Here are tips for helping students in grades 7-8 succeed.

• Encourage your child to follow instructions enclosed with toys, games, or items that require assembly.
• Talk with your child about current issues.
• Help your child complete sample college and job applications.
• Select one stock and follow its daily increases or decreases for a week.
• Have discussions with your child about careers that require specialized training and identify high school courses needed for that field.
• Read books about various cultures and identify similarities and differences.
• Model sound spending and saving practices.
• Discuss how supply and demand impacts lifestyles.
• Help your child understand both sides of a current issue, and encourage him/her to do research to find out more about the issue.
• Discuss advertisements and how they influence purchase choices.
• Have your child interview someone who lived through an historical event.
• Encourage your child to watch TV shows and videos related to biography, history, and science.
• Share with your child musical lyrics, and explain how they reflect the times.
• Support your child's membership in organizations.
• Assist your child in studying the U.S. and Illinois Constitutions.
• Encourage your child to participate in school and/or park district sports activities.
• Expose your child to the fine arts.
• Visit government buildings, financial centers, and ethnic neighborhoods in Chicago.
• Give educational gifts, such as model-making kits, globes, maps, science toys, games, puzzles, microscopes, and telescopes, to your child.
• Encourage your child to work on independent science and history research. For science activities, visit www.chicagostudentsciencefair.org .
• Encourage your child to read a variety of literature (fiction, nonfiction, science fiction, and historical fiction).
• Do a home energy audit with your child.
• Take your child to a restaurant and have him/her determine the tip
• Have your child use newspaper ads to determine the amount saved on discounted items.