The SAT that our teens take today isn’t like the one we took years ago.

Did you know that a few years ago, the SAT became a longer, more challenging, and a lot different? The SAT is now 3 hours and 45 minutes long. What was known as the Verbal Section has been renamed Critical Reading and the Analogies questions have been eliminated and replaced with Short Reading Passages.

An SAT Writing Section has been added, which contains multiple-choice grammar questions and a 25-minute written essay. Finally, the Math Section has been expanded to include three years of high school math — in other words, it now includes harder questions in the area of algebra II.

For your teen, taking the SAT is a huge, life molding event. It marks the beginning of a countdown to your child’s high school graduation and has us, parents, thinking seriously sending our teens off to college.

Helping our teens prepare for the SAT is crucial! It is important to not leave this preparation solely in the hands of your child’s school. It is important to arm your child with other materials that help them gain the test taking skills that will propel them to higher SAT test scores.

Here is a very popular and proven guide to help your teen obtain a higher SAT Scores. The book is filled with exercises, drills, and full-length sample exams that create a true-to-life testing experience: http://parentingmyteen.com/SAT-Preparation.HTML
Here’s to helping your teen do his/her very best!

The high school years tend to be a blur for most parents. Surprisingly, it’s not because these years go by really fast, although this is part of it, but it’s because of all the changes that occur within your teen during these years. These are the adolescent years when your teen’s body changes both physically and hormonally. These changes can cause a whirlwind of things such as changing moods, changing friends, dating relationships and much more. It’s hard for parents to keep up with it all, which can make tensions at home stressed.

All parents naturally want to help their teens throughout their high school years, but most don’t know what to do when all of the above mentioned changes occur. Many make the mistake of trying to control the situation and “hold on” tighter to their teens, which just pushes them further away. The best thing you can do when these changes occur is to continue to be involved in your teen’s life, but take on a more “mentor/guide” type role. Let your teen know you are there for him when he needs you.

In the meantime, try putting yourself in your teen’s shoes…if you can remember that far back, think about the things you went through as a high school teen. Below are a few examples of the things your teen is going through. Learning how to understand what your teen is going through will help you relate to her when she comes to you for advice.

1. The Dating Game – As a high school teenager, your teen will no doubt begin to meet new people and want to start dating. The thing about teenage dating is that when two teenagers begin dating, they feel like this relationship is real love. However, as adults who have been there, we tend to look at it as “puppy love.” In most cases, these relationships don’t last – and we know this…but your teen doesn’t. Just sit back, watch and wait. When your teen experiences trouble in paradise, be there for him/her to talk to. When your advice is sought, give it. Otherwise, let your teen learn some of these “lessons in love” on his/her own.
2.  Friends – As your teen enter high school, he will probably have a closer circle of friends than he did when he was younger. This is because your teen is maturing and beginning to form those life-long friendship bonds with other his age. However, just because your teen has a certain group of friends that he prefers to hang out with doesn’t mean that there won’t be arguments that occur between your teen and his friends. Try not to get involved in these arguments unless you are specifically asked for advice. Your teen needs to learn how to work through problems with his friends on his own.
3.  Rebellion – Rebelling is just a part of being a high school teenager. All teens do it at one time or another and in their own unique ways. They rebel against their parents and other authority figures because they are trying to gain their own independence. While you should continue to enforce your family rules on your teen, just understand that this is a part of growing up. Sometimes it helps for parents to pick their battles if their teen isn’t doing anything wrong, but is merely being argumentative. However, if your teen’s rebelling is putting himself, or anyone else, in danger – you need to put a stop to it.

The high school years can be rough, but you and your teen will get through them. Just try to give you teen some space and let him figure things out on his own, when possible. Be there when needed, but let your teen come to you. And, try to always put yourself in your teen’s shoes to help gain a better understanding of what he’s going through at this stage in his life.

Click here to get further information and tips on Helping Your Teen with High School.

For many parents, the study habits of high school students are frustrating at best and disturbing at worst. Many parents find themselves at wit’s end and they are on the hunt for some good teen study tips that they can pass on to their teenagers to get them to do more studying. 
 
(ARA) - In the balancing act of life, teens who juggle school with activities, like social networking and sports, typically find that studying is the ball that gets dropped most often. Poor study habits extend beyond middle and high school to damage a teen’s ability to succeed in college. But with parents’ help, teens can break poor habits and learn a solid study routine that leads to college success.

