Ash_Administrator_Ville June 17, 2015
The transition from elementary to middle school is a struggle for most adolescent girls. They are beginning to mature and seek out opportunities to be independent, while developing vital social and personal skills. Beyond learning a new social structure and the initial stresses of puberty, tween girls who were once successful in school can find themselves facing academic issues for the first time.
Therapeutic boarding schools, such as Asheville Academy, provide help for tweens struggling with not only social and behavioral issues, but also academic issues, as well.
Falling behind
With the increasing size of classes in public schools, some kids who have difficulty understanding might get over looked. There are too many kids and too little time to be able to provide individualized attention for every student. Girls who do not fully understand one topic before the class moves on to a new lesson start to experience a snowball of academic issues. At a therapeutic boarding school, the small class sizes allow teachers to provide the individualized attention needed for students to fully understand the subject.
New kinds of thinking
Some children, who do well in elementary school where most of the learning is concrete and factual, struggle when it comes to the critical thinking skills needed for more abstract middle school subjects. AAG takes the time to learn each girl’s learning styles, making sure she is learning the best way possible.
Social skills, good or bad, influence academic issues
For the social butterfly, school can become a time for catching up with friends or showing off your new outfit. The focus turns toward peers instead of learning. For those girls who struggle with socialization, the stress of working in a group or the influences of bullying can become a distraction. A therapeutic boarding school can help girls with academic issues caused by peers. By eliminating the distractions of the opposite sex and teaching vital social skills, girls learn to balance social development with learning.
Stress from academic pressure
Tween girls are still more than 4 years away from college, but they might already be feeling an overwhelming pressure to succeed in academics. With middle school comes more teachers, more homework, more peers and more responsibility than children are used to. Though good grades and test scores are important, stress from parents, teachers or the change of pace could be causing the child to despise learning.
If your middle-school girl is starting to have academic issues, call us at 800-264-8709 to learn more about our program. Our goal is for every girl to succeed in all areas of her life. AAG can help.
