How to Support Your Child's Education
by Donna Thomson & Ronnee Ruselle
Congratulations, you have been your child's teacher from day one, teaching him or her through everyday life - learning to speak and interact, develop social skills, count, recognize letters and words, colours, sizes, shapes and much more. You've read books, played games, sung songs and been there when your child discovered bugs, wondered why the moon changes shape and you've discussed all sorts of wild and wonderful things.
Education is life experience and incorporates the whole child - the academic, emotional, physical and spiritual too. This article focuses on how you can continue to support the academic side once your child enters the school years. While some parents feel it's the teacher's job to teach their child and have little involvement in this side of their child's life, it's a big risk to take and creates a gap between you and your child. It's important to stay involved as it not only helps your child but helps the teacher if you can work together for the best outcome for your child. Oh, and there's no need to fear that you won't be able to help with your child's homework. There are many ways you can help without having to remember how to do algebra!
Reading is Tops!
If you don't have time for much else or want to know the single most important help a parent can give their child, it is to read to your child every night for at least 10 minutes. Just reading to a child introduces new vocabulary and increases sight word recognition (knowing what popular words look like, e.g the, see, and). By doing this you model reading with fluency and expression, as well as modelling a love of reading! Reading is the basis of most academic work at school, so a solid foundation in reading skills will allow your child to progress faster with the rest of the curriculum. Think of it this way, if you don't read to your child for 10 minutes a day they are missing out on a potential 60 hours of reading time (and quality time with mum or dad) a year!
Try the following activities to support your child's reading:
- Read fun, rhythmic or repetitive stories that you can both be excited about rather than stale 'the cat sat on the mat' stories. Well-known Australian children's author Mem Fox encourages the reading of engaging stories that use real language. 'Real' books increase your child's motivation to read and provide a starting point for great discussions about the story, characters, illustrations, etc. Check out the suggested picture book read-alouds from the Parents' Choice Foundation.
- Echo reading - you say a line and your child repeats it after you. This is a great way to introduce reading to your child because he or she may not actually be able to read the words yet but they feel like they are participating in the reading process. It's also great support for early readers who can recognise some but not all of the words.
- Picture reading - for very early readers, let them read you the story by "reading" the pictures. It's a good idea to have read the story to them a few times so they are familiar with the storyline. This encourages confidence with reading as well as getting the child used to referring to the pictures for clues to help them when they are ready to decipher the actual words.
- Alternative endings - for older children, ask them how they would change the ending if they had written the story or ask them how the story might have changed if a particular circumstance had been different, e.g. if the main character was a boy instead of a girl, if the setting had been in another country or environment, and so on.
Communication
Another essential aspect of supporting your child's education is your ability to communicate with your child. Maintaining a close relationship with your child isn't always easy as they get older, but there are a few things you can do on a regular basis that will let your child know that you are interesting in what they are doing and that you are there to support them.
- Be an "active" listener - when your child shares something that happened at school, show that you are listening by stopping what you are doing, giving them eye contact and saying something to them that shows you are listening and interested. Most of us can recall times when we were eager to share something with mum or dad but all we got was a few 'uhuh's while they continued to do whatever busy activity they were doing. You just know in your heart that they haven't really heard a word you've said. Active listening is validation for your child that you are interested in what they have to say. If you actively listen to even 50% more of what your child says to you, you could learn so much more about them and they would open up to you more regularly because when you don't listen your child feels it's a wasted effort to talk to you.
- Be genuine and praise your child - often we get into a cycle where the main communication we have with our children is to correct them or discipline negative actions. If you consciously focus on being positive and praising your child's efforts, you will reinforce positive behaviour but it's important that you be genuine about it. "Good girl" is not as effective as "I bet you enjoyed creating that painting!" or "You must be proud of the effort you put into that assignment!" What this does is praise the behaviour and effort rather than the child and encourages the child to be proud of themself rather than rely on the acceptance of others. As Dr Phil says, encourage the child to be proud of themself first, then you can mention that you are proud of them too.