The roots of the study problem lie in kids’ lack of time management and organization, and it can begin as early as seventh grade, according to Dr. Robert Neuman, former associate dean for academic development at Marquette University. During his 25 years of working with thousands of college students, he discovered a set of key study problems that cause students to either drop out or take years longer to graduate.

“Only one in three college students graduate from a four-year program on time,” says Neuman. In today’s economy, neither parents nor students can afford the financial drain resulting from not being prepared with a complete set of strong learning strategies.

Even students who get good grades in high school may struggle later because they have honed last-minute cramming to a fine art, Neuman says. “Their test grades are often good and might get them into college, but students won’t have the knowledge a professor expects since it has evaporated within weeks of cramming.”

Neuman has written a book to help students practice “effective, productive study” long before they get to college: “Are You REALLY Ready For College? A Dean’s 12 Secrets for Success.” He says parents should guide students as early as middle school to use simple tactics that will make all the difference in college. Here are some examples:

Here are some teen study tips that pay off in school and life:

Learning self-management 

Do your teens know where their time goes? They need a plan, and it should include daily study time for each course as well as giving additional time to harder courses. This takes organization.

1. Always use a day-planner. Planners help teens “see” and manage what they are doing: Study, music lessons, extracurricular activities, cell phone time, TV, and team practices. If teens can’t fit everything in when they write it all down, they’re overbooked. Being crunched for time leads to added stress and falling behind in classes.

2. Limit extracurriculars. Teens should participate in no more than three extracurricular activities — they squeeze out study time. And if activities call for large time commitments, like school plays and competitive sports, one activity is probably plenty.

3. Keep track of key due dates. Kids should transfer dates for tests and major assignments to their day planner and refer to it daily so events don’t creep up and catch them unprepared.

4. Use the “never-no-homework” rule. When students don’t get a homework assignment, they should still use time to study the subject: re-read a chapter; copy and reorganize class notes or formulas; make charts, flashcards, and timelines to help learn the material.

5. Create a noise-free zone. Real studying occurs in quiet places without cell calls or Internet socializing creating constant interruptions. Social lives can be turned back on when study is finished.

Preventing problems down the road:

Students must practice and strengthen these kinds of study tactics during middle and high school. Why? In college, no one will guide their behavior. That’s why parental coaching is so important now.

“If your teens were inexperienced campers, you wouldn’t simply drop them off in the woods and tell them you’ll see them next week,” Neuman says. The same is true of college.

Parents should view themselves as coaches helping their teen at home by monitoring study time, tracking their grades, and coaching them to seek help when needed — before they take a test.

College is full of distractions and temptations to skip studying. The solid study habits you nurture early will pay off later in an on-time college graduation and money saved. Get more tips from the Are You Really Ready for College website at www.areyoureallyreadyforcollege.com

By using the teen study tips above, your teen is sure to get more out of their study time and in turn, do better in school

For more help and information, get Aurelia Williams Real Life Guide to Helping your Teens With Highschool.

Many parents have forgotten how difficult high school was when they were growing up. Things like learning how to keep up with the harder school work, after school activities, friends and possibly a part-time job are all hard to do. This is especially true for high school teenagers today.

Not only do they face the normal distractions that we all faced during our high school careers, but they also have to learn how to deal with online pressures through social media outlets, cell phones, text messaging and a host of other things. It’s not that these things are all bad, they are just easy distractions for teens that can take their attention off of the things that are important – like schoolwork, getting accepted into college and achieving their short-term and long-term goals. Below are a few tips to help you help your teen stay focused.

1. What Is Important? The first step in helping your teen stay focused throughout high school is talking with them to determine what their short-term and long-term goals are. Talk to them about their current interests are and find out if they want to try and turn these passions into a career later on down the road. Once you’re able to determine what your teens’ desires are for the future, you will be able to better keep them focused.
2. Encourage Challenges. Whenever you become aware of something that will challenge your teens in a positive way by getting them one step closer to their goals, then encourage your teens to take on that particular challenge. Perhaps, your teen is serious about playing soccer beyond high school and into college. Encourage her to work hard to help pay for the summer soccer camp she wants to go to…even if it is in Europe. Earning the money to go, and then attending the camp, are both great challenges that will help your teen achieve her goal of getting a college soccer scholarship.
3.  Don’t Give In To Drama. A lot of parents with high school students listen intently to their teens when they talk about the daily drama that plays out between students. While this drama is important to your high school student, be careful that you don’t get caught up in it. Listen to your teen about these things, but then try and direct the conversation to a subject that highlights your teen’s real interests. Let your teen know that while the drama at school is interesting, it’s their long-term goals that are the most important things to spend the majority of their energies on.
4.  Promote Sleep. Finally, don’t let your teen stay up all hours of the night and go to bed whenever they “feel” like it. Online distractions like Facebook, Twitter, chat rooms and interactive computer games can easily keep your teen up at night. This will cause a lack of sleep, which will cause a lack of focus during the next day. Therefore, try to make sure your teen is getting an adequate amount of sleep at night by setting a regular “lights out” schedule during the week.

