Beshpin, I'll take that under advisement with all the weight it deserves.  I'm sure I know absolutely nothing about study habits, I mean I'm only a Canada Scholar who achieved a 3.4 average while a single mother.

Oh my goodness - just have to jump in here after reading the above post.  Organization is EVERYTHING in junior high and high school.  Without basic organization skills, unless your child has a terrific memory for - well, for everything, it is so difficult for them to keep on top of their studies.

somegirl, some kids just aren't ready to take on all the responsibilities of junior high themselves yet.   My son is in grade 8 - first year of high school here - and our after school routine is that he brings me his binder and loose worksheets, which we organize, and then write down all his assignments on homework sheets.  Then we make aplan for homework and I sit with him and guide him through it.  A lot of people would say that by grade 8 kids "should" be doing this on their own, but many kids are just not developmentally ready, including my son.  He still works hard - I don't do it for him - but he's just not ready to handle the whole thing on his own so I support him.  My daughter on the other hand has been super organized and responsible since grade 4 - so different strategies for different learning styles.   

 I did that sort of thing too Diana

Also somegirl, I found it really helpful to assist them in understanding how to study.

Particularily if kids are very bright, in earlier grades they don't often hae to study too much to know the work.

That changes as the work gets harder.

So i woudl help by working with him to set up a study guide.  dividing up the evening into 30 minute or 45 mintue sections with one chapter to do , then a break

much better than countless hours in his room

I agree with the above posts. Organization is the battle half won.

Well, as someone who has recently been through middle school, I would be happy to give you a few tips that got me through it:

- Good studying habits are key. If you and/or your child is worried about their grades, now is the time to impliment healthy studying habits for tests. The higher the grade, the more the test is worth, and the harder the tests get. Grade seven is a good time to start this.

- Make sure that he has a healthy balance of school, sports, and a social life. Possibly make Mon., Wed., Fri., for sports after school, and Tues. and Thurs. dedicated to homework for 2 hours (or until he has finished it). Make weekends a time to hang out with his friends, watch tv, and 'veg' out. You only get to be young once, so you might as well relax a little.
 

- This may sound judgemental, but now that he is in middle school, make sure of this: Dress his age. Do not send him out wearing Pokemon shirts/khaki pants... my mother did that, and that was the hugest mistake she could have made. Luckily, I rebounded with nice clothing. This should not be a huge worry, but make him dress his age, because middle school is a mean place if you dress like a 5 year old. '

- Don't become to involved with the school. I personally think this is not  a good thing to do. Your child is one thing at home, and another at school. While he may love you, he cannot be dependant on you at all places he goes. Interact with his teacher, but don't immerse yourself in parent volunteer activities and classroom outings.

HOPE THIS HELPS!!!

Welcome just-dance . Glad to meet you

wow - those are some pretty wise thoughts, especially for someone just out of middle school, just-dance!

Thanks, to both of you. I thought I might have a few good ideas, as I am now in grade 11. Middle school (either than grade six) was not a fun experience for me, and looking back, I can easily pin-point on what I (I will not blame my mother) could have done to make things more livable.

Just_dance, Diana and Lastpointe, thanks so much.  Only one of the teachers puts homework on the website, so that makes it a little difficult to keep tabs on all his classes.  He lost his agenda so I've asked him to put a couple of pages at the front of his binder and to write down what is coming up and when it is due.

Just_dance, funny you should mention clothes.  This is the first year that he has chosen most of his own clothes instead of us just buying it for him.  The rule is:  if he wants to choose his own clothes he has to come to the store and try it on, otherwise he has to wear what I buy him.  He's usually happy to come to the store with me to buy his clothes now.  Also I like your idea about managing his time for homework.  He does have music 3 evenings a week so if he can get everything done on the other days then he wouldn't have anything to do on the weekend.  Also it might help him to get into the habit of doing things right away instead of putting it off until the last minute.

Beshpin, I'm not the one acting like a juvenile. If you'd like to share your knowledge on what I should do then please feel free and I would gladly take it under consideration.  I'd love to have more skills in my parenting bag of tricks.  All you are doing is berating me and not adding anything at all to the discussion or being helpful in any way.  If that isn't juvenile, I'm sure I don't know what is. 

