Thank you from Clare

Wishing you and your family a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, and a look into what 2023 will have in store at Cram Lab.

Hiya folks,

Well we’ve made it. Clinging on by the skin of our teeth, Christmas is days away and the end of another tough year is almost behind us.

This will probably be my last post of the year, so I just wanted to say a couple of things before we completely clock off and start enjoying some well deserved Christmas cheer.

Thank you so much

Firstly, I want to say a ginormous thank you for being one of the first subscribers to Cram Lab, which I only launched in September this year. It means so much to me that you hit that Subscribe button. I will do my very best to make sure that every email that pops into your Inbox is worth your precious time and attention.

The year that’s been

The first half of the year can be summed up pretty succinctly; Covid Covid Covid Omicron isolation working from home for what feels like an eternity gahhhh.

No need to dwell on that.

But come September the start of my maternity leave allowed me to finish up all of the resources I had been making all year and finally launch Cram Lab, both here on Substack and Cramlab.org.

I had been writing about studying for ages on another website called The Study Gurus, but it was an old Wordpress site that was difficult to update etc, and for years I had not been giving it the love it deserved due to having kids and working.

But now, Cram Lab is my main focus and what motivates me is the thought of helping struggling teens. No teenager should fail an exam because they don’t know how to study.

Every teen has a tonne of potential inside of them, but many don’t have the study tools they need to reach their academic potential.

Also in September, our third (and final) kiddo — Isobel — arrived.

Izzy and me.

What 2023 has in store

First item on the agenda for 2023 — I am going to knuckle down and re-release my teen-friendly digital study guides.

Covering all aspects of exam preparation in particular, these guides will be kind of like a study fairy-godmother for any teen who doesn’t really know how to prepare for exams.

My entire aim with Cram Lab is to help your teen develop their own unique Study System so they know how to study and prepare for exams in a way that works for them, and these guides will facilitate that process by going through all of the major aspects of studying. More on this in the new year.

Apart from that, my focus will be here on Substack. I think this is the place where we can build a community of parents going through similar struggles with their teen; a place where we can help each other with study ideas for your teenagers and talk it out in the comments in a safe and friendly wee corner of the Internet.

There is also the new subscriber Chat function that will be a great place to hash out more off the cuff thoughts / ideas/ tips.

What’s going on with you?

And finally, I want to hear from you.

I am here to pour out everything I know about studying, but I will be able to help much more if you tell me, specifically, what types of study problems your teen is dealing with. Motivation? Concentration? Study skills? Essay writing? Exam nerves?

To that end I have opened up the comments below to everyone, not just paying subscribers, so if there are any topics you would like me to cover in 2023, let me know in the comments below — I would love to hear from you.

Thank you so much again for subscribing. I am pumped for 2023 — let it be the year we get your teen’s study on track.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays,

Clare

The beach a few days ago - one of my favourite spots in Auckland.