Time management skills are essential. Students have a tendency to put off assignments, especially if due dates and tests seem distant.  Parents and students should work together on developing a weekly planner.  Parents and students should discuss classroom strategies, such as making sure the student talks to the teacher when confused, following the classroom syllabus and using the syllabus to guide the weekly planner.  It’s important to plan for extra curricular activities.  High school and middle school students should anticipate a minimum of three hours of homework per night.  Students should read when there isn’t homework.  The weekly planner can be instrumental when charting sports, work, religious obligations and the three hours of nightly homework. For parents, a good way to make the planner work is to check the calendar of tasks and ask your student what they are doing in school, not how.  Many students appreciate when the adults in their lives show an interest in the education process, rather than simply asking how they are doing.