What to Do When your Child is Struggling in School

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Wyzant for IZEA. All opinions are 100% mine.

Do you have a child who is struggling a bit academically?

As a parent, it can really be challenging when your child is having a hard time in school. I thought my school days were behind me but I think going through school as the parent of a student is its own kind of hard.

School is a priority for us, as I’m sure it is for you too.

Making sure kids get the education they need can impact their future success and happiness.

We had a bit of a rough start to the school year last year. My oldest son has never liked writing. He would rather do just about anything else and since he rarely practice, he became a slow writer. That worked just fine for elementary school but when he made the transition to middle school, it became a problem.

Struggling writers (and readers) have an extra hard time because those skills are used in all academic disciplines. You can’t succeed in school without being a strong reader and writer.

As parents, we knew we needed to step in and make sure he had the support he needed. We worked with him individually but it wasn’t until we got him set up with a tutor that things really began to click.

As someone who has always been comfortable writing, I couldn’t connect with my son on that level. Having someone step in and find a way to connect with my son in a way that worked for him was such a huge help for both of us.

Is your child struggling in school?

It is still early in the school year, but if you have a child who is struggling in school, you probably already know it.

The earlier in the year your child can get the support they need, the better their chance of having a successful and happy school year.

How to help a struggling student

As a parent, it is hard to watch your child struggle. Fortunately, there are a lot of resources out there to help you make sure your child has a successful school year.

One-on-One Learning is best.

Working with a child individually gives you the best shot at finding out what he is struggling with and how you can best help him understand the concepts he needs help with. You can do this on your own, however, as I discovered, sometimes working with someone that is not mom makes things go a lot smoother.

Wyzant Tutoring is the nation’s largest online marketplace for finding a 1-1 tutor. Their goal is to make one-on-one learning accessible, affordable, and more convenient for everyone. They have more than 80,000 expert tutors in more than 300 subjects ready and waiting to help on Wyzant’s website or mobile app.

This is the simplest way to find the perfect tutor to help your child. All you have to do is answer a few questions and Wyzant will match you with experts who are best suited to help your child. You can even access more than 1 million ratings and reviews to help you in your search for a tutor.

There are no upfront costs with Wyzant. All payments are securely processed after each lesson happens. Each tutor sets their own pricing, so a range of options are available. I was surprised at how many options were available in my area. I found everything from specialized math tutors to piano teachers. What a great resource!

Be supportive. 

Kids want to succeed so when they are having a hard time in school they can be hard on themselves. My son was convinced that he was just a terrible writer. It turns out that for him, his issue was mostly that he didn’t know how to organize his ideas. Once he mastered that his writing took off and his confidence soared. Because we had been supportive along the way, he didn’t have any lingering self-doubt because he knew we were on his side.

Communicate with the teacher.

As a parent, one of the best tools you have up your sleeve is keeping a strong line of communication open between you and your child’s teacher. You can’t help your struggling student without knowing what concepts they are struggling with and what they are expected to understand in class.

In our case, I knew going into the school year that my son hated writing. I originally thought it was a handwriting issue because he always told me that writing made his hand hurt. By talking with his teacher, we arranged for him to use a computer to type the bulk of his written work. When we took the handwriting issue out of the equation we realized that what he was really struggling with was organizing his thoughts. Working together allowed us to get to the root of the problem and help my son solve it.

Find something your child is passionate about.

For kids who are struggling, the best trick I have found is to find something they are passionate about and work it into their academic subjects. With any luck, you’ll find a teacher or tutor who is able to do this too. One of my boys was a reluctant reader. All it took to turn him into a serious bookworm was finding books that spoke to things he already loved.

Do you have a child who is struggling at school? What are the best things you have done to help?

Try Wyzant for FREE

If your child needs a bit of extra help, but you aren’t sure you are ready to take the next step and find a tutor, Wyzant has a fabulous offer. Try Wyzant Tutoring for Free with this deal that is good for $40 off your first lesson!

This gives you a chance to find a tutor that is the perfect fit and see if tutoring is something that would help.

See how Wyzant works by going here.

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