Navigating the January Dip: Helping Your Child Regain Academic Momentum

While the beginning of an academic year is fueled by the novelty of new supplies and class schedules, returning to school in January often marks a mid-year period of academic fatigue. A natural dip in momentum often takes place because the demands of the curriculum increase just as the initial excitement has worn off. However, this moment of transition can serve as a critical juncture for continued executive functioning development. 

To help navigate this time period, try making a strategic shift to a sustainable ‘marathon, not a sprint’ mindset. A child’s ability to re-engage with their daily responsibilities is strengthened when the systems that support task initiation, sustained attention, and emotional regulation are reinforced. This reinforcement offers a powerful opportunity to transform a potential plateau into renewed discipline and motivation.

YOUNG LEARNERS: RE-ESTABLISHING THE FOUNDATION

For elementary students in particular, a long break from the normal routine can make returning to the structured school environment especially jarring. To make this a smoother adjustment period, here are two simple ways to help revitalize the mental processes associated with transitions and organization.

• The Workspace "Reset": Instead of a sudden reversion back to where your child left off in December, try involving them in a physical reset of their workspace. For example, working together to sort through their backpack, resharpen pencils, and clear out old papers can offer a tangible sense of a fresh start. The science is clear: one’s learning environment has a measurable impact on focus and productivity. This process acts as a catalyst for improved clarity, and the decluttered workspace tells the brain it's time to get to work. Better still, by becoming an active participant in the transition, students are empowered to approach the return with a positive, refreshed headspace.

• Visual Cues for Time Management: Without the normalcy of their old routines, younger students often lose their sense of time over the holidays. Using visual timers, checklists, or tangible calendars and schedules can rebuild the capacity for delayed gratification. For instance, the simple act of using a kitchen timer to focus on ten minutes of reading creates a predictable boundary, making the return to larger academic tasks feel less overwhelming and more manageable.

MIDDLE & HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS: REFINING SYSTEMS 

Older students face the growing pressure of more complex coursework, higher-stakes assessments, and year-end deadlines as they enter second semester. At this level and for this time of year, sustaining motivation becomes less about enthusiasm and more about how efficiently they activate their executive functioning skills and systems.

• The Syllabus Audit: The second semester often marks the introduction of new units and occasionally, shifting expectations. To help your student learn how to proactively manage these shifts, encourage them to do a comprehensive review of upcoming deadlines and project requirements listed in the syllabus or other organizational documents from each course. For example, they can break down a large end-of-quarter research paper into weekly milestones to prevent the overwhelm of procrastinating until the deadline, which generally leads to panicky late-nights and lower quality work (that, in turn, produces disappointing grades).

• Intentional Day-Planning: Long school days rapidly drain the energy required for executive functioning, which is a finite cognitive resource. Have a conversation together to reflect on your child’s peak performance windows. If fatigue sets in immediately after school, try adjusting the schedule to include a break and a high-quality snack before starting homework to improve the quality of their focus. Routines that are intentionally aligned to their natural energy rhythms nurtures a sense of agency, promotes stronger learning, and reduces burnout.

• Metacognitive Reflection: This window of time can provide a profoundly meaningful space for self-reflection and redirection. Together, evaluate which organizational tools actually served them best during the first semester. If a digital planner went unused, they may choose to pivot to a paper system or a different app. By assessing the effectiveness of prior strategies, students begin to recognize that the "failure" of a system is merely data that can then be used for revision and optimization moving forward.

When they prioritize consistency over intensity, students of all ages can learn strategies that will support their momentum during the mid-year transition and help them finish strong as the school year comes to an end. Further still, each of these simple scaffolding shifts offer an opportunity to master essential executive functioning skills that will serve them for the ‘long game’ mindset they will need in any context, personally or professionally, for the rest of their lives. 

Written by Brandi R.

Beyond the Resolution: Teaching Kids the Art of Intentional Goal-Setting

As a symbol for new beginnings and hope for the future, New Year’s offers a magical opportunity to reflect on the past year and transition into 2026 from a place of intentionality and optimism. Many adults participate in the tradition of setting resolutions for the year to come, but children of any age can also benefit by learning to take ownership of their unique growth and aspirations. Goal-setting - including planning, organizing, and self-monitoring - is an essential component of a child’s developing executive functioning skills. By reflecting on the prior year, setting self-led goals, and building actionable plans with a way to track progress, they can strengthen their capacity for organization, flexibility, focus, and self-regulation.

