As the summer draws to a close and the new school year approaches, parents and teens alike may feel a mix of excitement and anxiety as they prepare for back to school. The transition from vacation mode to school mode can be challenging, but with some thoughtful preparation, it can also be smooth and successful.
Here are some tips for parents to help their teens get ready for back to school.
Continue reading 10 Tips to Help Your Teen Get Ready for Back to School
My favorite lines from “You’ve Got Mail” are:
“Don’t you love New York in the fall? It makes me wanna buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address.”
Newly sharpened pencils always remind me of back to school days. And when fall comes around, I think about that movie (mostly wishing I were in New York in the fall!); but it also reminds of the promise and expectation of a new school year.
Armed with the right online tools, parents and students can face the new year with anticipation and promise. Having the right tools can mean the difference between organization and frustration. These tools would help students succeed as they enter college. Here are some excellent links that I shared with my newsletter subscribers today that I thought you might find helpful:
Continue reading It’s Back to School Time—Resources for Parents and Students
Believe it or not, research reveals that Americans spend an average total of 2.5 days a year looking for misplaced stuff. That’s nearly half a workweek we lose just searching for things. But time lost isn’t the only costly consequence of being forgetful. The study also shows that 60% of people have either been late to work or school because of lost items, followed by 49% who have missed appointments or meetings, and even 22% who’ve missed flights, trains, or bus rides. Turns out misplacing things can be more than just expensive; it’s a major time drain too. Don’t let disorganization cost you and your student. Make organization a priority.
Organization is half the battle when it comes to helping your teen prepare for college. If you stay organized, you won’t be fumbling around senior year in a panic. And as with any organizational system, it’s important to have the right tools. These tools will make the organization simple because you will have a place for everything, and everything should stay in its place. You’ll not only save time, but you won’t miss deadlines and be stressing to find that all-important application information.
Take the following steps to help you and your teen stay organized during the college prep process:
Continue reading Organization During College Prep
As a college student, it’s an environment where you’re constantly learning, and when it comes to getting the most out of it, there are ways that you can help give yourself that extra boost. Here are some tips for soon-to-be college students to improve their skills.
Practicing something is a sure-fire way to achieve the success of something quicker than you would normally do it if you weren’t. Getting yourself into the mindset of practicing can be tough, but if you have the drive to do so, it can get easier. Think about what skills you need to work on and how you can implement that practicing in some way, shape or form. For example, you could be building on your experience as a writer and so creating a blog might give you that opportunity you need in order to write something new every day. It could simply be using a word generator to help you find better ways of describing or saying something. Opening up your vocabulary is important, and there can be so much use in practicing.
Being able to handle your time appropriately is important because you need to be able to attend any lectures you might have throughout the week, make time to study and to see your friends around campus. So time management is something that’s definitely important, yet it’s not something you can always achieve easily, to begin with. It might take a little trial and error to get right but trust yourself to make the right decisions when it comes to getting up and doing something. If you struggle with time management, work out what’s making you late to lectures or to other commitments and then work on the ways that you can help change this for the better.
Dealing with stress is something that many of us will have issues with throughout our life. It can be an emotion that we all feel to some degree, and some of us can handle it better than others. Try not to panic or make anything seem like too big of a deal. As much as getting qualifications and degrees are important, they are not worth harming your body or your mental health. If you’re struggling, always ask for help.
Money is a big thing for students because you can easily spend it on rubbish that doesn’t benefit you in any way. There are lots of ways to help budget your money better if you’re having a hard time of it at the moment. Look at the ways you’re spending your money currently and how you might be able to cut down or make better choices when it comes to using your money around the college. Perhaps try to limit yourself to a certain amount each day.
With so many tests, deadlines, and social activities it’s crucial to learn some organizational skills. Use data keeping tools, calendar apps, and good old-fashioned note-taking to stay organized in your classes and in life.
Improving your skills as a college student is always going to help make this experience a lot better and fulfilling if you follow these tips.
