The First Six Weeks of School: What Parents Should Watch Before Saying “Let’s Give It Time”
The backpacks are new. The pencils are sharpened. Everyone is still figuring out new teachers, new routines, and new expectations.
And somewhere in the first few weeks of school, a parent will begin to wonder:
Is my child just adjusting, or is something actually wrong?
It is a difficult question because the beginning of the school year does require an adjustment period. Children are getting back into routines after summer. Teachers are learning their students. Academic expectations are changing. A little frustration, fatigue, or rust is completely normal.
But sometimes the struggles that appear in September aren't simply back-to-school growing pains.
They are the same struggles a child had last spring.
And that's when “let's give it time” deserves a closer look.
Waiting Isn't the Problem. Waiting Without a Plan Is.
There are plenty of situations in which giving a child a few weeks to settle in is appropriate.
What concerns me is when wait and see becomes the entire intervention.
If a child is struggling, we should be able to answer two questions:
What exactly are we watching?
and
When will we reevaluate?
The first six weeks of school can actually give parents and teachers valuable information. Rather than waiting for a disappointing report card or a difficult parent-teacher conference, pay attention to the patterns developing now.
Here are some things I would watch.
In Reading
A child who hasn't read much over the summer may initially be a little rusty. That's different from consistently struggling with the underlying skills required for reading.
Pay attention if your child:
guesses at unfamiliar words rather than sounding them out
reads very slowly or laboriously
frequently skips or substitutes words
avoids reading whenever possible
can read a word on one page but doesn't recognize it later
struggles to spell words that seem like they “should” be easy
has difficulty identifying, blending, or manipulating sounds in words
understands a story very well when someone else reads it but struggles when reading independently
One of the most important distinctions is between comprehension and decoding.
A bright, articulate child may have excellent vocabulary, background knowledge, and listening comprehension while still having significant difficulty decoding words. Strong comprehension can sometimes mask a reading problem—especially in the early grades.
If reading continues to feel disproportionately difficult, don't assume a child simply needs to “read more.”
More practice is helpful when a child has the necessary skills.
It is much less helpful when those skills were never securely developed.
In Math
Early math struggles can be easy to dismiss because the child may understand the concept being taught while still lacking important foundational skills.
Watch for a child who:
continues counting on fingers for calculations that should be automatic
has difficulty recalling basic math facts
understands a procedure one day but seems to forget it the next
frequently makes errors because steps are skipped or completed out of order
struggles to determine which operation a word problem requires
becomes overwhelmed when a problem contains several steps
can complete a problem with significant prompting but cannot reproduce the process independently
A student may understand multiplication, for example, while weak fact fluency makes every multiplication problem unnecessarily demanding.
As mathematics becomes more complex, those small gaps begin consuming more and more of a student's working memory.
The result can look like carelessness, rushing, or even a lack of understanding when the real problem is an unstable foundation.
In Executive Functioning
Sometimes the academic skills aren't the primary issue at all.
The beginning of the school year places enormous demands on executive functioning. Students have to remember assignments, manage materials, estimate time, transition between activities, follow multi-step directions, and independently initiate work.
Pay attention if:
homework routinely takes much longer than it should
assignments are completed but never turned in
papers and materials are constantly lost
your child needs repeated reminders just to begin
multi-step assignments feel overwhelming
studying consists mostly of rereading notes the night before a test
your child genuinely seems surprised by deadlines you have discussed repeatedly
evenings are becoming dominated by conflict over schoolwork
Occasional forgotten homework is part of being a student.
A pattern of forgotten homework tells us something different.
Executive functioning skills develop over time, but children who struggle with them often need those skills to be explicitly taught—not simply repeated reminders to “be more organized.”
Look for Patterns, Not Bad Days
One difficult homework night isn't a red flag.
Neither is one failed quiz, one forgotten assignment, or one frustrating reading session.
Instead, look for patterns.
Ask yourself:
Is this happening repeatedly?
Is the amount of effort dramatically greater than the result?
Does my child need significantly more support than I would expect for this age?
Did we see this same struggle last year?
That last question is especially important.
If September looks remarkably similar to March, April, and May, summer probably isn't the explanation.
You Don't Have to Wait for a Child to Fail
There is a persistent idea in education that we need to wait until a child is significantly behind before taking concerns seriously.
We don't.
Early in the school year is actually an excellent time to establish a baseline. A targeted assessment can help determine whether you're seeing normal back-to-school rust, a specific skill gap, or a larger pattern that deserves intervention.
And assessment doesn't have to mean immediately pursuing a diagnosis or launching an intensive intervention plan.
Sometimes assessment simply gives us information.
What can the child do independently?
Where does the breakdown begin?
Which foundational skills are secure?
Which ones aren't?
Once we know that, we can make much better decisions about what comes next.
Give It Time—But Give It a Deadline
If your child's teacher recommends giving things a little time, that can be perfectly reasonable.
Just make the plan more specific.
Instead of:
“Let's see how it goes.”
Try:
“Let's watch these three skills for the next four weeks and check in again at the beginning of October.”
Now everyone knows what they're watching and when the conversation will continue.
The goal isn't to turn every September struggle into a crisis.
It's to make sure a child doesn't spend an entire semester struggling with something we could have identified—and addressed—in the first six weeks.
Because sometimes children really do just need a little time.
And sometimes they need us to notice that they've already been waiting long enough.
