As 2016 gets well underway, many people are still considering what their resolution will be for the remainder of this year – and one of the most popular suggestions in the world of education and parenting is that parents get more involved in their child’s education.
Whether it’s helping with homework, incorporating educational visits and trips into your family schedule, or simply ensuring that children stick with their revision timetables, there are a multitude of ways parents can help their children on the path to success. Here are just a few of them:
Introduce ‘reading time’, or equivalent
Many children nowadays come home from school and spend the evenings watching cartoons, playing video games or enjoying colourful apps on various tablets and smartphone devices. Get the year off to a great start by implementing some ‘reading time’ in their evening each and every night. It could be half an hour straight after tea where a child reads a chapter of a book, or it could be a family endeavor before bedtime.
Get engaged
A lot of children aren’t exactly forthcoming when it comes to telling their parents what they’re studying at school – so get involved and ask the teacher. Many will be happy for a parent to be more involved, and will send over a summary of the term’s syllabus and what topics will be on the agenda. Once you know what your child is learning, you can check that they’re keeping up with the work and take steps if they’re not.
Take more educational trips
It can be only too easy for families to hit the cinema or run around the park at weekends or after school – but a good way to increase your child’s exposure to new things and educational possibilities is to take them on some educational (or at least semi-educational!) trips and visits. Once or twice a month, try to make the time to visit a nearby museum, a local landmark or a popular historical attraction.