All of these skills are crucial to long-term independence; however, achieving that independence requires shifting the focus away from parental expectations to a collaborative, age-appropriate approach that empowers children to take the lead. The most effective role for a parent in this process is that of a consultant rather than a manager. By providing the necessary tools and a safe, supportive environment for reflection, adults model the self-awareness required for a lifetime love of self-improvement.

STRATEGIES FOR YOUNGER CHILDREN

When it comes to early childhood and the elementary years, goal-setting is less about grandiose visions or complicated milestones and more about the "power of yet." At this stage of development, the most important objectives are to nurture a positive association with personal growth and teach the concept of sequential action.

• The "Big Wish, Small Step" Framework: Young children often think in broad, imaginative terms. Parents can help translate large or abstract goals into singular, manageable habits or concrete steps. For example, if a child wants to become a more confident reader, the goal should be centered around focused, achievable, and daily actions. Try brainstorming what those actions might be together, such as reading in the car, selecting one book to read before bed, or spending a targeted amount of time per day, and allow your child to choose what feels most meaningful to them.

• Visual Progress Tracking: The abstract concepts of time and progress are still developing for this age group, so tactile tools are particularly helpful. For instance, sticker charts, paper chains, or visual thermometers allow children to see their consistency in real-time, while also providing the immediate dopamine reward necessary to sustain motivation.

HIGHER LEVEL STRATEGIES FOR MIDDLE & HIGH SCHOOL

For young adults, the goal-setting process should naturally evolve to match the increasing complexity of life’s demands. Whether their goals are academic, personal, or a mix of both, the focus starts to shift toward refining executive functions like task initiation, metacognition, and time management.

• SMART Goals: A common and highly effective approach to teaching strong goal-setting skills is the SMART method: where goals are defined as Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. Vague and abstract goals such as "getting better at math" might be restructured into "completing three practice problems every Tuesday and Thursday evening." Learning the art of precision eliminates the ambiguity that often leads to procrastination or avoidance. Checklists, timelines, and tools for monitoring progress are also powerful tools for keeping their goals on track in the long-term.

• Updating Routines: Even if the school year started out strong with a framework for organization and routines, reaching the mid-point of the year often finds many of these routines fatigued or forgotten. Furthermore, the holidays and winter break usually involve notable disruption to their normal schedule. To help end the school year on a strong note, try reflecting together on what worked and didn’t, and create a fresh vision for the second semester. 

• Proactive Planning: Resilience is built when students learn how to anticipate obstacles and plan for failure before it occurs. Parents can guide teens to identify potential "roadblocks" and brainstorm "if-then" solutions. Busy sports schedules, countless social distractions, and afternoon energy slumps can all impact well-intended routines and goals, so planning ahead makes success far more likely. This proactive mental rehearsal also strengthens the brain’s ability to pivot when circumstances change.

With supportive scaffolding, intentional modeling, and a framework for lasting success, the New Year’s Eve tradition can serve as a powerfully effective training ground for the self-regulation and agency children will need to transition towards independence and adulthood. It’s important to remember, however, that celebrating the process and ‘little wins’ along the way are just as vital as reaching the destination. By transforming resolution-making from a chore into a collaborative celebration of growth, you provide your child with more than just a plan for the coming year: you give them the lifelong confidence to navigate their own path, one intentional step at a time.

Written by Brandi R.

Fostering a Growth Mindset: Your Child's Secret Weapon for School Success

The new school year has arrived, and with it, fresh starts and new opportunities to support your child's academic journey. While grades and subject-specific skills tend to take center stage, one core ingredient crucial to academic success lies beneath the surface: a growth mindset. No matter the subject, skill, or context, this attitude towards learning acts as the foundation for navigating every hurdle they can and will encounter on their journey through life.

GROWTH MINDSET

A concept developed by researcher Carol Dweck in the pursuit of what determines success, a growth mindset is the belief that one’s abilities and intelligence are developed through hard work and dedication. In contrast, a fixed mindset believes that these abilities are innate or ‘fixed,’ and people are inherently good or bad at certain things. Shifting the focus to the power of effort and perseverance paves the way to accepting the gift of failure as a natural part of the learning process. It also allows children - and any learner of any age - to value progress over time rather than be deterred by instant outcomes.

Reframing discussions about effort helps cultivate this type of thinking. For example, instead of praising a student for being ‘smart,’ which implies success is merely the result of intrinsic abilities, they can be commended for their hard work and the specific strategies they used to address a problem. Or, they may be acknowledged for how far they came as writers or thinkers since they first started on a project. Celebrations that prioritize effort and determination offer critical feedback to teach children that effort drives success, not inborn luck.

