Writen by George Stillwell
Few challenges your children will face growing up have as long term consequences as their grades. Grades in junior high determine what courses you take in high school. Grades in high school determine what college you can be accepted in to. Grades in college can affect your first job and whether you start out early in the career of your choice.
Below are some tips to help you help your children perform well in school:
1. Read with your children – Reading is at the heart of all learning. It is never too early to read to your children. Infants benefit form mother/father and baby closeness and learn from the sounds they hear as words are spoken. Toddlers learn new words and sentence structure. Older kids learn pronunciation and word meaning. Once your kids can read, have them trade sentence for sentence with you or read to you. You should read or be read to at least every other day.
2. Help them to develop good study habits early – Homework must always be done before t.v. or video games. Projects must be worked on before the day they are due. Every test and quiz should be studied for. Studying should take place in a quiet location with no distractions.
3. Get involved with your kids' teachers - The best way to know what your kids are being taught is to attend all parent teacher conferences, join the PTO/PTA and even ask your kid's teachers to allow you to sit in on a class. If you have questions about the curriculum, ask. If you have feedback on the curriculum, homework, etc. give it to the teachers. Take notes when you meet with teachers and try your best to follow their suggestions for your children at home.
4. Have siblings help – Having your children help their younger siblings accomplishes two objectives. It helps the younger ones since learning from kids can be very effective. It also help your older kids learn given that one of the best ways for kids to learn is to teach others.
5. Consider public school alternatives – If a traditional public school setting is not working for your child because she needs more personal attention or she lacks the attention span necessary to succeed in a lecture-based teaching program, you may want to consider home schooling or enrollment in a charter school that provides smaller classes and more personalized attention.
6. Make valued activities contingent upon good grades – Making a favorite sporting activity, club or other group activity dependent on studying hard and getting good grades can be a great motivator.
Above all, be involved. A few C's are nothing to be alarmed about, but continued mediocre performance in grade school is a huge warning sign that your child may not be getting everything he needs from school. If children struggle through elementary school, they lack the foundation needed for junior high and high school. Sub-par performance in high school virtually guarantees difficulty in college.
Making it clear that school work is a priority is often enough to motivate your children to work hard. When parents stay involved with homework, grades and lesson plans it virtually guarantees that their children will work harder to get the most out of school.
(excerpted from www.parentingskills21stcentury.com)
George Stillwell is a father of five children ages 2 through 16. His popular web site is http://www.parentingskills21stcentury.com
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