With August approaching, families are beginning to prepare for the upcoming school year. While summer break isn’t over yet, education experts say now is a good time to help children transition mentally and emotionally back to school.
Elizabeth Leer, Chair of the Department of Education at St. Olaf College, suggests starting with something fun, like back-to-school shopping.
“Letting them take that list and walk through the aisles and yeah, I don’t think that is a pressure filled activity. It’s kind of exciting look at all these new things activities so I think that is a good, good thing to do,” Leer said.
Allowing children to pick out their own supplies can help build a sense of pride and excitement about the year ahead.
Leer also encourages families to attend school-sponsored events in August, which can help reduce back-to-school anxiety.
“Anything you can do to reduce the unknowns I think and help kids become comfortable in the space, seeing their classroom, meeting their teacher, just walking the halls, those things can help a lot I think,” she said.
She adds that if students haven’t been reading over the summer, now is a good time to ease back into it with a book or two.
