3 Important Skills To Prepare For Middle School

Your kiddo is starting to look so OLD, aren't they?! Hints of puberty and the teenage years are showing up. And then there's homeschool. How will you successfully teach a teenager?!!

That's already started. You'll teach them just as you are now. As they grew from a toddler to preschooler to elementary kiddo, you adapted to their new skill level. And you'll do the same as they move into middle school and then high school.

By starting to teach the following skills NOW, you'll make the transition a little easier -- for both of you!

Teach Them to Use a Planner

Whether you use Homeschool Panda, Google Calendar, or you are a paper-and-pencil kind of planner, leading kids to take responsibility for their learning is an important skill.

At this age, children can follow a list of assignments though they may need help focusing on the details! That is to be expected, so don't feel discouraged. This is a skill that, for many people (adults included!), takes a lot of practice and guidance. And the format that works well for you may need to be tweaked for your child.

Firm Up the Basics

• Can they write a strong paragraph?
• Do they have a strong understanding of the four basic orders of operation?
• Are they reading on level? Spelling?
• Can they put, in order, some basic events in US history? World history?

Sending them into middle school with a strong grasp on basic skills will make it easier to build on them as you later prepare for high school.

(Continuing to encourage a love of learning, finding fun in their days, etc are all important, too!)

Develop & Follow a Schedule

Schedules, routines, rhythms. Whatever you call the flow to your day, upper elementary is a great age to guide them to develop a daily flow that will work for them and for your homeschool.

Once kiddos are in high school, it's great if they can develop & keep their own schedules. This puts the responsibility on them to get their work done and manage their time. But you don't want to just throw them into that without any guidance!

By starting around the age of 10, you can help your students learn to observe their natural rhythms, a subject flow that works well, etc. Once they are high school-aged, they'll have had your guidance for a few years, so they can better take that control (successfully!)