RESILIENCE 

One key benefit of a growth mindset is the natural encouragement of resilience. School and life are both full of ups and downs, wins and losses, celebrations and setbacks. Challenging assignments, difficult exams, and social dilemmas offer daily opportunities to make a choice: rise to the challenge or give up. When children face these setbacks, it is essential that they recognize them as temporary obstacles that are simply gifts wrapped in frustration.

Together, try to approach each new experience with a focus on what there is to learn from it, and in reflection, collaboratively brainstorm new approaches for how to address it differently in the future. This process allows children to achieve the mental fortitude - also known as ‘grit’ from Angela Duckworth’s popular TED Talk - to thrive through adversity, not in spite of it.

Simple ways to support the development of resilience include setting and monitoring goals during the school year, integrating opportunities to celebrate growth, and incorporating problem solving as a natural part of their experiences and play.

ADAPTABILITY 

The world is always changing, and successful people have the skills required to adapt to those changes. A new school year is packed full of change: new teachers, classmates, routines, and material. When a child approaches the world with a growth mindset, it’s easier to embrace that experience from a place of curiosity and openness rather than fear or self-doubt.

Like so many other life skills, learning adaptability starts at home. As you demonstrate flexibility and a willingness to learn new things, your child sees you and learns to model this behavior. It can also help to talk through your problem-solving processes out loud with your child as you navigate new challenges together. As a team, explore how to approach uncertainty with a positive and flexible attitude.

Further, extracurricular activities and play both offer profound opportunities for teaching adaptability. Team sports, volunteering, hobbies and clubs, and collaborative endeavors all nurture the problem solving skills that help students navigate each new challenge flexibly and creatively.

CONFIDENCE

Fostering a growth mindset allows your child to gain confidence through their little wins just as much as the big ones. Unlike a fixed mindset - which views failure as indicative of weakness or incompetence - a growth mindset celebrates setbacks as opportunities for learning and progress. As a result, their confidence is not rooted in a belief that they will never make a mistake, but rather that mistakes are a healthy part of the process. They understand that when those problems arise, they are capable of handling and learning from them. A child who feels confident in their ability to learn and adapt is more likely to take on new challenges, ask for help when they need it, and see their own potential for growth.

IN CONCLUSION 

As everyone prepares for the school year ahead, it’s important to remember that parents and teachers act as partners in every child’s educational development. By intentionally cultivating and celebrating a growth mindset at home and in the classroom, children are given the gift of an attitude towards learning that will help them not only succeed academically, but also thrive as resilient, adaptable, and confident individuals. 

Written by Brandi R.

Celebrating Growth: 6 Ways to Honor Your Child's School Year Achievements

As the school year comes to a close, this moment offers a powerful opportunity to pause and look back at how much hard work and growth have taken place. Parents play a critical role in supporting each child's unique journey, and celebrating their wins along the way is crucial. This type of celebration positively reinforces their efforts, strengthens your bond, and nurtures core executive functioning skills like metacognition and goal monitoring.

Taking the time to truly celebrate tells your child that their progress was not just noticed, but significant enough to deserve your focused time and attention. Verbal praise is a tricky phenomenon with mixed results on children’s motivation and performance. Cognitive psychology suggests that praise should be centered around progress and process, not results, so this moment of recognition will ideally go far beyond grades and focus on the incredible progress they've made in their learning and development.

Check out these six fun and meaningful ways you can honor your child's accomplishments:

1. GROWTH CHART CELEBRATION

Remember those height charts? Create a "Growth Chart" for the school year! First, work together to brainstorm all the areas your child has grown in. Maybe it's the organization of their now-clean backpack, proactive planning for long-term projects, increased confidence in asking questions and self-advocating, or even mastering a tricky math concept they were struggling with. Write all of their achievements on bright, colorful sticky notes and place them along a vertical line. The visual representation of their progress will be a powerful reminder of just how far they’ve come.

2. “EVIDENCE OF SUCCESS” SCAVENGER HUNT

Turn celebrating into a game! Ask your child to create a scavenger hunt where each clue relates to an area of progress or reflects a skill they've developed. For example, a clue might be: "I used to be disorganized and confusing. Now, I’m all clean and following a clear system!" (Answer: Their folder and/or notebook(s), highlighting their organizational skills). Other examples may be happy memories in their yearbook, grade reports, specific assignments, etc.

3. “2024-2025 HIGHLIGHTS” CREATIVE PROJECT

Creativity plays a key role in boosting learning and children’s well-being, so a self-led project can encourage your child to express their wins in their own unique way. Ask your child to create something that represents what they feel most proud of from the past year, such as a scrapbook, a short video, a drawing, or even a song.

