Back to School: How Students Can Be Successful with Managing Their Time and Mental Health

As students have started going back to school, they are experiencing a wide range of learning environments, including online and hybrid. Even with more structure than the spring, many parents are concerned that their children will fall behind academically, extracurricular, and socially. What can you do to ensure that your students will have a successful year? Luckily, Crimson Education has it figured out.

How to Be Successful Learning Online

• Create a routine and more importantly, hold your student accountable!
• Encourage your student to schedule standing calls with teachers and maintain good relationships with them (teacher recommendations matter!)Have
• your student team up with friends to build extracurriculars – your child doesn’t have to do these things alone

Resources for Getting Ahead

• Online tutoring with Crimson
• EdX and Coursera
• Khan Academy
• CollegeBoard AP YouTube

Ways to Boost Extracurriculars Online

As mentioned before, the importance of standardized testing may be in decline, but aspects of your student’s application such as the essay and extracurricular activities weigh more than normal. Now is the optimal time for students to demonstrate their leadership skills, move club/organization meetings online, plan ahead, and adapt digitally! It is critical for students to upskill to remain at the top of the application pool. Practice competitive activities such as debate, coding, MUN negotiations, coding, and more.

There are countless opportunities for students to get involved and level up during this time of social distancing and virtual learning. The internet is an incredible tool for your student to utilize when it comes to discovering their passions and getting involved! If your child already has a strong extracurricular profile, now is a good time to scale it up and encourage them to recruit peers to help grow the initiative.

Ways Students Can Organize Their Time

While your student may already have larger goals set like where they want to attend college or what they want to study, smaller goals are just as important. Without small goals, accomplishing large goals becomes nearly impossible.

Consider helping your student download some time management and organizational tools like Todoist, Trello, and Focus Booster. Utilizing study methods like the Pomodoro Technique is another fantastic way to boost productivity and see the tangible results they may be looking for.

Ways to Take Care of Your Student’s Mental Health

Maintaining a strong balance of school work, applications, time with friends and family, and student’s time to themselves is incredibly important. Looking after mental health during college applications is essential. If your student gains admission to their dream school but their mental health begins to suffer, they may not feel well enough to attend in the fall.

Mindfulness researchers at Harvard have seen that consistent meditation helped people sleep better, feel less stressed, and experience fewer symptoms of depression. Curious to try it out? Beginners find guided meditation as a great way to get familiar with meditation and learn mindfulness techniques. Using apps like headspace and Calm is a great way to get started. While it may be a little unfamiliar at first, we have good news! There is no such thing as a good or bad meditation – what’s important is that your student carves out time for themself.

Can’t sit still? Yoga is a great way to practice meditation through movement. Apps like 5 Minute Yoga offer quick and challenging yoga flows to help break up the day.

To learn more about looking after your teen’s mental health and obtaining the skills to take care of them, check out TeenMentalHealth.org. You can also check them out on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram!

Keeping Your Child on Track

If you are nervous about the new school year just around the corner, remember that you are not alone. Both students and parents across the country – and the world – are experiencing some of the same thoughts and feelings. Remember to work with your student to find and keep a strong balance between work and play. Regardless of whether your student is online, in person, or learning in a hybrid environment, things will be okay. It is important to focus on the aspects of their education that you can control, and ask for help with the areas that seem daunting. To speak with an enrollment advisor from Crimson Education about options to help keep your child on track, schedule a complimentary session here.

In partnership with Mile High Mamas