Mastering High School Online Courses: Closing the Gap

Expecting your child to master their high school online courses may seem like a challenging endeavor; this is especially true when you consider the fact that it is imperative to close the student’s learning gaps that were created from lost summer learning. According to numerous studies, children and teenagers require ongoing opportunities to learn skills and practice those skills. These opportunities will not only allow the child to succeed in school, but, it will also allow them to succeed in life. While it is true that summer is viewed as a wonderful, happy, carefree, and enjoyable time, many of today’s youth experience issues in obtaining access to academic-based opportunities during the months that they are legally released from their school attendance responsibilities. As a result, when it is time to go back to school, many children – especially those in high school – struggle to master their high school online courses. This is particularly true if those courses are math-related. In this academic preparedness guide, you will learn a few steps that will help your teenager achieve success in their online courses.

Basic Statistics
In order to truly grasp the detriment that the summer months has on our children, as far as learning is concerned, consider the following basic statistics:

For a century, numerous studies have been performed on students in order to gauge the learning losses experienced during summer months. It has been established that students receive lower scores on standardized tests at the end of the summer break months than they do when taking the same tests immediately before the start of the summer break months.
Case studies have concluded that, on average, a student will lose approximately two months’ worth of their grade level-based equivalency in math skills over the summer.
Summer learning losses often follow a teenager through their high school years, their college years, and the duration of their adult lives.

Sealing up Learning Gaps
Summer break is considered to be a tradition, among most; however, if your teenager is set up to take high school online courses in conjunction with their traditional classes, it is imperative that you learn a few strategies on how to effectively seal up those learning gaps that developed over break. The following outlines a few tips that will aid in your success:

The very first step in aiding your child in the mastery of their high school online courses is to ensure that both you and your teenager understand the state standards, as far as education is concerned. Not only will this help you to review concepts that have been previously covered and should be known, it will also allow you to know what types of subjects will be presented in the coursework of the academic school year. By knowing what is expected, as outlined by the state in which you reside, your child will be better able to adjust to the standards and work to achieve knowledge in those standards.
The next step in helping your teen do their best in their high school online courses is to ensure that those courses are challenging. It has been determined that, if a student is engaged in coursework that is considered to be highly rigorous, they will perform better in the classroom and on standardized testing.
The third and final step to ensuring success in high school online courses is to make certain that the student has all of the help that they require to be successful. The help may be math aids, a dictionary, a set of encyclopedias or even a tutor! The choice is yours!

Conclusion
Lost summer learning has a detrimental impact on your teen’s ability to succeed in their high school online courses. As the old saying goes, “Practice makes perfect”. If the child is unable to practice their skills, a good portion of those skills will be lost. In this academic guide, you were provided with three different tips that will help your child do their best in their high school online courses. If you would like to learn about more resources to help in mastering high school online courses, click HERE.