4. “PROUD MOMENTS” FAMILY DINNER

Plan a special family dinner where everyone shares one or two moments from the school year they are particularly proud of – either for themselves or for another family member. This fosters a supportive environment and highlights the collective effort.

5. THEN-AND-NOW VISION BOARD

This moment doesn’t have to be frozen in time; celebrate the past by recognizing its place on the way towards the future! Create a then-and-now vision board together, capturing the beautiful highlights of the past year alongside their goals for the summer or even the next school year. This subtly reinforces goal-setting, encourages self-monitoring of those goals, and keeps that growth mindset alive.

6. REFLECTIVE JOURNALING

As a family, spend some quiet time together reflecting on the year. Use prompts like: "What are you most proud of learning this year?" "What was a challenge you overcame?" "What skills do you feel you've gotten better at?" This encourages self-reflection and deeper understanding of their progress. (See this Peak blog for more on journaling.)

Ultimately, celebrating wins should go beyond a quick “good job” and a pat on the back. This moment can be a shared adventure in acknowledging effort, recognizing growth, and strengthening your connection as a family. Positive reinforcement has the greatest impact on encouraging desirable behaviors, and when celebrating students’ progress, it helps build resilient, self-aware individuals. Plus, taking ownership of their achievements does so much more for building confidence than verbal praise or validation. So, make these end-of-year celebrations fun, creative, and truly meaningful!

Written by Brandi R.

Semester 1 is Over...Now What?

As we enter 2025, families are trading their winter bells for school bells as many campuses will soon resume learning. Amidst the excitement of seeing missed friends and feeling refreshed from break, students are challenged with re-establishing routines, procedures, and recalling pre-break academics. However, just like the second half of an athletic game, the second half of school plays a crucial role in successful outcomes. In this case, the second semester impacts students’ educational success as foundational skills expand into new concepts and connections. This extended learning may feel daunting for students who are struggling in content areas, or mastering specific skills. Students’ feelings about school may shift throughout the second semester based on their strengths. However, there are a variety of strategies you can use to help your child persevere through the end of the school year. 

 Beginning of Semester Two

• Routines: Most likely children had flexible routines during their winter break. Many children will need help adjusting back to their normal school schedule and after-school routine. It may be helpful to practice these routines a day before children go back to school to ease feelings of uncertainty.

• Teacher Communication: The beginning of semester two, or end of semester one, is a great time to discuss students’ progress with their classroom teachers. Be sure to ask questions if you do not understand something, need additional resources, and to clarify the end of the year expectations.

• Goal Setting: If you have already set goals for this school year, this is a perfect time to review them to set positive intentions for the upcoming semester. It could also be a great time to explore new year’s resolutions related to school, executive functions, or social-emotional skills.

Middle of Semester 2

• Testing Season: Second semester is typically considered the “testing season” as many students take state-required, school-based, diagnostic and/or classroom-based assessments — all of which can contribute to feelings of anxiety, discomfort, and internal pressure. Be sure to reach out to your child’s teacher for more information regarding any upcoming tests. Test language can be tricky and confusing, so practicing test taking skills at home may alleviate test anxiety and improve memory and retention. 

• Goal Setting: Be sure to review any goals, or resolutions, created. If you child has met their goal, challenge them to create a new goal, or extend their existing goal. For example, if they have already met their goal to read 75 words per minute, you can increase their goal to 100 words per minute. 

• Motivation: Many students have a decrease in motivation as the summer months approach. You can help students avoid these feelings by using organizers to keep track of important deadlines, incorporate brain breaks or mindfulness activities, and take time to rest and relax. Consider practicing foundational skills with games, puzzles, or online educational programs. 

End of the Year

• Burnout: Avoiding the end-of-year burnout is critical for student’s success. Many of the end-of-year skills taught in classrooms are essential for a successful start to the next school year. Additionally, teachers may give assessments to determine students’ growth over the course of the year or semester. Incentives, homework choice boards, daily check-ins, and other motivation strategies can be used to help students persevere.

• Summer Activities: Second semester report cards can give a lot of information regarding skills students should continue to practice throughout the summer. You can use this information to talk with your child about their progress and expectations for summer learning. By using report cards as an accountability tool, students will take ownership in their learning and put forth their best effort.

While many students may feel refreshed after their winter breaks, the demands of the second semester may quickly have an influence on their perception and attitudes regarding the end of the school year. However, students that implement strong routines and approach semester two with confidence may avoid the end-of-the-year burnout. Be mindful that some students may feel a variety of positive and negative emotions as school begins. As you child explores their emotions, you can help them regulate by establishing healthy outlets, an open line of communication, and reminding them that all feelings are valid. 

Written by Ami Z.