Today’s guest post is a from a company called Webjets who offers an organization and productivity tool that can be used by soon-to-be college students and college students. The author, Vladislav Khaustovich, is a student at Penn State College & University
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I decided to write this article to support an outstanding platform that helps people to organize everyday tasks and data and which helps me personally as a college student to work with a big amount of information. The name of the platform is Webjets.
I first learned about Webjets from my former supervisor at Starta Accelerator where I did an internship and where Webjets was accepted as one of the most promising startup companies from Europe.
Here are the features that make Webjets unique:
The first thing that caught my attention in this application was its simplicity and the ability to retrieve information quickly. I have always been looking for this kind of platform where I could create tasks and find them right away after opening the platform. It’s something difficult to do when it comes to all kinds of calendars and task managers. You have to scroll them up and down, search for a required piece of information among tons of others, and click many different buttons. Annoying stuff… While all these applications pretend to be simple, Webjets is just built to be simple.
I started using Webjets as a tool to write down my everyday tasks and what I liked about thisplatform is that when I log in, I instantaneously see all my tasks in one place. I can embrace them all in once without the need to scroll, click, and swipe anything else. It’s similar to using a physical whiteboard. Still, the whiteboard is limited by its dimensions while Webjets is not.
Usually, it takes a good amount of time to collect and organize the information for any college project. Webjets makes both processes simpler. For example, let’s assume you’re working on a project which goal is to explain major movements in modern art and you decide to use Microsoft Word for this purpose. You start writing down the information and at some point, you realize that you have too many links and way too much information in your Word document (and it happens all the times). You start reorganizing the information by copying, deleting, pasting and erasing stuff. You go to links that you pasted into your document and try to paraphrase the information and then to paste the new, reorganized pieces of information in your document. It consumes a lot of time. You get tired quickly. In Webjets, everything is much simpler. You can drag pieces of information all around the board. You can view a short summary of the links that you decide to include in your project. You can also show and hide automatic images associated with these links to make the navigation simpler.
For many students, college life is like: “Wow, this stuff is so interesting, I’d love to go deeper, but there is still so much work to do.” Webjets is a good solution when it comes to creating to-do lists. For example, you can create a number of different boards and assign each of them to the courses you take. When you encounter any important or interesting information in the course that you would like to review later, you can quickly create a note or drop a link in Webjets to make sure everything is under your informational control.
There are tons of other ways how Webjets may be used, but what I’ve mentioned above are just those features that I found helpful for myself.
In the end, I want to thank Webjets team for its understanding and responsiveness. Besides numerous questions that I kept asking the people from Webjets, I was also surprised by how quickly they fixed the issue that seemed annoying to me. I just sent them a message on Facebook and they fixed it in the next few days.
I encourage everyone who is still using calendars, task managers, and all kinds of note-taking apps to go to Webjets and see how this amazing app can make your life easier!
Zoomita, a college application online organizational tool provides all of your college application essay prompts organized in one place
Gives you all of the college essay prompts, word count limits, and deadlines for your college list in seconds. Write, share, and edit essays without ever creating a file or folder. Free.
Why should anyone care?
The application essay is widely viewed as the hardest part of the college application process. Students spend hours/days/weeks just tracking down essay prompts and dealing with document management. Zoomita reduces that process to minutes. And it’s free.
Google docs is a great tool, but students will still have to find the essay requirements and create a system of files and folders to manage their drafts. There are no files/folders to create in Zoomita and it is literally impossible to not know what the most recent draft is. Human proof!
One-click sharing. Yep.
Another great feature: it automatically tracks the number of essays you need for your complete college list.
I believe the most important task in the college application process is organization. Zoomita helps your student keep all their college essays organized: an important tool to help devote more time to the essay and less time to tracking down the topics.
I often told my kids, “I work best under pressure”. It was merely my excuse for procrastination: an unhealthy habit that plagues me to this day. I may work best when I know a deadline is approaching, but waiting until the last minute causes untold stress and anxiety. Unfortunately, both my children have adopted that philosophy and it has followed them through school and into adulthood. It’s something I wish I had never taught them.
