It's National School Success month! And just recently, the families here at Alvis received donations from the Tom Fennessy/ Mike Harden Back-to-School Project! Their organization has been around since 1998, providing backpacks and school supplies to disadvantaged children. Their goal is to give children the same opportunity and tools as their peers to build their confidence. Here at Alvis, we would want to say a special thank you to every volunteer that helped organize and pass out school supplies to the children. Many parents and guardians were relieved from the stress and pressure of buying school supplies by the many donations provided by The Tom Fennessy/Mike Harden Back-to-School Project.
The start of a new school year brings about new teachers, friends, football games, and a fresh start for the rest of the year. A lot has changed in only a few short summer months, and classes are looking different this year. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, many parents take a more "non-traditional" approach by homeschooling their children or taking online and in-person courses. The one thing all these methods of teaching have in common is that academics are the priority. Whatever decisions parents make, the ultimate goal is to progress their child's academic careers.
September is also the month of setting goals, not only academic goals but new lifestyle goals. I like to think of National School Success month as a Fall "New Year's Eve" society tells us that we can only start over once out of the year, but at Alvis, we believe anyone can start new goals and create healthy life choices any day of the year. When setting goals, remember to also make your goal reasonable. If we don't give ourselves a fair amount of time to complete our goals, we are ultimately setting ourselves up for failure.
Alvis provides many programs and services dedicated to guiding our clients in creating attainable, long term, and short-term goals. From helping our DD clients enter the workforce to developing personalized treatment programs for our Reentry clients at Alvis, we are all about assisting people in becoming better versions of themselves.
Why is goal setting necessary? Before we begin by answering why goal setting is essential, we must ask ourselves, 'what is a goal?' According to the Oxford dictionary, a goal is "the object of a person's ambition or effort; an aim or desired results." When we set goals, we can turn our focus on something positive that benefits us. It is especially important to our clients to Alvis when our clients develop their goals; it gives them an exact destination as to where they want to go. Our trained staff uses a holistic view to create personalized plans to help them reach goals. With setting goals, we subconsciously stay away from any distractions that will deter our clients.
Not only is goal setting a critical way to start the school year, but creating a routine for yourself and family is also beneficial. Studies have shown that routines are essential to creating home life stability for both adults and children. Many people who don't have daily routines typically; are more stressed, have poor eating habits, and have inadequate sleep patterns. Creating a routine can be fun! Many families find that hanging up large poster boards on their walls detailing the days' task help them stay on track and accomplish their goals. A great tip is to sit down with your family and delegate tasks to each household member. Whether that be someone is tasked with making lunches or washing the dishes in the evening.
Creating a routine that delegates tasks help relieve the minor stresses of the day. With schools starting back up, it's essential to set specific times for children to complete homework and relax. Establishing a bedtime routine also takes away the stress off of parents. When children go to bed simultaneously every day, parents have time for self-care to focus on themselves. Creating a daily routine will develop good habits for your children to take with them for the rest of their lives.
Alvis offers many programs designed for our clients to create routines for themselves and their families. National School Success month is not only about the children starting a new school year. Here at Alvis, we have various programs and services helping our clients that support our client's growth. Whether Workforce Development, Behavioral Health, Developmental Disabilities(DD), Community Reentry or Family and Children, most of our programs offer many benefits that further our clients' academic careers, as well as their children's development. Don't let the pandemic stop you from completing your goals and daily routine! Make September the month of new goals and habits!