Preparing for Middle School as a Family

Here at Emmanuel Lutheran School, we strive to involve the whole family and believe parents have a very important part to play in supporting and guiding their children to grow academically and spiritually. 

Preparing together as a family can be vital to your child’s success. Involving yourself, as well as any other children in the household, can help not only your transitioning child, but everyone else as well. If everybody is on the same page, the transition process can go much smoother!

Ways to Prepare Together (FAMILY):

• Familiarize: Become familiar with the new upcoming changes. Discussing how things might change at home, at school, and in your family’s routine can help prepare the entire family. This may also include discussing expectations that you may have for your child, or that your child may have for themselves. It may be important to include this as entering middle school may bring additional responsibilities with homework, as well as commitments with sports or clubs.
• Adapt: Be adaptable to the new changes. Once your family has discussed possible changes, you can begin to put the pieces together to form a more planned schedule. It’s also important to be flexible and update the schedule together as changes are made.
• Meet: Don’t miss out on back-to-school events and meetings. This allows you and your child to visit the school campus and classrooms, meet the teachers and potentially meet other students, as well. Here at Emmanuel Lutheran School, our faculty would be delighted to assist you and your new middle schooler! For information regarding these opportunities go to www.emmanuellutheranschool.org or call (828) 281-8182.
• Implement: Starting a routine early on can help with challenges that arise from quick and unstructured transitions. To help with easier mornings, try implementing an earlier bedtime and wake-up time early on in the school year. Although, it is never too late to start healthy habits!
• Listen and Learn: Remember to learn as you go and to listen to one another along this new journey. No preparation is perfect, despite that old saying, “Practice Makes Perfect”. However, we still need to do our best to practice growing in the character traits of God together as a family, even if we mess up along the way. 1 Timothy 4:15 reminds us to, “Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress.”
• Yield: Don’t forget to yield to scripture as you go through this process. Making God’s Word the foundation for your family will bring wisdom and joy into your relationships and plans despite the upcoming challenges. Remember to, “Consider it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,” James 1:2.

Preparing Your Child

Every child is unique and individualized and no one knows your child quite like you do.  Therefore, you have an important role to play in helping them adapt to their new environment. Below are a few ideas to specifically help your child with the upcoming changes.

Ways to Prepare Your Middle Schooler (KID):

• Kindness: Encourage your new middle-schooler to exhort kindness first as they enter into this new phase. Just as trials will come, remind them to choose kindness with their peers and teachers. “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you” Ephesians 4:32.
• Interest: Middle school can be a time for your child to discover new activities and topics that interest them. Encourage their curiosity with these! You never know what they may come to love!
• Discipline: Guide your child towards a perspective of being disciplined in their studies. Being organized and responsible with their school work and school activities will help decrease anxieties and improve important future skills!

Transitioning from Elementary school to Middle School can be a challenging process, especially for those that are unprepared. It can also be more difficult for students who go through the process without the involvement of their families. 

However, for those who feel more prepared and supported by their loved ones, this new journey can be both rewarding and fun! Contact Emmanuel Lutheran School for more information about how your child can be part of our elementary and middle school. 

Have an older student transitioning from Middle School to High School? Read our article here for tips to help in that phase of life as well.