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1) Stay in communication with teachers and grades: One of the best things you can do to help motivate your students to succeed academically is to truly be invested. Hate means asking questions like “How is school going? How are you doing on your tests? And What assignments do you have coming up?” Even better would, especially if your student has a vague response is to ask them to show you. When your sense of urgency is high, that also helps to raise your student’s sense of urgency. Most high schools give parents access to their students grades digitally. You should check them with your student at a minimum weekly. More than just checking them, it’s important to discuss with your student and reflect on what they are doing well and where they can improve. Keep the conversation focused on what the student has control over and what is in their locus of control. Having you as their accountability partner both shows them you care and explicitly communicates the buck stops with you.
2) Set up a schedule with your student: one of the most difficult parts of virtual learning for students is there’s not the usual demarcation of time and schedule. No bells that ring, no class to walk to, no physical teachers and administrators to hurry them along and remind them to be on point. Recreating that atmosphere as much as possible with a schedule will help your students to compartmentalize the divisions of time and task. Many schools have breaks built into the virtual school day. Even time after virtual school is done is critical to meeting your student’s academic goals. Creating a workstation not in the students room can also help with creating a different environment. As much as you can setting up routines and habits that help your students take control
3) Learn the basics of financial aid: Yes, you’ll have high school and financial aid staff to help with those questions, but the more you know, the better. The basics like differences between loans, grants, scholarships and how to calculate gap cost will help you learn what questions to ask. StudentAid.gov has a ton of great resources for parents to learn more.
4) Help your student find their identity and purpose: This might be more important than the previous three combined. Knowing what your purpose is and walking in it is invaluable and has an innumerable impact mentally, physically and emotionally. To do this, you should continue to discover your identity and purpose as well, you can do it together. Your student will begin to become more confident, more focused, more perseverant,and display more ownership and independence. Looking for a great resource for help with doing this? nXueducation.org hosts some great workshops for students for identity and purpose building.