Start Your Middle School Experience Off Right

For students in middle school who have never taken an online course before, understanding expectations and how to navigate new material and assignments can take some time. Whether your child is taking their first course or their fifth, here are a few tips to help him or her succeed at FLVS.  

Set Goals and Get Organized.

At FLVS, every course has a Pace Chart. Printing the Pace Charts for each course is highly recommended so that students are more likely to stay on pace. Purchase or print out a monthly calendar. Write down important dates, live lessons that will be attended, school events, deadlines, and other important information. Student planners can be used to write down weekly assignments and allows students to break up assignments evenly over the course of the week. Creating an FLVS binder to house important school information and keeping that handy at your child’s desk can be a great way to stay organized!

Create a Check-In Schedule

Parents/guardians play an important role in ensuring students stay on pace and complete courses
within set time frames. Developing a regular check-in schedule with your child can increase academic success. Choose a set time of the day, perhaps in the afternoons or evenings, and walk through your child’s assignments that were set to be completed throughout the day. Log in to Educator with your child to ensure that quality work was submitted (this can be found via the Gradebook).

Be Aware of Distractions.

It takes a great deal of discipline to be able to avoid distractions and focus on tasks that may or
may not be of particular interest to your child. Whether he/she loves YouTube videos, playing
computer games, or browsing social media, your awareness of these distractions is key to your
child avoiding them. Talk to your child about what distracts him/her and develop a system where
he/she uses that distraction as a brief personal reward for accomplishing school tasks. Look into
a software, such as Rescue Time, that will track website use and user productivity for the day.

Communicate.

Parents/Guardians of students in FLVS are required to have two-way phone contact regularly. Other teachers will frequently call, text, or email to share celebrations and concerns. Be sure to return communications and let the staff know about your communication preference (call, text, or email) and your times of limited availability. Creating a separate parent email for school-related emails is recommended. And, as always, we are here for you! Reach out to us at any time to express your questions, concerns, and positive experiences!