- Involve your child in discussions and decision-making - aside from reading, talking with your child about day-to-day things and deeper issues encourages literacy and understanding of a broad range of concepts that support their entire education. Involving them in family decision-making also shows that you respect your child's intelligence and that they are a valued part of the family. Some great places for discussions that don't really take up any extra time are:
- In the car - to and from school, on the way to the grocery store or on longer road trips.
- After school - ask your child about his or her day. If you are hit with the usual "nothing" or "I don't know" comment don't stress. It's actually hard for a child to pick specific things out of their day to talk about. Instead, be there or close by when they do their homework so they can bring things up as they think of them. Remember to stop what you are doing and show your interest when they do start talking.
- At the dinner table - it's a great idea to encourage family discussion at the dinner table and instead of everyone running off to watch TV when the plates are empty, have everyone share something about their day or something else they'd like to share. If you've never done this before it can be slow to catch on but persistence and modelling via your own sharing will soon pay off and conversation will flow more naturally.
- Lose the TV - that's right! Television is a huge communication barrier. Make it a rule that you have at least 30 minutes after getting home from school to interact with your child before you all go your separate ways again. You can also set limits on the amount of television watched in the evening and use this for family time - games, discussion and even reading together. This may sound old-fashioned but it's a clue to solving the problem that so many parents now face - the lack of communication and connection with their own children.
Helping with Homework
There are many ways you can help your child with his or her homework that don't involve knowing difficult maths. First, you can help your child set up a suitable space for them to do their homework without distractions, whether this is a desk in their room or at the kitchen table. Ensure there is sufficient lighting and fresh air too. Encourage homework to be done at a regular time each day so it becomes routine.
At the start of homework time, take a look at your child's homework tasks and discuss them - ask how they think they would complete or solve the tasks, if there is anything they think they may need help with, or if they need you to get any resources for them such as items for measuring activities. You'll be able to gauge if your child will need your help or whether you can let them get on with it confidently. It can be a good idea, especially with a maths activity, to have your child solve the first one or two problems with you there so you can see that they know what to do.
Being supportive with homework doesn't mean that you do the homework for the child. What you want to do is help your child find solutions or think things through themselves, perhaps with a few suggestions to get them in the right track. Asking the child "What do you need to do here?" will help them clarify the process before they bring their work and you can identify any misunderstandings the child may have about their task. If they've made an error, ask questions in a way that gets them to look at their answer more closely to recognise their mistake rather than just saying "that's wrong". This could be as simple as your child having a subtraction problem to do but your child has added the numbers instead of subtracting. Ask you child "Is this an addition or subtraction problem?" which should prompt your child to consciously look at the symbol which will likely be followed by "Oh! I thought it was adding up!". It's often little mistakes like this that you can check on.
Realize that your child isn't expected to get everything right. Errors allow the teacher to see gaps in what you child knows so he or she can work on that area some more with your child. If you feel that you can confidently help your child understand the process or concept then by all means go ahead, but if you are not confident, just ask your child to do their best. If you are worried about your child's homework send a note along to the teacher to explain that your child doesn't understand something and ask them to help your child with that. You could even ask them to explain it to you so you can be of more help at home. This is really about keeping an eye on your child's progress and working with the teacher for the best outcome for your child.
Checking homework therefore doesn't mean you need to go through and check whether your child's answers are correct. It's more important to see that your child has completed all of their tasks. Ask your child if they are happy with it or whether there is something in particular they would like you to look at. Encourage your child to check their work before they bring it to you so they learn to self-check for errors.
If you don't know something just say so! It's not a bad thing to show your child that you don't know everything. In fact it's better to not know something but to know how to find out! If you're reading this article, chances are you have access to the internet. The internet is a great homework tool that can sometimes explain things better than mum or dad. There are many websites dedicated to homework or schoolwork so create a folder in your favorites/bookmarks for homework and projects where you can add good resources as you find them.
Shopping
The weekly or fortnightly grocery shop is an educational hotspot for children! Rather than putting up with the usual whining and boredom from the kids, involve them in the shopping process and they will learn heaps of things including counting, addition, multiplication, percentages, size, weight, height, volume and of course the value of money and budgeting.
