How To Help Your Child At School

 

 

With back to school time here for our children, many of us parents and breathing a sigh of relief. Already planning what to do with your newly found free time? Just because your children are back in school for the year, it doesn’t mean you can suddenly delegate all of their education and learning to their teachers. Learn how to help your child at school.

Be Involved To Help Your Child At School

In order to provide the best support for your child, it’s important that you stay informed about what’s going on at their school. Many hard-working parents don’t have time to join the PTA or to attend hundreds of school events a year but that doesn’t mean we can’t get involved in other ways.

Know your child’s teachers’ names and communicate with them. Parent -Teacher nights, school open houses and conferences are great opportunities to get to know your child’s teachers. The best time to begin communication is before problems start. Prepare any questions you may have before you attend events and write them down if you need to so you don’t forget anything.

You can call your child’s school and ask to speak to their teachers or to leave them messages requesting that they call you at their earliest convenience. You can also send them notes in the mall to the school address.

If you have concerns about your child’s education, be proactive and discuss your concerns with the teachers as soon as possible. 

Study Time to Help Your Child after School

Regardless of the age of your child, it’s important that you set specific expectations and rules regarding homework and studying for school. Some tips:

Establish one or more set locations for your child to study. Keep the study area free of distractions, (like television, cell phones, games, and perhaps other people), and keep the study area clean and uncluttered. 

Schedule specific times for your child to study each day. Times may change day to day based on extracurricular activities your child is involved in and special events, but that’s ok. As long as you have a standard time your family and particularly your child is able to follow most of the time, it helps strengthen their studying routine. 

Although younger children may not have a lot of homework or need to spend a lot of time studying, it’s still important to start establishing a homework and study routine for them. It will make things much easier for them, (and you), once they are older, (and they really need to optimize that study time).

Learning how to help your child at school is an ongoing process. Be prepared to adapt and change as needed and for both your child and yourself, never stop learning!