly and easily hide what they were doing.  Instead, you need to be able to see the computer screen without your student knowing that you’re looking.  Have the computer situated so that the screen (and the student’s back) is facing toward you.

Removing distractions will allow your child to work more effectively and more efficiently.

As the old saying goes, it’s about quality, not quantity.  Quality leads to success; quantity leads to arguments.  Probably the biggest issue is that parental involvement is often reactive rather than proactive.  Parental conversations with students are often about assignments that have already been completed and graded and why the grade isn’t as good as they’d like.  Although it is important to discuss assignments and grades after the fact, it is much more helpful to discuss these assignments BEFORE they are due – and we don’t mean commenting that something is due and “they’d better get on it before it’s too late.”  They already know that, right?

Many highly involved parents’ involvement revolves around knowing what’s due, when it’s due and what their student’s grades are at any given time.  Is this information important?  Of course!  But knowing these things and having a successful student are not one and the same.  What’s more important is knowing what has been done on any given assignment with an upcoming due date, the quality of the completed work and, perhaps most important, how/when the student plans on completing the work.

Rather than getting involved by discussing assignments that are already posted as a grade, talk with your student each day about what they did in school (get actual details and don’t settle for he/she saying “nothing”), what assignments do they have, when are they do, have they started them, when do they plan on doing them, how long will they take, what’s expected in the final product, etc.

Working proactively rather than reactively will lead to improved success and less headaches.  Good luck!

So, where should you go?  To us, of course.  In all seriousness, you don’t have to work with Peak but we don’t know of any other company that offers the same individualized approach that we offer.  Specializing the approach for each student’s unique needs is important and a good way to get the best bang for you buck.

Whatever you do, DO NOT SPEND $1,000+ DOLLARS to send your child to a Princeton Review, Kaplan or other “big name” prep class.  You are wasting your money.  Why?  Because for that cost OR LIKELY MUCH LESS ou can get one on one help from Peak where the focus is entirely on your child and his/her needs rather than having him/her in a one-size-fits-all classroom scenario.

Does test prep work?  Absolutely!  A student’s scores will improve, without question.