More information for helping and understanding your teen can be found here and here.

Many changes and adjustments take place when your teens enter high school. Not only do they have to adjust to larger class sizes, more students and harsher teachers, they also have to learn how to handle all of the studying and homework while keep up with any sports or other extracurricular activities they participate in. Below are a few tips that you may want to share with your new high school freshman to help with learning how to manage their study/homework time in high school.

Prioritize – A lot of high schools work off of a “block” schedule like colleges do. This means that they have certain classes they go to on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and another set of classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays. This is great for helping prepare teens for college, but can be hard to get used to when doing homework and studying.

 If your teen is going to a high school that works off of a block schedule, he will need to learn to prioritize his homework assignments in the order they are due. For instance, if your teen has class on Monday and has a paper due on Wednesday, but has a test in another class on Tuesday – he will need to study for the test Monday night in preparation for Tuesday and begin working on the paper Tuesday night (or after he’s finished studying for the test on Monday night).

Get in Tune with What Works Best – Many high school students have been taught that in order to study, they have to be alone in their rooms with no distractions. However, there are many teens that don’t study best under these conditions. Some study best when they are studying with others while other teens retain more information when they are studying in a room with background noise such as the television, radio or other kids. Your teen needs to take this time to figure out what study method works best for her.

 Set Routine Study/Homework Hours – It’s generally best for teens to get in a regular routine when they get home from school. This means having set hours when they are studying or working on homework. When teens get used to studying and/or working on homework at a certain time, they usually are able to concentrate better and retain more information.

Learning how to manage time and study properly is a critical skill that needs to be mastered in high school. Especially if your teen wants to go on to college as his high school grades will determine the type of scholarship he receives for college. Additionally, if good study skills are built in high school, managing the college work load will be much easier.

The tips above should help your new high school freshmen adjust easier to the demands of high school and the course work that is involved. However, remember that there is a lot going on during a teen’s freshman year in high school, so don’t expect results overnight. It may take a while!

Entering high school for the first time can be scary thing for new incoming freshmen. There are new teachers, new students, new rules and new classes to get used to, which can cause a lot of anxiety and stress. Sadly, you can’t take this away just because you want to. However, there are ways parents can help their teens adjust to high school.

Be Understanding: During this time, it’s normal for teens to have frequent mood changes and act a little out-of-character. Just understand that they are stressed. Take into consideration how your mood changes when you are dealing with numerous changes at work, home or your life in general. Stress and anxiety can cause us to be irritable and even withdrawn sometimes, therefore, give your teen a little slack during this time. He/she will snap out of it as the year progresses.

Show Your Support: One of the biggest changes incoming freshman have to deal with is coming from junior high where they were the oldest, most looked-up-to students, to high school where they are now the youngest, not-so-popular students in school. This can be hard on some teens and cause them to doubt themselves and their decisions. Therefore, it’s important for parents to continue to show their support. Let your teen know that you believe in him/her and that you support him/her in the decisions that have to be made.

Be There: Parents often think that as their kids get older, they need them less. However, this isn’t the case and it especially isn’t the case for new freshmen. As your teen tries to find his/her way through the social maze of high school, it’s important that he/she has someone in their corner…like mom and dad! Make sure you are there for your teen to talk to whenever he/she needs too. When you see your teen in the evening, ask how the day went at school and listen to what he/she says. Just be there for your teen during this time!

Have Rules: Although your teen is in high school, it’s still important for you to have rules. Actually, the teen years may be the most important years for parents to have rules for their teens to follow, especially a curfew. When a group of teens get together for long periods of time, trouble generally follows. Therefore, make sure you know where your teens are after school and on the weekends, and that they have a certain time they have to be home by. This reduces your stress and will help keep your teen safe too.

It’s easy to become exasperated and want to give up when kids get older, and when they enter high school, this is especially true. However, when you are able to calm down and put yourself in the shoes of your teen, who is a new freshman, it’s easier to understand what he/she is going through. Following the tips above should help you help your teen adjust to high school better.

