Tips To Help Your Teen Transition to High School
High school is an active and challenging time. High school is designed to provide a rich tapestry of challenges and opportunities, a chance to both learn and play as they discover who they will be as adults. However, the transition to high school can also be a time when teens get over-stressed. Focusing too much on school and extra-curricular activities can cause early burnout, while other teens may be too shy and miss adventures, they would have loved.
How do you strike the right balance between a teen's school life and personal life? Time with friends versus time with family? Fortunately, a few guidelines can help many teens and their families to maintain a healthy school-life balance.
Have a Routine for Time with Family
One of the most important elements of a balanced transition to high school life is time with family. One shared meal a day can make a difference, creating stability both for students and their parents. Sharing breakfast before heading out to school or work helps everyone touch base at the beginning of each day, while sharing dinner is a good way to connect at the end of the day or before evening activities.
Even a very busy family should aim to eat (or spend other routine hours together) a few times a week.
Know Your Personal Studying Style
How do you study best? Every person has one or two preferred styles of learning. Some learn better by reading, by hearing the material, or by writing and acting it out. Some learn better with conversation nearby, by studying in a group with friends, or by completely alone and quiet. Part of the transition to high school is discovering your personal study style to thrive at your schoolwork.
Learn Your Homework Load for Each Subject
The next step is to know how many hours your homework is likely to take. Each subject typically comes with 10-120 minutes of homework each day. Some years, the homework load is massive, and some will be lighter. This will determine any high school schedule and even your freedom to take on extracurricular activities. If homework takes unreasonably long (4+ hours nightly), parents may need to intervene to seek an alternative schedule or workload.
Dive Into the Subjects You Like Best
High schoolers are in a perfect position to discover their favorite subjects and start becoming experts. Pursuing a favorite subject in school could launch a career - or it could just be the most interesting semester you've ever explored with a dash of cross-skills for the rest of your life. Take the advanced math, play a sport, join the theater, or enter short story contests. Whatever your thing is, sign up for more.
Save Time Just to Relax with Friends and Alone
But while you're building your academic and extracurricular schedule, save time just to relax. Teenagers need to chill, socialize, and spend time alone. That can take up a surprising amount of time, and empty hours are actually valuable. Try to get homeroom or a free period with your friends. If you're in the wrong lunch, get it fixed so you can hang out. And if you need an empty afternoon, it's OK to spend time alone for a while to unwind.
Keep Trying New Things
Don't deny yourself new experiences, either. Transitioning to high school is a great time to dip your toe in something one semester or year at a time. Try shop class, web programming, or graphic design. Try an instrument, join a dance team, or attend every school club once. If something calls to you, sign up with a friend or try it alone and maybe make a friend.
You might discover your new favorite subject or recreation, or it might just be a cool story and an unusual skill later on.
Value Your Sleep
Get enough sleep. Teenagers need sleep, but they also love staying up late. Accept this as reality and value your sleep anyway. Work with your family to make sure you get those unforgettable late nights of soda, games, music, and friends and enough sleep to do well at school.
