Help your child to be successful at school!
Enforce Healthy Habits
You can’t perform well when
you don’t feel good. To help your child have the best chance at doing well in
school, make sure she follows healthy habits at home. Choose a bedtime that
will give your child plenty of sleep, and provide a healthy breakfast each
morning. Encourage exercise, and limit the amount of time she spends watching
TV, playing video games, listening to music, or using the computer.
Stick to a Routine
Most kids thrive on structure
and will respond well to routines that help them organize their days. In our
house, for example, my son gets dressed, makes his bed, and eats breakfast
while I make his lunch and pack his school bag with completed homework and
forms. When he gets home in the afternoon, I serve him a snack and he does his
homework while I prepare dinner. Your routines may differ, but the key is to
make it the same every day so your child knows what to expect.
Create a “Launch Pad”
Veteran parents know it’s
important to have a single place to put backpacks, jackets, shoes, lunchboxes,
and school projects each day. Some call it a “launch pad,” while others call it
a “staging area.” Our area is a hook by the back door.
Whatever you call it, find a
place where your child can keep the items he needs for school each day and keep
him organized. Then you’ll know right where to find everything during the
morning rush.
Designate a Space
At school your child has a
desk or table where she works. There is plenty of light, lots of supplies, and
enough room to work. Why not provide her with the same type of environment for
homework? A designated homework space often makes it easier and more fun for
children to complete assignments at home. A desk is great, but a basket of
supplies and a stretch of kitchen counter work just as well.
Read, Again and Again
It is often said that children
spend the first several years learning to read, and the rest of the lives
reading to learn. The written word is a gateway to all kinds of learning, and
the more you read to your child, the better chance he has of becoming a
proficient and eager reader.
Try to sit down with your
child to read a little bit every day, give him plenty of opportunities to read
out loud to you, as well, and above all have fun. While the importance of
reading with your child cannot be stressed enough, it should not be the cause
of stress.
Learn Always
Your child may be past the
preschool years, but home education is still a critical part of his overall
learning experience. Look for ways to teach your child throughout the day. For
example, cooking combines elements of math and science. Use the time when you
make dinner as an opportunity to read and follow directions, to discuss
fractions, to make hypotheses, and to examine results.
Take the Lead
Children learn by example. Let
your kids “catch” you reading. Take time to learn a new skill and discuss the
experience with them. Sit down and pay bills or do other “homework” while your
kids do their schoolwork.
If you display a strong work
ethic and continually seek out learning opportunities for yourself, your kids
will begin to model that same behavior in their own lives.
Talk Often
Do you know how your child
feels about her classroom, her teacher, and her classmates? If not, ask her.
Talk with her about what she likes and doesn’t like at school. Give her a
chance to express her anxieties, excitements, or disappointments about each day,
and continue to support and encourage her by praising her achievements and
efforts.
Show Interest
Don’t limit your support to
your child; extend it to her teachers as well. Meet the teachers and stay in
regular contact by phone or e-mail so that you can discuss any concerns as they
arise. Not only will it pave the way for you to ask questions, but it will also
make the teachers more comfortable with calling you if they have concerns about
your child.
Expect Success
Perhaps the most important way
you can support your child’s efforts at school is to expect him to succeed.
That doesn’t mean that you demand he be the best student or the best athlete or
the best artist. Rather, let him know that you expect him to do “his best” so
that he’ll be proud of what he can accomplish.
If you make that expectation
clear and provide a home environment that promotes learning, then your child
will have a greater chance of becoming the best student he can be.
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