Teenagers and school aren't always an easy match. If you find yourself filled with worries and doubts, you are far from alone.

You might find yourself worrying…


  • .    Are they ever going to learn how to manage their time effectively on their own? Am I helping too much?
  • Does it always have to be this stressful to manage school?
  • Why won't they just use a planner?!?
  • Is there a way for them to take care of school tasks without all the stress and worry?
  • Are we doing something wrong?

Ok. The answer to that last point is NO! We all want to see our kids happily moving in the direction of their potential, able to manage the inevitable stress and frustration that comes with growth, and gain the competence they need to create a good life for themselves in school and beyond. 

 

The problem is most teenagers, but especially ones with ADHD and other learning differences, don’t have a strong executive functioning system to help them with essential skills for handling increasing demands of school.

Executive functioning is a set of mental skills involved in setting goals, planning and getting things done without getting too derailed by distraction and emotion that don't fully develop in a typical student until they are in their mid-20's! But they need those skills much earlier to thrive in school, before they are fully cooked. To complicate matters, executive functions are also the first to go off line when a person experiences stress. 

 

Executive function weakness can make important skills for school much harder like:

  • organizing time and tasks
  • managing emotions when disappointed, bored, or challenged, without getting overwhelmed or derailed
  • holding longer term goals in mind while dealing with the distractions and impulses in the present

- to name just a few!

So, what's the solution?

Introducing Happy Grades!

Happy Grades uses a new approach to supporting executive functioning skills. One that uses the science of happiness as a bridge to activate and strengthen their ability to be more happily productive with a set of simple, practical strategies they can make routine habits that will support them well beyond school. This self-paced online course shows students how to untangle from unnecessary stress and resistance in order to:

  • Manage Procrastination
  • Develop Internal Motivation
  • Organize essentials required for school 
  • Manage time and tasks 
  • Maintain Focus (strategies designed specifically with students with ADHD in mind, but work for all!) 
  • Study with more efficiency 
  • Regulate emotions and decrease stress*

*Don’t sleep on this last bullet point! Most programs that aim to help students develop executive functioning skills don’t give much attention to emotional resilience and it’s what I find to be the glue that gets all the other skills and strategies to stick. 

 

Happy Grades helps students get out of the cycle of using adrenaline and cortisol (and constant friction from parents and teachers) to motivate and get things done. 


The Happy Grades method turns the “hair on fire moments” into “I can handle this” moments.

Course curriculum

    1. Welcome and a few notes to get started

    1. Introduction to Get Peaceful

    2. Set a Voal

    3. WOOP

    4. Declutter

    5. BONUS: The All in One Binder System

    1. Introduction to Get Playful

    2. Plan for Play

    3. Small things are fun to play with

    4. Make it stick by story telling

    1. Introduction to Get Sensitive

    2. Fake it till you make it game

    3. Thinking outside the brain

    4. HEAL’ing the negativity bias

    5. Conclusion to Get Sense-itive

    1. Introduction to Get Social

    2. Captain Kirk and Spock

    3. From compare-despair to compare and care

    4. Getting Social All by Yourself

About this course

  • $50.00
  • 19 lessons
  • 2.5 hours of video content

What others say about working with Tricia Underwood

Tricia has been working with teenagers who struggle to keep up with the demands of high school as an inclusion teacher, learning specialist and private executive functioning coach for over 20 years. She distills the lessons and strategies she shares with her 1:1 clients to get these results -->

  • Parent of a 9th grader: It’s helped me back off of her, and let her fly a little on her own…with your support. She’s so much happier this year. You are so key in that. Thank you thank you thank you!

  • 11th grade student in Atlanta, GA: Before coaching, I used to be overwhelmed by my school work which led me to not put as much effort as I could into doing homework each night. I frequently napped after school and did my school work last minute. Now I feel much more organized in school. Whether that be my binder situtation or scheduling out my work, Tricia made school more manageable for me.

  • There is no doubt that your work with Zoe is having a big impact. She is thriving and enjoying life more than ever. She is on top of her work like never before and more confident than ever before.

  • 9th grade student in Decatur High School: I feel much better now. When I first started, I had a huge problem with not really listening and paying attention. And that was on top of procrastinating and having a bunch of work I didn't have the motivation to do. But now, I have a better schedule, I work more regularly, and I'm more organized. I'm not getting distracted. Well, I still do, but I can pull myself back.

So, how does it work?

The videos are kept short, between 5-15 minutes, and each one is accompanied by a worksheet with “guided notes,” a proven way to help students pay attention to new information and retain it. Each video and worksheet also has an activity to complete so students can apply it to their real life. Each Module concludes with a simple, creative activity for making learning stick that can be easily applied to other subjects!

  • Bonus all-in-one organization strategy

    A bonus video with the all-in-one organizational strategy I teach to all my clients because it works so well for keeping backpacks and school papers easy to organize and access - especially for students who are more “stuffers” than “sorters.”

  • Lifetime Access and Re-printable worksheets

    Lifetime access, so you can re-print the worksheets and use again for other children in the family or as a refresher for one student any time they need it.

  • Realistic Content Students Need

    Students will learn relevant and accessible strategies for setting goals, organizing habits, time and tasks, managing procrastination, and how to deal with the emotions that stall them out. They will also learn why these particular strategies are a match for the way their brain and nervous system function at this time in their life.

Enroll in Happy Grades Now

Once you click the link, you can purchase the course. Worksheets for each video are downloadable and printable. Due to the digital nature of this product, I am not able to offer refunds. If you need technical support with accessing the materials, please let me know.