The start of a new school year always brings up a ton of emotions, lots of change, new and different responsibilities and new people. Even for the parents, there are new people and new experiences and new challenges. As I was watching a DIY tv show the other day the homeowner said that one of the biggest lessons they got out of the whole project was the amount of respect that needed to be given to a project of that type and scale. And it got me thinking about how this time of year is really one big lesson in respecting boundaries, respecting whatever emotions people feel, whatever space they need to adjust, and the support to navigate to this new stage in their life. And this respect needs to be for others as they navigate as well as yourself as you navigate too!
If we start with the understanding that it is a challenging season, and we accept it for what it is, rather than fighting it and being miserable about it, it will be a lot easier to find the ways that work for us, accept the support and help we need and get to enjoy at least some of the month of September, and just as important, we’ll hopefully set ourselves up for success for the entire rest of the school year. I don’t know about you, but as a kid I would have loved to get to June and not only be incredibly thankful that I made it and it was finally done, but that the school year really helped me grow and learn as a person with lessons that I felt confident and positive about taking into the future.
So where do we begin? First I think it begins with being open to trying something different. Yes, you’ve “done school” before, but with each new year you’re learning new things and with different people and have different teachers, and I know from my years of schooling and the learning I’ve done since then that there’s almost always more than one way, if not several ways, to do something. Take a simple math problem like ways to get to the number 10: you could add 5+5, you could subtract 10 from 20, you could multiply 5×2, you could divide 100 by 10. All gets you to the same result but there are reasons to do each of them. Sometimes it’s easier to do things one way and other times it’s easier to do it a different way, and you don’t know what options you have until you’ve been given the opportunity to learn all the different ways you can do it.
Second, it begins with something that is so quintessential classroom and school: remembering that you’re not alone in this journey. I’m thankful that most of my teachers were always open to hearing our questions and helping us understand or work through what we didn’t understand. The good news is that even if the teachers in your life or your kid’s lives aren’t the kind to help you/them through things, there are tons of tutors, coaches, consultants and even parents, grandparents and siblings who can step up and help get you and them to a place where you’re not only comfortable but confident too.
Finally, the answer is always patience. I think we do ourselves a disservice often by wrapping education and learning into the tests and finals and months that we do because it segments things in ways that don’t really help us build on what we’ve learned or understand the connections, or do anything but feel overwhelmed with all we’re trying to learn and process at the same time. So a big key to having a successful school year, or any successful learning endeavor, is to be patient with yourself and others who are involved. Part of that patience is about communication and learning how to express what you don’t understand or what you’re struggling with, as well as communicating the information or perspective in different ways that might help the other person learn or understand better.
Yes, learning is a necessary part of our lives, but it doesn’t have to be the necessary evil that it sometimes turns out to be. As you navigate this new school year with your kids, or maybe a new school year for yourself, or just a new learning opportunity that has come your way, I encourage you to have a healthy respect for the time, work, effort and end result that you hope to achieve.