Academic Coaching in Charlotte, NC

1-on-1 Academic Coaching in Charlotte

Help Your Student Keep Up With Schoolwork

Your child may understand what’s being taught and still struggle to keep track of assignments, start homework, manage a long-term project, or prepare for a test before the night before.

When those problems happen across several classes, repeatedly telling a student to “get organized” usually doesn’t explain what to do differently.

Swan Learning Center provides one-on-one academic coaching for middle and high school students in Charlotte. Coaching focuses on the habits behind schoolwork: planning, managing time, organizing materials, studying effectively, and following through.

We work with families near Cotswold, SouthPark, Uptown Charlotte, and surrounding communities who want more structure, stronger study habits, and better academic follow-through for their students.

What Does an Academic Coach Actually Help With?

Academic coaching focuses on managing the work that surrounds learning.

A student may know how to solve the math problems but forget to submit the assignment. Another student may understand the material in history but wait until Thursday night to begin a project due Friday. A third may spend an hour “studying” without knowing whether they actually understand what will be on the test.

An academic coach helps make those problems more manageable.

Depending on the student, that may mean reviewing upcoming assignments, deciding what needs attention first, breaking a large project into smaller steps, organizing notes and materials, or developing a realistic plan for studying before a test.

The student is an active part of that process. Rather than simply being told what to do, the student practices using a strategy with real schoolwork and learns to recognize when that strategy needs to change.

When Academic Coaching May Be Worth Considering

Academic coaching may be worth discussing when you repeatedly see situations like these:

• Homework is completed but never turned in.
• Your student regularly discovers assignments at the last minute.
• Long-term projects are ignored because your child doesn’t know where to begin.
• Studying consists mostly of rereading notes without checking whether the material is understood.
• Your student underestimates how long homework will take.
• Papers, notes, folders, and online assignments are difficult to keep organized.
• You spend much of the evening reminding your child what needs to be done.
• Grades don’t seem to reflect what your child actually understands.

These patterns don’t automatically tell us why a student is struggling. That’s important. A student who can’t finish math homework may need help with organization, with the math itself, or with both.

The goal is to identify the part of the school routine that’s breaking down and give the student something practical to work on.

Academic Coaching, Study Skills, or Subject Tutoring?

These services can overlap, but they don’t always start with the same problem.

Academic coaching is useful to discuss when the recurring difficulty is managing responsibilities across classes—keeping track of assignments, planning ahead, starting work, following through, and balancing competing deadlines.

Study Skills focuses more specifically on strategies students can use when learning: taking useful notes, reading for understanding, organizing study materials, preparing for tests, and managing study time.

Subject tutoring focuses on the academic material itself. A student struggling with Algebra II may need help understanding equations. A student who understands Algebra II but repeatedly forgets assignments may have a different problem.

Some students need support in more than one area. You don’t have to diagnose the problem before contacting Swan. Tell us what’s happening, and we can discuss which type of support may be appropriate.

Building Better Habits Around Schoolwork

You may hear planning, organization, task initiation, and time management described as executive function skills. For students, those skills show up in very ordinary situations.

• Can I remember what needs to be done?
• Can I figure out where to start?
• Can I estimate how long something will take?
• Can I keep the materials I need in one place?
• Can I notice when my original plan isn’t working and make an adjustment?

Academic coaching gives students opportunities to practice these skills with the schoolwork already in front of them.

Instead of simply saying “work on your history project,” for example, the student might identify the first three steps, decide which one can realistically be completed tonight, and put the next step somewhere they will actually see it.

The goal isn’t to create a perfect planner. It’s to help the student develop routines that are realistic enough to use during an actual school week.

What Academic Coaching Can Look Like in a Busy School Week

The example below is illustrative. It is not based on a specific Swan student.

Imagine a student has a vocabulary quiz Wednesday, a science test Thursday, and a history project due Friday.

Their planner simply says:

Study. Work on project.

That’s technically a plan—but it doesn’t tell the student what to do.

A coach might help the student turn those vague reminders into specific tasks.

• Monday: Review the vocabulary list for 15 minutes and identify the words that are still difficult. Read the history-project directions and choose two sources.
• Tuesday: Quiz yourself on the vocabulary words. Take notes from the first history source. Review the first half of the science study guide.
• Wednesday: Complete the vocabulary quiz. Finish the history notes and create an outline. Review the second half of the science material.
• Thursday: Take the science test. Draft the history project using the outline.
• Friday: Review the project against the teacher’s directions and submit it.

The point isn’t that every student should use this exact schedule. The important skill is learning to turn “study” or “do project” into specific actions that can actually be completed.

That’s the kind of planning students can practice during academic coaching.

Meet Jenny Beaumont at Swan Learning Center

Jenny Beaumont is the owner of Swan Learning Center and helps shape the center’s mission around personalized academic support for Charlotte-area students.

Jenny’s academic background includes a BA in English and Business and a Master’s in Religious Studies. Her background also includes coaching-related training that supports a holistic approach to student growth.

When you contact Swan about academic coaching, the goal is to understand what is happening with your student now and determine whether coaching, study skills support, subject tutoring, or another service is the best fit.

If a specific academic coach will work with your student, Swan can discuss that coach’s background, session structure, scheduling, and how parent updates are handled before you begin.

What Would You Like School Nights to Look Like?

When parents contact Swan about academic coaching, it helps to describe what is happening now.

Maybe homework regularly stretches late into the evening. Maybe your student has good grades but needs constant reminders. Maybe a capable high school student is overwhelmed by several demanding classes at once.

Tell us your student’s grade, what seems to be breaking down, and what you would like them to be able to manage more independently.

From there, we can discuss whether academic coaching fits the support you’re looking for, who would work with your student, and what current scheduling options are available.

Academic Coaching FAQ