I've been teaching at a middle school for nearly 10 years and I'd say that about 75% of the kids who start find that their marks drop dramatically in the first term, and yes, organization is the main problem for the vast majority of the kids.  I'll open a kid's binder and he has all of the subjects mixed together and can't find anything, which leads to spending half the time looking for stuff that he finally realizes he threw out 3 days earlier and he has to start all over again.  Work doesn't get done efficiently and the child spends all his time rushing at the last minute to finish things that he didn't even know were due until the day before when someone mentions it.  One of the main skills that we push at our school is using the agenda properly to keep track of when things are due and to help organize time as well so that kids get things done a bit each day instead of in a mad rush.  The connection between organization and marks is probably one of the most direct connections I've ever seen as a teacher.  Even a child with severe learning disabilities is helped enormously by having things organized.  Yes, there are some kids who succeed even though they are very disorganized (myself included) but they are very rare and they are usually gifted kids...and even they find a huge increase in their marks when they get stuff organized.

Beshpin - you are mixing up learning with grades.  Yes, you can learn academic content if you are disorganized.  You may even master the concepts quite easily if you are academically capable.  However the reality of middle/high school is that unless you can produce the assignment that shows the teacher what you know, you will get poor grades.  I don't get the sense that somegirl is worried about her son's ability to learn, but rather his ability to maintain good grades.   Organization may not be the key to learning, but it is the key to good grades in school for most students.

 Somegirl, great idea about getting your son organized!  I remember in grade 7 a teacher asked to borrow my binder to show to a student who wasn't doing so well.  Luckily, he gave me notice so I was able to scramble and get my binder organized.

I did well in school, but always wasted a ton of time before a test finding all my notes and putting them in order!

"The largest failure of the public education system is teaching children how to write essays. Perhaps you should show your son a couple of examples of well-written essays, explain why they are good and offer editing services. "

He's in grade 7.  They're still learning to write paragraphs. 

I notice Somegirl that he has lost his agenda.

Get a new one.  It's an important tool.

When he gets assignments, have him write the Due date in .  Then back track the work so he understands what to have completed by what date.

I encouraged my kids to write each classes homework in as it was assigned to help them know what to take home at the end of the day.

Essay writing is important but I imagine that in grade 7 a big part of the English course is writing a formal essay.  At least it was for my son.  The 5 Paragraph essay which then becomes the format for all formal writing/essays.  I would ask the English teacher about it.

Actual work may be an issue too and the rotating teachers.  He may be having trouble adjusting to the new style ever hour.  If he is not a kid who likes to read or is good at reading that may also be catching up to him. 

I found my kids did best when work was divided into bite size pieces.  MATH Chapter 3 for 45 minutes, then a break, then English for 45 minutes....... i  had my kids do their homework with me in the kitchen.  It helped me see what was difficult and it helped them not flounder doing nothing for an hour and then get frustrated

I may be mis-remembering as junior high was a while ago but by the time I was in grade 7 I am pretty sure we were having to write short essays and short stories, for that matter I think we had to do so in grades 5 and 6 (the short stories any way).  If this kid is in grade 7 and still can't construct a paragraph I'd say he needs major help in that area.

*sigh*  maybe it varies from province to province, but in BC the prescribed learning outcomes indicate that the 5 paragraph essay is to be taught in grade 10.  Until then, children are taught to construct proper paragraphs - narrative, expository, persuasive, etc..  It's not an easy process to master.  And of course they write stories and poems and other compositions and write in journals and a whole bunch of other things.....they just shouldn't be writing formal essays in grade 7.  They're not developmentally ready.  Sorry to be off topic. 

Guess it does depend on the province and school.  Granted my son did an advanced program.

Beshpin - your long post was interesting, and added to the conversation.  To tie it into organization, how easy is it for a kid to be focused & organized on school stuff, when they are tripping over gangly feet, wondering if they are cool enough, still young enough to like pokemon, but old enough to know they'll get teased for it, still tender &  young (yes a 12 year old is sometimes still a little kid) and yet strong & confident & funny (becaues yes a 12 year old is starting towards independence and capability).  Organization is sometimes elusive.  I wonder if gender might have something to do with it, though not in a black & white way.  I think it helps with expectations of teachers to be organized, but it adds another layer of pressure.

I've noticed that my kids don't bring home much homework, and it is hard for me to get a feel for teacher's expectations.  I don't find it easy to keep on top of how they are doing, because a test comes home with a good mark, but the assignments in class were poorly done and voila - bad grade.