Fostering your child’s success is important and it’s critical to social, academic and emotional development. Although your child may find ways to make the most of his or her education, there are things you can do at home to encourage your child to find even more success in the classroom. The Leon N. Weiner Education Foundation is eager to enhance learning while helping children and adults find reach their educational goals. Consider these tips and activities to creatively encourage your children to succeed in school.
Find a Routine That Works
Children crave structure. In the classroom, it’s likely your child’s teacher has a regular routine and clear expectations. It can help to have the same type of structure at home so your child’s transition from home life to the school day is consistent. Consider creating a schedule for mornings, afternoons and evenings that your child can follow. For example, set clear expectations about what time your child needs to wake up in the morning. Create a schedule that includes getting dressed, eating breakfast and making his or her bed in the mornings. Plan a time of day to organize backpacks and make lunches. Some parents prefer to make this part of an evening routine, but if you have time in the morning, make sure you stay consistent with that schedule.
Making the most of afternoon routines is also helpful. Discuss preferences with your child. For instance, does he need time to relax a bit right after school before diving into homework or is he more motivated for play time after homework is complete? The key is to make sure you stick with this schedule, but allow for some flexibility in the evenings if your child has extracurricular activities that can impact dinner time or slots of time for homework.
Create a Workspace
Organization helps you and your child to stay on a consistent schedule. If homework time is directly after school following a snack, then create a workspace that is clean and free from distraction. Set up a desk or a workspace on your table that eliminates the temptation to watch television. Make sure the area is well lit and your child has supplies he or she needs to complete homework. Walk your child through the process of where to store school supplies and backpacks and have a pencil sharpener handy. This workspace can give your child a sense of ownership and makes it easier to concentrate when the setup is similar to one he or she knows in the classroom.
Encourage Healthy Habits
Your child’s success at school depends heavily on his or her mental and physical state. That’s why encouraging healthy habits at home can lead to more success in the classroom. While creating routines for the evening, consider how much sleep your child requires and try to stay consistent with a bed time. Free the room from electronics and install a night light to ward off any uncertainty at night. If your child loves to read, allow for some downtime before bed with reading. Research has shown that reading to your child or allowing for reading before bed can help soothe the mind.
In addition to making sure your child gets enough sleep each night, know that what he or she eats can directly impact mental awareness and concentration. Encourage healthy snacks after school, such as fruit and vegetables and stay away from too much sugar before bedtime. In addition, resist the urge to let your child skip breakfast. This is the most important meal of the day, and it fuels your child with the energy he or she needs to stay focused in the classroom.
Continue Learning
Setting a good example for your child is important, but how you do it matters. If your child sees that you have a thirst for learning new things, it may encourage him or her to do the same. Show that you are not afraid of change. Talking often with your child about what he or she is learning can also bring the two of you closer together. Don’t be afraid to admit that you don’t know something. If your child is learning something that is new to you, show interest and let him or her take the lead. When your child can teach you something, it builds a sense of pride and leadership that will aide him or her well in the classroom.
When you continue to learn as a parent, this can also prompt in-depth discussions with your child. In addition to asking about what your child is learning each day, you can share tidbits about what you’ve learned from an experience, a new book or even a conversation. You can also expand lessons with hands-on training at home.
Similar to Montessori schools, you could plan an activity each week that teaches your child life skills. Ask what he or she is interested in learning? You may be surprised that your child wants to learn how to put together a toy, learn to cook or bake a new dish or even discover how to make coffee or tea. Get creative and think outside of the box when determining lessons at home that could help your child in the future. For older children, think about skills that would help them succeed as adults, such as learning how to balance a checkbook, change the oil in a vehicle, addressing an envelope or washing and drying clothes. Learning these life skills can help to empower your child both in and out of the classroom.
Allow Success and Failure
In the classroom, teachers set realistic expectations about grading criteria when completing assignments. Take some time to help your child understand this criterion to encourage success. However, know that your child will not always get it right. Embrace failure as a learning experience. Listen to your child’s concerns, encourage him or her to do his best and then point out changes that can improve the result the next time. Your child should strive to do his best versus striving for As every time.
Teaching your children how to handle failure not only validates his or her feelings but also lessens the need for perfection. Instead, stay positive and encourage him or her to do his best, follow directions and strive to improve, especially with subjects that are more demanding. If you find that your child continues to fail at assignments, have a discussion with teachers to determine if he or she has taken on too many academic endeavors, such as honors courses, or is stretched too thin with athletics or extracurricular activities.
Finding a balance while following a consistent routine is key to helping your child find peace and success in life and at school. Also, showing how you cope with failures and providing advice based on experience can showcase that you, too, are human and strive to succeed even when failure occurs.
Offer Encouragement and Praise
The reality is that as a parent, you are your child’s biggest cheerleader. He or she looks to you for encouragement. Although there may be times when you need to discipline and set consequences, reassuring your child goes a long way. Offer positive tidbits and redirect the mood when negativity rears its head. Your child looks to you for approval and offering encouragement to succeed in school can positively affect performance for years to come.
Support for Educational Endeavors
You are not alone when seeking out resources your child needs to find success. In fact, the Leon N. Weiner Education Foundation is here to help make any type of educational or career transition as smooth as possible for adults and children alike.
The Leon N. Weiner Education Foundation is available to assist with furthering involvement in educational endeavors and student success. The mission of the Leon N. Weiner Education Foundation is to build foundations for the future by providing educational assistance to children and adults who are members of families with low to moderate incomes. Learn more about these opportunities at https://www.weinereducationfoundation.org/.
The Leon N. Weiner Education Foundation is available to assist with furthering involvement in educational endeavors and student success. The mission of the Leon N. Weiner Education Foundation is to build foundations for the future by providing educational assistance to children and adults who are members of families with low to moderate incomes. Learn more about these opportunities at https://www.weinereducationfoundation.org/.