Smart Budgeting for Teens Who Struggle with Planning
What is the most important financial literacy skill teens need before becoming adults? Teaching smart budgeting for teens who struggle with planning requires tailored strategies that account for executive function challenges. By making financial concepts visual and concrete, simplifying choices to reduce overwhelm, and implementing consistent routines, parents can empower their teens. These financial skills are crucial for independence for any teen, but may be harder for some to learn than others. Patience and modeling will help make these skills part of everyday life for families. Here are 4 tips for budgeting for teens, including practical budgeting activities especially for neurodivergent youth. 1. Make it Visual Abstract concepts like “money” and “saving” can be very difficult for kids and teens with executive function challenges to grasp. They benefit from seeing and touching. Tip: Continue to use visual aids and physical money, but transition to digital tracking alongside physical. Emphasize how money moves and grows (or shrinks). Practical Activity: Digital + Physical Tracking Combination: Help them set up a simple spreadsheet or a beginner budgeting app (like Monarch or You Need A Budget – YNAB, or even a simple notes app) for tracking income and expenses. However, still have a physical…
The Art of Asking Questions: How to Develop Critical Thinking in Kids
What do you value more – a good grade or a well written paper? The art of asking questions is one of the most valuable tools we can give children to help them grow into confident, thoughtful, and capable individuals. As parents and tutors, we all want to develop critical thinking in kids, but it doesn’t happen by accident. It starts with curiosity, and curiosity begins with questions. If you have a child in the younger years, you might be hearing a lot of questions already! When kids are encouraged to ask good questions, they begin to understand the world more deeply. This habit leads to better academic performance, stronger relationships, and more independent thinking. The best part? You don’t need a classroom or curriculum to begin. Everyday conversations at the dinner table, in the car, or during tutoring sessions provide rich opportunities to nurture critical thinking. Why Asking Questions Builds Thinking Skills At its core, critical thinking is the ability to process information thoughtfully rather than passively. Children naturally ask questions when they’re curious, but over time, that instinct can fade, often due to pressure to find the “right” answer. The art of asking questions helps kids shift from…
5 Ways to Build Executive Function Skills During Summer Break
Would you rather sort digital files or make dinner? Summer break offers a great opportunity to build executive function skills in a low-stress environment. Executive function includes a set of mental skills, including planning, organization, time management, emotional regulation, and flexibility, that are essential for learning and living. With the right strategies and encouragement, middle and high school students can use the summer months to sharpen these skills and prepare for a strong school year ahead. The launching years with teenage children are the perfect time to teach them to cope with the challenges around them. Let’s explore five key areas of executive function and practical at-home suggestions to support growth in each. 1. Planning Setting goals and figuring out steps to achieve them. Without a plan, summer can slip away. Older students can benefit from helping to structure their time, balancing responsibilities, and relaxing. At-Home Ideas: Weekly Goal-Setting Journal: Encourage your child to write two or three goals each week and identify action steps for each. Reflect on progress every Sunday. In the beginning, this may take more input from parents or tutors. Summer Project Plan: Choose a summer-long project (learning an instrument, planning a small business*, organizing…
How Summer Tutoring Sets Your Child Up for Success
What are benefits of summer tutoring? As a parent, you want to give your child every opportunity to thrive, especially when it comes to their education. But national testing data from 2024 reveals a concerning truth: math and reading levels among students have not returned to pre-pandemic levels. In fact, many students in grades 3–9 are still struggling with foundational skills, widening the academic gap and impacting their confidence and long-term success. This summer, you have a chance to change that trajectory. Why Do Parents Choose Summer Tutoring? Most parents enroll their children in summer tutoring for a few key reasons: Skill Gaps That Don’t Go Away on Their Own During the school year, teachers are pressed for time. They move quickly through the curriculum, and students who fall behind often don’t get the individualized support they need. Summer tutoring is a powerful way to address those persistent skill gaps—especially in math and reading—before they become even harder to close. Preventing the “Summer Slide” Without consistent academic practice, students can lose up to two months of progress over the summer. This slide is even more severe for students already struggling. Tutoring during the summer months helps students retain what they’ve…
Turn Your Knowledge Into Income and Side Gig Jobs: Everyone Can Tutor Something!
What subjects could you tutor? When it comes to making some extra cash from side gig jobs, everyone can tutor something. Choose a topic that fits your expertise and passion when choosing your tutoring subjects. Some of the best teachers and tutors are those who are passionate about their tutoring subjects and show up to work because they love their jobs. Think back to your favorite classes in school or a class you took to learn a hobby, and I bet that one of the reasons you loved the class was because the teacher loved teaching about it. The same goes for choosing side gig jobs. Start with something you love. Choose what you are comfortable with and knowledgeable about. If you love math, decide if you prefer tutoring younger or older students and go from there. If you enjoy sewing, what about starting with teaching a class on hemming a pair of pants or making a tote bag? Are you great a coding? Offer a week-long coding class to kids in your area and see where it goes. Everyone can tutor something. The list below can help you get started when choosing side gig jobs and tutoring subjects. Here…
My Child’s Teacher Emailed Me About Academic Concerns—Now What?