As a parent, you are probably dreading your child’s first day of high school just as much as he/she is. Of course, your reason for this is because the years have flown by way to fast and you can’t believe that high school is already here…basically, you want time to freeze for a few more years before this day arrives.

Your teen, on the other hand, is nervous about the first day of school because he (or she) doesn’t know what to expect. There are a lot more kids to get to know, new teachers, harder classes and higher expectations. All of this can be stressful and cause a lot of anxiety for teens entering their freshmen year. Below are a few tips you can share with your teen to help him prepare, and adjust, to high school.

1. Schedule Classes Carefully. Scheduling classes is a big deal for new high school freshman as some are harder than others. While your teen will have some mandatory classes he has to take, there is flexibility with other classes. Try to stress the importance of not overwhelming himself by taking all hard classes this year as he “gets the hang” of high school.
2. Balance Work and Fun. This tip is just as much for parents as it is for their teens. When your teen starts her freshman year, the expectations rise. Not only is she under new pressures at school but you have been stressing the importance of getting good grades since it goes on her record for college. While doing homework is important, keep in mind that your teen should be studying all the time. She needs to balance the time she spends doing her homework with the time she spends participating in extracurricular activities and/or relaxing.
3. Get to Know the Student Advisor. Most larger high schools assign incoming freshmen to a student advisor who will help them start planning for college, etc. Therefore, it is important that your teen gets to know his advisor and, if possible, makes friends with him (or her). This will make your teen’s freshman year easier, as well as, his entire high school career.
4. Talk to New People. Encourage your teen to reach out and talk to new people in her classes. Many teens feel like they have to stay in with the same group of friends they had in junior high. However, high school is full of new people and opportunities to make new, additional friends. You teen will have a great freshman year if she is able to make new friends in her classes.
5. Steer Clear of Drama. High school is filled with drama and it’s easy for teens to get sucked into it. Talk to you freshman about this and reiterate the fact that high school is not the end of the road. Life is not about high school. Therefore, there is no need to get caught up in all the rumors that fly around or blow up when you and a friend have an argument. All this does is cause unnecessary stress.

Although your teen is probably a little nervous about adjusting to his/her freshman year of high school, the tips above should help. The most important thing you can do, as a parent, is talk to your teen and keep the lines of communication open. Believe it or not, you play a big role in how easy your teen adjusts to high school his/her freshman year.

For more information on helping your teen with high school, click here.

Most adults understand the importance of learning how to properly manage time. However, what many adults, especially parents of teens, forget is how and when they learned to manage their time effectively. Learning how to manage time isn’t something that just comes naturally to kids. It’s something that has to be taught and reinforced on a daily basis.

The majority of parents get so used to telling their kids what to do and when to do it that they continue this habit throughout junior high and high school. Therefore, as your teen prepares to enter high school, you may want to start helping him learn how to appropriately manage time. Below are a few ways to do this.

1.      Help Establish a Routine. There are a lot of parents who are just as disorganized as their teens are, but don’t understand how their high-school students find it so difficult to get their homework done by the due date. Establishing a weekday routine at home is the first step in helping your teen learn how to manage time.
 
Now, it’s not your responsibility to schedule in your teen’s homework. This is something she needs to do on her own. However, having a set times for when errands should be ran, when dinner will be ready and when “lights out” is will give your teen some structural guidelines to base her own nightly routine around.

2.      Enforce Curfew and “Lights Out” Times. While many parents believe that high school students don’t need a strict curfew or “bed” time like younger children do, this isn’t true. Especially on week nights. High school students have a lot more demands than younger children do and they still need adequate sleep. Learning how to plan time for sleep is very important for high school students.
 
3.      Ask Questions. Your teen shouldn’t be expected to remember everything on his own regardless of his age. Therefore, help them out occasionally with time management. An easy way to do this is to greet them when they come home from school and ask if they have any homework. Or, you can wait until later in the evening just in case your teen forgot.
 
4.      Talk About the Daily Agenda. Finally, you can help your high-school student learn how to manage time by keeping the lines of communication open. Talk to your teens in the morning when you see them about what they’ve got planned for the day and evening. Sometimes just discussing the day’s events in advance will help your teens manage their time more effectively.
 