What is the solution to avoid procrastination in school and in life? Organization.
With college prep, it’s all about the deadlines. Deadlines are a procrastinator’s downfall. Waiting until the last minute to find the form that needs to be in by midnight, or registering for the standardized test late, can add stress to an already stressful situation.
According to Wendy David-Gaines, POCSMom and Long Island College Prep Examiner, starting the year off right with an organization goal is key:
Parents and students can join together to avoid tarnishing the fresh start transition offers. They can begin with the soft skill of organization. It will be easier to prioritize, keep track, and follow through with their to-do list.
Read Wendy’s “lightbulb” moment post and start the year off right–procrastinate no more!
The skill to set up your fresh start for success
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Wednesday’s child may be full of woe but Wednesday’s Parent can substitute action for anxiety. Each Wednesday Wendy and I will provide parent tips to get and keep your student on the college track. It’s never too late or too early to start!
The bonus is on the fourth Wednesday of each month when Wendy and I will host Twitter chat #CampusChat at 9pm ET/6pm PT.
Wednesday’s Parent will give twice the info and double the blog posts on critical parenting issues by clicking on the link at the end of the article from parentingforcollege to pocsmom.com and vice versa.
Gaining admission to your college of choice is going to take some time and effort. However, with so much else happening in your life, making sure that you stay on top of the college application process can be a challenge. Avoid these seven common pitfalls so that you can beat the last minute rush.
Basic as this may sound, you need to know when your deadlines are and when you are going to make time to complete each step of the application process. OK, so you know that you need to write your essays. When are you going to brainstorm? When are you going to create an outline? Don’t simply write down that you need to have it completed “no later than” a particular date. Dedicate time within your schedule to get these things accomplished and stick to it.
As you complete the application process, you’ll probably need to look up some information that you may not have readily available. What is the physical address of your employer or place of volunteer service? Do they want your immediate supervisor’s phone number or should you use the phone number of a central office that can verify your information? What was the name of that youth director — who no longer attends your church — who coordinated your service trip to Guatemala? It may take a few phone calls and some time for people to get back to you, so start now.
Strong as your reading comprehension skills may be, read through the application again and make sure that you understand all of the steps you need to complete it. If you overlook a step and wait until the last minute, you may not be able to submit your application because pieces are missing. Double-checking now can save you a lot of stress in the long run.
As stated above, it may take you some time to get into contact with people. Also, they’re going to need to find time in their busy schedules to write a recommendation for you. Moreover, the people you want to write your recommendation are probably going to get quite a few requests and not be able to accept them all. Improve your odds by asking early. Expecting that a person will help you and expecting them to help you at the last minute could leave you a recommendation short.
This is probably the most famous of the mistakes that applicants make in the college admissions process. Don’t fall into this stereotype or this trap. Exciting as it might be to complete your essays just in the nick of time, quality will suffer. Good essays take time.
It won’t. You might get turned down by a potential recommender. You might get saddled with an extra project the same week you planned to write your essays. The very day you had hoped to work on gathering information might be the day that you come down with the flu. Life will continue to happen as you progress through the application process, so create a cushion in your schedule for when things don’t go according to plan.
Bring everyone possible in on your goal: family, friends, guidance counselors, supervisors, etc. Let the people in your life know where you’re at in the process and seek help immediately if you feel lost or get behind. The longer you wait, the worse it will be when you finally do reach out to others. There’s nothing wrong with saying that you don’t understand a certain step in the process or don’t know how to complete a step. Finally, discussing the process and the personal milestones you have set will help keep you focused and on track.
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Today’s Guest Blogger
Ryan Hickey is the Managing Editor of Peterson’s & EssayEdge and is an expert in many aspects of college, graduate, and professional admissions. A graduate of Yale University, Ryan has worked in various admissions capacities for nearly a decade, including writing test-prep material for the SAT, AP exams, and TOEFL, editing essays and personal statements, and consulting directly with applicants.
