Knowing how to support your child's academic growth through elementary school is usually pretty straightforward. You can develop a supportive relationship with each year's teacher that focuses on helping your child meet academic milestones, develop productive school behaviors, and maintain a positive attitude toward learning.

The transition to middle school makes things a little more complicated. Now your child has multiple teachers, more opportunities for extracurricular engagement, and, to make things even more fun, hormones. By the time they reach 6th grade, most students have formed--for better or worse--an idea about school and about themselves as learners, which can make your part in their formal education even trickier. While there is no manual--How to Successfully Parent Your Middle Schooler--there are plenty of resources and reams of research to guide you through this stage.

Whether your child is eager, enthusiastic, and high-performing or rebellious, resistant, and low-performing (or somewhere in between), you can help them navigate the bumpy waters of middle school and arrive at high school prepared to succeed.

As your child moves through their school years, your level and types of support will change, but some things will remain constant:

The school is on your team. Teachers, counselors, administrators all want the same outcome you do: a confident, capable, self-sufficient student.
Your instincts are right. Although your support is important to your child's educational growth, your parental role is primary. School demands, expectations, etc., should never compromise your parent-child relationship or interfere with your family's priorities.
You have help. The Bend-La Pine School System is designed to support your child (and you) in whatever ways you need. Our FAN network, school counseling staff, and other district resources are ready to help. Just ask.