- Early Years - Ask children to identify the common products you use at home and add them to the trolley, such as your favourite cereal. Ask them to find the smaller or larger item of something you want to buy. Play counting games such as how many eggs are in the carton or how many tetra-pack juices are in the packet.
- Middle Years - Give your child a list of some of the items you want so they can find them. At the beginning this will help with reading and identification skills. Ask for the 500g margarine, 1kg sugar, 2L milk and so on to get them used to reading measurements. As they get older you can ask them to find the cheapest brand of the same product or perhaps the one with the lowest salt, sugar or fat content. Your child could use a calculator to add the groceries as you go and let you know if you are about to break the budget!
- Older Years - Have your child work out savings based on sale items that are 5% off, 20% off, etc. Work out which size package is the best buy according to the weight and price (e.g. 500g laundry powder for $3.00 or the 5kg box for $26). Start before you get to the shops by having your child take an inventory of the cupboard, fridge and freezer to see what is needed and perhaps check the store catalogue for specials. If you're game, give your child a budget and they have to plan the shop to last a week. This will involve meal planning and consideration of the needs, number of people in the house and current supplies in the house. This of course wouldn't be a regular activity but could be a valuable once-off experience for a teen to prepare then for the future.
Playing Games
Games are not only fun but educational too! Early childhood educators know that play is a child's "work". Children learn a lot through play and through daily life as they interact with the world and explore. Here are some ways you can create additional learning opportunities for your child through fun games that can be played in the car, while getting dressed, doing the dishes, cooking dinner and just about anywhere:
- What in the world - You think of anything in the world and when you are ready, the others say "What in the world are you thinking of?" and the person replies "I'm thinking of something beginning with the letter "T" (or whatever letter it is)". Then they try to guess what it is. They are able to ask yes and no questions such as "Is it an animal?", "Is it big?", "Does it live on land?", "Is it green?", etc. For younger children you can use a colour or size instead of a starting letter
- Animals - Children love animals and they provide such a range of learning opportunities such as "Name the baby" where you ask what a baby goat is for example. You go through as many animals as you can think of, trying to name the baby animals. Variations on this game are "Animal Groups" where you quiz on the name of a group of cows, sheep, lions etc. or "Animal Parents/Genders", such as "What is a female pig called?". We've created an "Animal Reference Sheet" to get you started (click to open or save the MS Word file).
- Alphabet Game - You can play this game with animals, food, places, etc. One person starts and he or she has to think of something beginning with the letter A, so if it is animals they might say "Ant". The next person has to think of something beginning with the letter B, and so on. There are many variations of this game and one way to make it interesting for those who can read (or are learning to read) is to create a set of cards with categories and another set of cards with letters of the alphabet. You flip over a category and a letter then the first person to call out something is the winner. Possible categories are: famous people, television shows, movies, sports, cartoon characters, food, flowers, places, cities, books, colours, clothing, girls' names, boys' names, items found in the kitchen, items found in the garage, etc.
- Counting Games - there are so many opportunities for counting games and you can use the most mundane of times, such as while doing the dishes to practice counting in 2s, 5s, 10s etc., counting backwards, reciting times tables, etc.
- Shapes - a great way to learn about shapes is to have your child find an item in the house of a particular shape. Once they are familiar with 2D shapes (e.g. circle, triangle, square, rectangle) you can introduce 3D shapes (e.g. cube, pyramid, rectangular prism, cone, cylinder) and maybe increase the number of items they need to find of that shape.
Cooking
Cooking is mathematics and science heaven! Why not plan at least one meal or baking treat each week that you child can help you with. Even with the daily preparation of dinner, your child can help in some way and learn about food, hygiene, food preparation, cooking and safety. Of course there's also opportunity for measuring, comparing, reading and doing mini science experiments such as what happens when you add vinegar to baking soda (if you don't know, try it and find out!).
We hope you can see how full of learning opportunities your child's home life can be which will in turn support their education at school. All it takes is a little conscious effort and some quality time. You'll be amazed at how happy you will all be as a closer family too!
FREE DOWNLOAD: Animal Reference Sheet (DOC File)
Don't forget to download this free resource - see the Games section above.
Click to open or right-click to save the Microsoft Word file.