All of my Facebook friends are posting back to school pictures of their kids. Since my kids are grown, here’s a shot of my grandson on his first day of preschool. His mother was a handful when school started. Mostly because she had definite opinions on what she wanted to wear and the mornings became battlegrounds over her clothes choices. It wasn’t until a very wise woman told me, “Let her pick her clothes out at night and lay them out for the next day.” Bingo. No more battles in the morning over clothing.
Getting back into the routine for school can be hard after summer vacation. There are lunches to pack, carpools to organize, teacher/parent conferences to attend and after school activities. The only way to remain sane and navigate all the stress is to get back into a routine utilizing these time-tested strategies:
You are going to be inundated with papers and notices. You’re going to have emails from teachers and school staff. You’re going to have to keep track of dates and deadlines. If you have a college-bound teen, you’re going to get college brochures and letters in the mail.
Part of getting organized is something our mothers used to tell us: a place for everything and everything in its place. Establish a landing zone and display a large wall calendar that will help you stay on top of the dates, deadlines, and after school activities.
Watch this short video for 8 steps for staying organized.
As I mentioned earlier, we made it a practice to prepare for the next day. Make sure all homework is done, all permission slips are signed, all clothes are chosen, and all lunches are ready to go. Preparing in advance alleviates morning chaos and assures that your student is sent to school with everything they need for the day.
Part of establishing a routine is sticking to the schedule. Homework should be done at the same time every afternoon or evening. Baths and normal bedtime routine should stay fairly similar from night to night. Kids react positively to routines. Chaos in the home transfers to chaos at school
Ready Wendy’s post: 3 Sure-fire Words to Adjust to New Routines
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Wednesday’s child may be full of woe but Wednesday’s Parent can substitute action for anxiety. Each Wednesday Wendy and I will provide parent tips to get and keep your student on the college track. It’s never too late or too early to start!
The bonus is on the fourth Wednesday of each month when Wendy and I will host Twitter chat #CampusChat at 9pm ET/6pm PT. We will feature an expert on a topic of interest for parents of the college-bound.
Wednesday’s Parent will give twice the info and double the blog posts on critical parenting issues by clicking on the link at the end of the article from parentingforcollege to pocsmom.com and vice versa.
The steps that your high school student took from middle school to high school were big steps. For them finding a way to get to school, handle the increased work load, and having to start thinking about colleges were often overwhelming. If they have a job or are involved with extracurricular activities it magnifies their new responsibilities.
With teenagers you can’t always tell them about the tools that you know they should use, even though you know they work. Organization may be something they will have to learn for themselves the hard way; but here are some ways that we can lead them to finding the tools that they should use and learn organizational skills.
High school students may not always know what they need and by the time the new semester is getting ready to start they may be in a rush to get organized quickly. It can’t hurt to have extra pens, pencils, and notebooks around for when they do need it. The key to organization is having the right tools to help with the process.
High school students may not say so, but they do notice how we live our lives and what we do to stay organized. Setting your house up for success will rub off on your student. Some things that you can do are hang a whiteboard of the family’s weekly schedule, maintain personal notebooks, and coordinate schedules so that your student can see the steps that you take to stay organized.
Organizational materials today are much different than they used to be. There are multiple organizational apps available, along with online resources to keep organized. Excel spreadsheets, usb thumb drives and Evernote are excellent organizational tools. Don’t forget to use apps that allow your student to create reminders and even send them text messages when a project is due. Since there are so many apps to choose from, visit the Apple Store or Google Apps and do a search on “organization”.
However you choose to do it, showing your high school student the benefits of being organized are extremely beneficial to their future. Not only will these skills help them as they enter college, they might develop an interest in all aspects of organization and find themselves studying organizational leadership. This is an up and coming major that companies are requiring to stay organized and plan projects. Organizational leadership degree programs prepare students to be business and program leaders who are skilled in handling the human aspect of business management.
