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Supporting Children’s Learning at Home
What the Research Says
1) Hold high expectations. Parents’ expectations and aspirations for their children have a profound, positive impact on school success. Encourage your children’s dreams. Have confidence in their abilities and teach them to believe in themselves. Find ways to praise their efforts.
2) Be a positive role model. Let your child see you enjoy reading and learning. The high value you place on education and learning has a tremendously positive impact on your children. Your interest in their education shows that you place a high value on education.
3) Seize the moment. Every day brings opportunities to talk with and listen to your children. In fact, just talking and listening contribute greatly to students’ school successes. Find out what amuses, excites, and inspires your child. When you and your children are walking, driving, shopping, waiting at an appointment, talk about the things you see and hear.
4) READ! READ! READ! No skill is more significantly linked to academic success than reading. Read to and with your child as often as possible. Read in the language of the home or whatever language you are comfortable using. Keep books, magazines, and newspapers in the house and be a reading role model. Visit the Reading Rockets Website here for activities to promote reading, literacy games, and book lists. Colorín Colorado is the Spanish component of this Web site.
5) Encourage math and science. Many everyday activities, such as measuring cooking ingredients, gardening, sewing, using a calculator, playing board games, estimating distances and amounts, and recognizing patterns in design and music use math and science skills. [Link to math and science bulletins.]
6) Be a positive voice for your child. The more families speak out for children and support their progress, the better their children do, and the longer they stay in school. If you need help and support, the Federation (www.fcsn.org) provides many opportunities for parents to learn the skills they need to be effective advocates.
7) Find out what your children are learning at school and ask the teachers what you can do at home to help. Request home learning kits or homework sheets with instructions. Try to attend school-sponsored family reading and math nights to find out what your children are learning. If you can't attend, ask teachers how you can help.
8) Support your children's learning at home. What families do at home to reinforce their children's learning has a greater effect on student achievement than more general types of involvement, such as volunteering for class trips or attending school meetings. The key is for families to link what they do at home to what is being taught in the classroom. The teacher can help you pick activities and things that will reinforce what is being learned in the classroom.
9) Make sure your child gets to school - and on time. The adage that 90% of success is just showing up is true for school too! Students who attend school regularly learn more and are more successful than students who do not. Students with chronic illnesses that may require them to stay at home must still have the support they need to keep up with their studies. "Showing up" also means that students get the sleep and nutrition they need to be awake and able to participate.
10) Establish a regular time and place for homework. Carving out a time and place for homework may also require limiting TV time or computer game time. Look over homework every day.
Being involved doesn't have to be hard! These are just a few of the powerful ways parents can make a positive difference in their children’s education. You and your children will enjoy the benefits!
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