Which school teacher has the best communication style? If you’ve ever received a note from your child’s teacher about academic concerns, saying they’re struggling to organize ideas in writing, apply math concepts to real life, or make inferences while reading, you’re not alone. Many parents see these messages and wonder, What does that actually mean? And how can I help at home? I hear this concern from friends and family all the time. Instead of asking the teacher for clarification, they turn to me for advice—worried they might sound uninformed. But here’s the truth: It’s not ignorance or bad parenting. It’s a language barrier! Teachers often use academic terms that parents may not be familiar with, making it hard to translate concerns into actionable steps. That’s where I come in. I break down what these academic concerns actually look like in the classroom and offer practical, at-home strategies and academic resources to support your child. And here’s my number one tip—don’t be afraid to email the teacher back! Teachers and tutors are on your child’s academic team and can provide valuable insight into what will help. Below, you’ll find 10 common academic concerns for elementary and middle school students—what they…
Effective Family Communication: How to Keep Everyone on the Same Page
Out of 5, how many stars would you rate the effectiveness of your family communication? Improve effective family communication in a busy household by using a shared calendar, making time to finish important conversations, and having regular marriage check-ins. Poor communication weakens the family and leads to conflict. Which one of these areas would help improve your effective family communication star rating? Use a shared family calendar How to keep everyone on one page is LITERALLY keeping everyone on the same calendar page. Way back in the days of a paper calendar hung in the kitchen, my husband would tell people he had to check the calendar before committing to an event. When our kids were in middle school, we gave them access to my digital Google calendar so they could check the calendar before even asking us permission to attend an outing. My aging mom has access to my calendar so she can schedule doctor appointments when I am available to drive. When my adult kids call me now it usually starts with “I checked your calendar and saw you didn’t have a client right now.” Knowing what’s on the family calendar can be the first step to effective…
Time Management for Kids: Simple Tips to Help Students Stay on Track
Is it harder for you to estimate how long it will take to do a task or to manage your time appropriately while doing the task? As mentioned in a previous post on executive function, time management for kids is the ability to estimate how much time a task will take and manage time appropriately. In school, this can look like completing work within a deadline, knowing how long to study for an upcoming quiz or test, and budgeting time for other daily tasks and breaks. Common struggles students face are procrastination or underestimating how long a task will take. Here are tips and tools to help improve and reinforce time management for kids. Why time matters Part of school education is learning how to manage time and finish assignments within a deadline. Younger grades typically have one assignment at a time, whereas older grades have assignments for each class and further out deadlines. The benefits of time management are reduced stress, improved academic performance, and increased confidence and independence. Teaching students the benefits is as important as the skill itself. Knowing the why encourages independence as they learn to manage their workload effectively. Common challenges for students When students…
10 Practical Executive Function Activities for Students: A Guide for Parents and Tutors
What are some of the main categories of executive functioning? Good kids may often say “I forgot” and genuinely not know how to stop forgetting to do homework assignments or turn in their work on time unless parents and tutors use executive function activities for students to help train their brains to focus and manage tasks. When it comes to supporting school-aged children, understanding the key categories of executive functioning is crucial. Executive functioning refers to the mental skills that help children plan, focus attention, remember instructions, and manage multiple tasks. These cognitive skills are essential for success in school, relationships, and life in general. Here are 10 main categories of executive functioning that parents and tutors should know about along with examples and executive function activities for students. Tutors can easily incorporate a tip or strategy into a tutoring session to help build executive function skills and parents can continue to reinforce the strategy at home. 1. Self-Control Definition: The ability to control impulses and resist distractions, staying focused Examples in school: Not interrupting others in class, waiting your turn, and resisting the urge to play during study time. Practical Tips and Strategies for Improvement: Use visual reminders, such…
Building Blocks for Success: How Executive Function Skills Support Learning and Life
What are some of the main components of executive function skills? Success in learning, living, and leading starts with strong executive function skills, and without this building block, many students struggle academically, personally, and socially. Executive function skills help us stay organized, manage our time, control our emotions, and make good decisions. These skills are important for getting work done, handling challenges, and doing well in school and with friends. Many students (and adults) struggle with developing these skills without intentional guidance. Edutopia sums it up nicely with this quote: “Executive function is the brain’s air traffic controller, intercepting a tangle of thoughts and impulses and steering them toward safe, productive outcomes.” What Are Executive Function Skills? Five key components of executive function include planning, organizing, time management, emotional regulation, and flexibility. Planning: Setting goals and figuring out steps to achieve them. Organization: Keeping materials and thoughts in order. Time Management: Using time wisely to complete tasks. Emotional Regulation: Staying calm and focused under pressure. Flexibility: Adapting to new situations or solving unexpected problems. These key components help us be successful in learning, living, and leading throughout our lives. Why Are Executive Function Skills Important? Executive function skills impact schoolwork,…