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Writing on executive function, adolescent development, and the transition to high school.
The First Three Weeks Are Not a Grace Period
Ninth grade predicts graduation better than income or test scores. The standard advice tells you to give your freshman time to adjust. Here is what that leaves out, and why the first three weeks are the cheapest time to build.
Your Kid Doesn't Take Notes. That's Not the Problem You Think It Is.
Every slide is posted, and your kid remembers less than you did. Note-taking was always doing two jobs, and school quietly stopped requiring the one that mattered. Here is the skill, and how to start tonight.
Your Teenager Needs Constant Reminders. That Isn't a Discipline Problem.
If your teenager needs constant reminders, the problem usually isn't discipline. Over the years you quietly became their executive function, and handing it back means building the system first, then stepping out, in that order.
The Clock Is Already Running
June is the actual window for preparing a rising 9th grader for high school — not because starting early is good, but because habits need time to become automatic and September doesn't give you that time.
What to Do the Summer Before 9th Grade
Rising 9th grade this fall? Here's what changes in September, why the summer window matters, and three specific skills worth building before school starts.
The Skills Nobody Stopped Teaching
Why fine middle schoolers can't study, take notes, or sustain focus. The cause isn't motivation. It's missing infrastructure that used to form by accident.
What High School Expects That Nobody Taught
Why fine middle schoolers fall apart in 9th grade, what 'operating your own academic system' actually requires, and why the skills used to get built by accident in an older environment.
The Four Ways Families Try to Fix Executive Function (And What Actually Builds the Skill)
A map of the four options families use to build executive function, which fits middle school, and what a serious home program has to do to actually work.
Why Your Middle Schooler Won't Use the Planner You Bought Them
The planner is empty because your middle schooler does not yet have the skills the planner assumes. Here is what to stop doing and why.
Is It Normal for a 12-Year-Old to Forget Everything?
Yes, it is developmentally normal. Here is what is happening in a twelve year old's brain, when forgetting is not just normal, and what actually helps.