Student Success Strategies
Education starts at school and continues at home. There are plenty of things that you, as parents, can do at home to help your child along a strong developmental path. Here are some helpful tips to give your child an advantage at home, which will transfer to the classroom.
1. Create a Structured Routine
- Establish a Consistent Schedule: Set regular times for waking up, meals, homework, play, and bedtime. This helps children understand expectations and develop time management skills.
- Dedicated Study Space: Designate a quiet, well-lit area for homework and studying, free from distractions.
2. Encourage a Love of Reading
- Daily Reading Time: Set aside time each day for reading together. This can include reading to your child or having them read to you.
- Diverse Reading Materials: Provide access to a variety of books, magazines, and educational websites that cater to their interests and reading level.
3. Engage in Educational Activities
- Interactive Learning: Use educational games, apps, and activities that make learning fun and interactive.
- Real-World Learning: Incorporate learning into daily activities, such as cooking (measuring ingredients), grocery shopping (budgeting), and nature walks (observing and discussing wildlife).
4. Promote Critical Thinking and Problem-Solving
- Ask Open-Ended Questions: Encourage your child to think critically by asking questions that require more than a yes or no answer.
- Problem-Solving Opportunities: Present real-life problems and work together to find solutions, fostering creativity and analytical skills.
5. Foster a Positive Learning Environment
- Encourage Curiosity: Praise your child’s efforts and encourage them to ask questions and explore their interests.
- Model Lifelong Learning: Demonstrate a positive attitude toward learning by pursuing your own educational interests and sharing your experiences with your child.
By implementing these strategies, parents can create a supportive and enriching home environment that enhances their child's educational journey.
Activities to do with the Family
Activities to do with the Family![]()
Activities to do with the Family
- Set aside time to write and read short stories to each other.
- Find a board game that the whole family can play and have some fun (board games usually involve problem solving, math, writing, and many other transferable skills).
- Read from a variety of sources – expose your children to different ways of writing and thinking
- Play rhyming games – rhyming games help with improvisational skills and vocabulary.
- Don’t limit yourself to a certain writing or vocabulary level – try new things and see what develops quicker than others.
- Write different styles – experiment with different styles to broaden their skills.
- Read together – dedicate time to read separate stories in the same room or the same story
- Encourage them to explore art – different artistic expressions can go simultaneously with higher-level skills. Poetry is relatable to writing as much as music is to math.
- Talk to your kids. Discuss what they did that day in school, what they liked, what they didn’t.
- Make every day activities educational – engage your child to skim the paper for things, help you make shopping lists, or dictate recipes. Little things like this build transferable skills that help in a collection of different areas.
- Encourage their curiosity.
- Motivate with reward, applause, or recognition.
- Routines are good – they set boundaries, time limits, schedules, and things to look forward to.
- Talk about word families. Point out words that are related to other words and help build an early relationship with language, logic, and deduction.
- Listen to music. Music can train children in subconscious, subtle manners – making them more receptive to lessons they may consider boring otherwise.
- Look up words – don’t let your children remain confused. If they come across words they don’t understand, help them look it up and work through them.
- Share family stories and talk regularly.
- Go on adventures. Going camping, to museums, or sporting events exposes them to a completely new world of excite to experience.
- Play games like I-Spy, where you engage multiple senses, deduction and problem solving.
- Help your child keep a diary. Read it through with them, as this is both a good way to learn writing skills, speaking skills, and reading skills.
