by Taye Foster Bradshaw

Created on: August 24, 2008   Last Updated: June 27, 2011

The summer with the heatwaves, snow cones, swimming, and sleeping until noon has morphed into the business of a high school education.

My youngest son started high school last week. I started preparing him at the beginning of August for the biggest hurdle, being up, dressed, and fed for a 7 o'clock morning bus. My fourteen-year-old would sleep until mid-day if he could. The first step was to make him shower and set his clothes out the night ahead. He had a 9:30pm, no excuses, mandate to be in his bedroom and lights were out at 10pm. I woke him up at 6 o'clock in the morning and made him get completely dressed to be downstairs for breakfast by 6:30am. That little exercise did wonders to make sure he was well rested and refreshed for a grueling schedule. More and more teenagers skip breakfast and coupled without enough rest, makes for an unfocused day.

The other big thing we did to prepare him for high school was to make him stay engaged in some educational activity through the summer. In June, he was in summer theatre. In July, he participated in a summer reading program at the library. Our school district puts out a list of required books for all middle and high school students to read over the summer. He had a first assignment in language arts to write about the book on the second day.

One additional thing we did to get him ready was take him to Freshman Day to meet his teachers and walk through his schedule. We also helped him organize his binders and his desk. We found it important to make sure he had all his supplies on the first day, despite the notorious reputation of teachers waiting until the first day of class to tell high schoolers what things they require for that subject.

The other big thing we did for him was to make sure he knew the four years go by really fast. His first priority is his studies, he has Geometry and Physics as a freshman, but also that he should be involved socially. We've had the girl talk with him in middle school but reminded him of expectations and that he had plenty of time left to get serious. We encouraged him to get involved in extracurricular activities to broaden his learning and worldview. Lastly, we assured him he had everything he needed to be successful including involved parents, a new wardrobe, and a $128 calculator.

Lastly, as parents, we networked with other Freshman parents. We found out who was in our neighborhood and in his classes. We helped him find out potential study partners and resources available to him to be successful. High school is his and for him to navigate. We wanted him to be equipped and then turned the reins over to him. We don't want to be helicopter parents but wanted him to know we are his resident search engine, dictionary, and wikipedia!

Learn more about this author, Taye Foster Bradshaw.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.