‘A great way to ensure students get the most out of their education is for parents to take an active role.’
As a parent, you are your child’s first and most important teacher. At the new school year, this is a good time to set the tone. So beyond the new school bags, sparkling new uniforms and shiny shoes, we need to ask the important question “How can I help my children succeed in school this year?”
Research shows that children’s performance in school has more to do with parents than with their natural brainpower or even their teachers. So here are a few tips on what you can do to help your child succeed and reach their full potential this school year:
? Set High Expectation
You don’t necessarily have to be a Tiger mum but parental expectations have a huge impact when it comes to student performance. Majority of the students that do well in school enjoy a great deal of parental expectation in their day to day academic activities. If you don’t expect your child to do well, your expectations will likely be met. So start by setting high and realistic expectations for your child’s learning and behaviour in school.
? Get Involved
Children tend to do well in school when their parents are actively involved. Active involves means attending PTA meetings, getting to know your child’s teacher, reviewing homework, discussing with the teacher strategies to help your child, participating in school activities. This in turns makes the teacher provide ways you can support and reinforce at home what your child is learning in school. Most schools have progress reports during the term, review reports and make out time to meet with your child’s teacher if you have concerns or required more information. Whatever you do, get involved.
? Monitor and Support with Homework
Homework help to reinforce classroom learning as well as develop study skills. So it is important that your child learns to see homework as a priority and not as something that is optional. Be consistent. “Consistency is key”. Consistent reading and studying makes your child perform better. Children can’t cram like most adults do. It is what they remember that comes to mind when they need it and the only thing they can remember is what they practice consistently. Lastly, provide guidance with homework. Resist the temptation to do the homework or provide the answers. If your child need extra help consider getting a tutor.
? Support the “Learning Process”
Support the learning process by showing your child that you value education and provide them with powerful models. Reading is also a powerful way to support learning. Reading is one of the most important thing a child needs to help them succeed both in classroom and in life. Building a love for reading helps to support the learning process. Monitor TV/video game and internet usage. These can be major distractions. Lastly, encourage active learning by encouraging them to ask and answer questions, solve problems and explore various interests. Listen to them and respond to their questions (Yes, we know it can be tiring cos they ask so many questions.)
? Let Them Take Responsibility for Learning
Avoid the helicopter parenting style. Allow your kids to engage in some form of critical thinking process about problems at length before asking you for help. Each time you help your child to get the answer to an homework question, or offer too much help in their homework, you have limited that child’s ability to figure things out on his or her own. Teach them to take responsibility and to learn to work independently – these are important qualities for school success. As they grow older its is important that they can on their own identify what they need to do and do it without much prompting. Your role as a parent will then be to monitor.
?Make Learning Fun
The best way to get your child to embrace learning is to make it fun. If parents can make learning fun, kids are more likely to develop a lifelong love of learning and acquire the knowledge better. Learning does not have to be just hours of sitting, writing and reading. You can convert the lessons into games. The kids can pretend that they are word pirates in search for the alphabet treasure. Games are very effective tools of learning. Now you can do just that by encouraging them to play interactive games at www.9ijkids.com. There are a whole lot of fun and engaging educational games that teach Science, Maths, English, Music, Social Studies, Values, etc. Simply subscribe and let the fun begin. ⠀