5.      Let Them Fail. I know, this sounds like such an “un-parent” type of thing to do. However, allowing your teen to fail is sometimes the best way to teach valuable lessons. This is especially true for teens who are driven and have high-goals for themselves but still rely too much on you for their time management needs. For instance, if your teen refuses to go to bed at a decent hour and you’re always having to wake her up for school – just stop waking her up. Let her oversleep one morning and go on to work. Call the school in advance and let them know what happened and that your teen will have to suffer the consequences the school and/or teachers deem appropriate. Yes, your teen will be mad, but more importantly, she will learn the importance of time management.

More help and information is available in Aurelia Williams Real Life Guide: Helping Your Teens in High School.

Making the leap from middle school or junior high school to high school can be an exciting time in your teenager’s life. However, it can also be stressful too as your teen knows high school will be different, but doesn’t quite know what to expect. While a lot of your teen’s old friends will probably be attending the same high school (unless you have recently moved to a new school district), there will be many more kids at the school who your teen doesn’t know. This, combined with having new teachers and the new expectations that come along with high school can cause your teen a lot of stress and anxiety. However, there are a few ways you can help minimize this.

Go to the School’s Open House. Most schools have an open house shortly before the school year begins. These events usually only last a few hours on a prearranged date and allow the interested parents and teens the ability to come to the school and visit with the teachers and tour the classrooms your teen will have during the school year. This can help minimize anxiety in teens because they will have had the chance to get a “feel” for their teachers and where their classes will be located.

Help Create a Schedule. With all the changes going on around your teen, having a normal schedule at home can help make the transition a smoother process. You don’t have to have a complex home schedule, but just have some type of regular routine that your family is consistent with. For instance, things like making it known that everyone is expected to be in the house and ready for dinner at a certain time, rules regarding phone calls and internet chatting hours and having a “lights out” time all help. Whether kids, especially teenagers, admit it or not, they do need some structure at home that they can depend on as it’s probably the only stable thing in their lives during this time.

Communication is Key. The third thing you can do to help your teen make the transition to high school is to constantly communicate with him. You may not get much of a response from your teen, but by making the effort to talk to your teen, you’re letting him know that you’re there for him when/if he needs you. Parents often think that because their teens don’t come to them, they aren’t needed and don’t make much of a difference. However, studies have proven that teens who have a supportive family at home often do better in high school (and afterwards) than those who do not.

It’s important that your teenager is able to make a good transition to high school as these years are usually the years when teens dropout of school. The above tips will help you do this. However, remember that the most important thing you can do is encourage and support your teen during this time.

Further help and information on this topic is available HERE.

Although it may have been a long time ago for some of you, more than likely you can remember a little bit about high school and the challenges associated with it. While our views may have changed a little over the years, the truth is that while we were in high school, most of us experienced times when we didn’t think we’d make it through. After all, high school and all that went on there was what our lives primarily consisted of.

Teens are under a lot of pressure in high school whether it’s to make good grades, perform well in sports or measure up within their circle of friends. Therefore, it’s important that parents keep encouraging their teens when they’re at home. Your home should be like a safe haven for you teens. A place where they can come and know they are accepted for who they are.

It’s important that, as a parent, you help your teen stay focused on the “big” picture and not just on what is going on in high school. This can be difficult because, as previously mentioned, high school is all they know right now, so it seems like high school is life. However, we know it’s just the beginning of real life. Therefore, continue to talk to your teen about his or her plans after high school.

By talking to your teens about the things they want to do after high school, you are actually accomplishing a number of things. First, you are getting them to think beyond high school. Second, you are actually helping them form goals for their life. Lastly, you are keeping them motivated by bringing the topic up when it arises. If you haven’t already noticed, teenagers like to talk about themselves, so why not let them do so? Encourage them to think about life after high school. By doing this, you will also be encouraging them to finish high school and go after their dreams.

If you notice that your teen is struggling more than usual with the demands of high school, it’s important that you talk to him about it. The problem may require that you seek additional help for your teen. For instance, if the problem is grade-related, you may need to find a tutor to help your teen. However, if the problem is emotional your teen may need someone to talk to who can help him work through it, such as a psychologist.

Whatever the problem is, it’s important that you talk to your teen and take the necessary steps to help him work through it. Your teen needs to know that you are here for him and will do whatever it takes to help him overcome his problems and succeed. Studies have shown that a high school student’s success is often greater when he or she has dedicated and supportive parents at home. Therefore, don’t ever stop encouraging your teen!

For more help and information, get Aurelia Williams Real Life Guide to Helping your Teens With Highschool.