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The start of a new school year gives that “sky is the limit” kind of feeling to just about everyone. It’s a fresh start…and, for all intents and purposes, you might as well have an “A” in every class. Right? That’s the way I always looked at it when I was in school.

So, to help you make the most of this new year, we’ve compiled a list of helpful tips. Even better, this list is tailored to the unique way we do things here with contributions from some of Epic’s finest certified teachers.

Keep Your Surroundings Conducive to Learning

Designate an area of your home where your child can do lessons free of distractions. Television, video games, and phone use can be a reward for your student after school work is completed for the day.

Also, be vigilant to monitor what your child is watching online when they are not using their core curriculum or supplements. If your child is too distracted by the Internet, you can request a school-issued laptop or iPad to be “locked down” to curriculum use only. Doing this can improve grades and promote progress for students who may not have continual supervision.

Read to Your Children Daily

Reading to young children promotes language acquisition and literacy development and, later on, achievement in reading comprehension and overall success in school. The percentage of young children read aloud to daily by a family member is one indicator of how well young children are prepared for school. Yet, recent studies on family reading suggest too many youngsters go without the benefit of a family member reading to them. (from RIF.org)

Reading aloud to children is vital because it helps them acquire the information and skills they need in life:

  • Knowledge of printed letters and words, and the relationship between sound and print.
  • The meaning of words.
  • How books work, and a variety of writing styles.
  • The world in which they live.
  • The difference between written language and everyday conversation.
  • The pleasure of reading.

Create AND Keep a Weekly Schedule

Year-long calendars will help students stay on pace. Daily/weekly schedules will also help with time management since they give students a smaller set of lessons to take in and make the course less overwhelming.

Schedules can be in the form of offline or online calendars. Some online courses provide pacing calendars within the program. This provides an ongoing visual of where the student needs to be throughout the year.

Be Familiar with the School Resources

The best resource you have at Epic is your teacher, or your program advisor if you’re in one of our virtual programs (OKVPA and OKVHS). You could call them your life-line when you need anything related to your child’s education.

How familiar are you with our site? Did you know we’re on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, too? What about our School Calendar? It’s on just about every page of our site.

Remember…LEARNING IS FUN!

Incorporate a game, song, or activity into lessons as much as possible. Take learning outside! Sure, you can take a laptop with you and connect to the internet with a MiFi pack, but you can also UNPLUG for a bit and read outside under a shade tree.

Take a nature walk to learn about the world just outside your door. Make a homemade pizza and cut it up to learn about fractions…and if you’re at a loss still…Pinterest has an endless list of wonderful ideas by parents just like you.

Special Thanks to the Epic Faculty

This article was compiled with the help of some of our fantastic teachers at Epic – Marleen Nielsen, Julie Tryggestad, Nancy Chaney, Leisha Albaugh, Lara Denniston, Terry Spencer, Erica Nilsson, Dyan Kincaid, Darlene Gaskill, Sharon Ingram, Charity Gillman, and Trina Kaler.