With the new school year about two weeks out, Niceville Tutoring owner Rebecca Beard says the most useful thing parents can do right now has nothing to do with textbooks. It is sleep.

• “Get back into a routine and onto a normal sleep schedule, because we know that makes a huge impact,” said Beard, a licensed special education teacher and mother of three. “A lot of us, including in my own house, haven’t been as consistent with sleep, or we’ve been staying up late since it’s Summer.”

Beard, whose own children are entering first grade and kindergarten, said the reset looks different at every age but comes down to easing kids back into a school-year rhythm before the first bell. Younger children may need an earlier, more strictly enforced bedtime, while teenagers who have been up late gaming need a week or so to reset, she said.

The summer slide sneaks up

How much that reset matters depends a bit on how a student finished the last school year. Beard said younger students lose the most ground over the summer, and the effect is even more real for kids who were already behind.

“If they were already falling behind during the school year, and there was no enrichment over the summer, they’re going to notice the results in the first couple of weeks, if not closer to when grades are due,” she said. “So it sneaks up on them.”

That enrichment does not have to be formal. Reading out loud with younger children, educational shows and involving kids in everyday money and allowance decisions all help, she said. Older students in upper elementary through early high school are less at risk, especially if they keep reading through the summer. 

Whether the slide hits math or reading hardest depends truly on the individual child.

The first month at home

For the first month of school, Beard’s advice starts with the basics of sleep, nutrition and a consistent routine.

“I’m not a doctor, but I do know that if your child is well-fed and sleeping at night, academically they’re going to perform better,” she said.

From there, she said, parents of older students should help build organizational habits: 

• Checking the Focus grade portal
• Keeping folders in order
• Staying current on a planner

For goal-oriented kids, small rewards tied to a habit, such as filling out a planner a set number of times, can help the routine stick.

When homework is a nightly battle

Beard said many families come to Niceville Tutoring because homework has become a nightly fight, and the company positions itself as a supplement to keep that struggle from damaging the parent-child relationship. Her approach splits by age.

For younger kids, she said, the goal is keeping the environment positive even when everyone is tired and frustrated. 

• “Whatever you can do to bring in positivity, make it a little more fun, even turn it into a game, can go a long way,” she said, pointing to tools as simple as a sticker chart.

For older students, she leans on clear family expectations, regular check-ins and consequences, while gradually shifting responsibility onto the student. The most valuable thing parents can do, she said, is teach an older child to ask for help, whether from a teacher, a friend or a tutor.

Warning signs in the first weeks

Six to nine weeks into the year, Beard said, the clearest red flags are the obvious ones: falling grades, missing or failing work, a teacher reaching out or low scores on early diagnostic tests. But she urged parents to also listen for how their child talks about school.

“Sometimes it’s just feeling defeated in the classroom, and they don’t know how to fix it, or they don’t know that help is an option,” she said.

The advice she gives differs with age. 

With elementary students, the parent’s job is to be a supportive partner who keeps communication open and helps the child stay confident, she said. By late middle school and high school, she encourages parents to set household expectations while releasing kids toward more independence and ownership of their own grades.

Across grade levels, counties and school types, Beard said the thing students struggle with most has not really changed, and it is not tied to any new curriculum.

“It still boils down to fundamental skills in math and reading, across the board,” she said. When those building blocks are missing, the deficit follows a student into every grade that comes after, including high-level test prep.

Test prep hinges on Algebra 2

For high schoolers eyeing the ACT or SAT, Beard said the right time to start comes down to one class, Algebra 2. Roughly 30% of the SAT math section draws on Algebra 2, and math is half the test, she said, while the ACT math section runs about 20 to 25% Algebra 2.

“If your student hasn’t mostly finished Algebra 2, they’re going to be lost,” she said.

That is why her test-prep team screens families on math coursework before booking anything. If a student has not taken Algebra 2, she said, they often stop the conversation and steer the family toward coursework help instead.

• “We’re not going to let a family invest money when it feels like a lost battle,” she said. The exception is students who need a specific score to meet a graduation requirement. Dual-enrolled and homeschool students who took college algebra, which covers Algebra 2 content, generally qualify, she said.

The team covers the ACT, SAT, CLT and PERT. For juniors who have finished Algebra 2, Beard recommends taking a college-entrance exam this fall and planning to sit for it two or three times with study time in between. Juniors still working through Algebra 2 should wait until the end of the year, then focus hard. Junior year is also the time to start college research, campus visits and honest conversations at home about money.

“Don’t open your whole bank account to your kid, but have those honest conversations about whether there’s money for college,” she said.

Niceville Tutoring offers college planning through two specialists, but Beard said the company keeps that service intentionally small and refers families out as the specialists reach capacity. Its focus remains K-12 tutoring, special education support and test prep.

A growing team

That focus has fueled steady growth. Beard said Niceville Tutoring now has 78 tutors on payroll, up from about 50 a year ago, and is still hiring, particularly for K-5, math, homeschool support and geometry. 

Growing demand from homeschooling families has driven much of the local increase, she said, while a larger social media presence has brought in students from outside the state and region, including a few from India. In a typical busy week, the company runs about 350 tutoring sessions, a number Beard expects to climb into the 400s as the school year gets going.

Beard, who grew up in Niceville, said the reach is only possible because of her staff. Get The Coast reported on just one of the company’s wins at the end of this past school year when Niceville High School graduate Santiago Gavidia cleared a graduation testing hurdle with help from her tutors.

“I started as a one-woman show. I could never have had this much impact on these kids alone,” she said. “It’s nothing we could do without such a large team.” 

Lower-cost options for families

Beard said the company’s next growth area is digital. Niceville Tutoring has begun offering prerecorded online ACT and SAT courses for $99, with printable study guides and ACT cheat sheets in the works. She framed the low-cost products as a way to reach students for whom one-on-one tutoring is out of financial reach.

“There are so many kids who honestly need higher test scores to be able to afford college at all,” she said. “It’s been a blessing to be able to offer this in a more affordable way.”

Niceville Tutoring is also a Step Up for Students provider, and families using the state’s school choice funding can get started by calling or texting the business line. Beard said the funding has let the company reach families, including special needs students, for whom cost had been a barrier.

“We’ve been able to serve so many more kids who might not have had tutoring as an option, just due to finances,” she said.

Getting started

Families interested in tutoring can reach Niceville Tutoring by phone, text or the contact form on its website, nicevilletutoring.com, with staff answering 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Beard said two local team members spend time learning about each child before matching them with a tutor, and the company will tell a family when it is not the right fit.

“Is this in the best interest of the child? That’s always our bottom line,” she said.