What I wish I had known when my oldest started middle school...

And more back to school advice you actually want

When Detroit Mom asked me to write a back-to-school piece for middle school parents I enjoyed a little walk down memory lane. I found myself thinking about the advice I wish someone had shared with me before my oldest started middle school 7 years ago. Our family has been through the middle school transition three times now and I’m passing on my veteran mom wisdom to you!

My house will have a high school senior, a sophomore, and a seventh grader in a few weeks. Even as I put it in writing, I find my current reality hard to wrap my head around.  It’s a perfect example of “the years are short but the days are long!”

I find myself nostalgic as the first day of school creeps closer and closer. I’m also reflecting on all that I’ve learned ushering three very different kids through that first day of middle school.

Click here to read about the advice I wish I had when my oldest started middle school many years ago.

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Last year I posted a simple question on my Instagram stories in early August:

Recently I posted this question on my Instagram story: “What is your biggest concern about back to school?” I anticipated questions like, “How do I get my kid to use a planner so he knows what homework he has?” or, “How can I help my child pack their bag quickly enough in the morning that we can actually make the bus on time?”

I did in fact get these questions. However, they aren’t the ones that really made me pause. The ones that really hit me in my heart were a few from parents raising neurodivergent children: “All of it,” “Everything,” or even, “I have no clue where to start, school is so hard for my child.”

These comments threw me on a journey back in time, to when I learned alongside my neurodivergent students how to meet their individual needs as a special education teacher in the early 2000’s. Then, my journey took me even farther back to when I was that neurodivergent child, with zero school confidence.

Read my article and view my VLOG (video blog) Navigating Back to School With Neurodivergent Children to view all of my tried and true tips from nearly three decades in the field and my own experiences!

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Want to see the full 12-minute video with advice from locker combos to folder options to make executive functioning easier for neurodivergent students from elementary to college?

It’s available now for all of my paid subscribers! Enjoy my back to school promotion and upgrade today for $2.50 a month (less than a cup of coffee!!) cancel at any time.

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