Engaging Parents.com

10 Things You Can Do To Improve Your Child's LearningThere are many things you can do to promote the academic success of your child. Though most are very simple, all can have profound impact. The greatest thing you can do is to make education important. Our children tend to value those things that we demonstrate are important through our actions and time. Here are ten things you can do.

1. Make sure your child gets a good night’s sleep. Have a regular scheduled time for meals, homework, play and sleep.
2. Stop in at school to volunteer, attend class events, participate in school and PTA activities, and to observe your child in class.
3. Talk to the teachers, counselor and principal about expectations (including benchmarks) for your child. Discuss your commitment to your child’s education and ways you can help with lessons.
4. Make sure your child comes to school on time. This reinforces the importance of education and ensures that your child is not missing valuable information.
5. Go over your child’s schoolwork. This includes reviewing homework; expecting assignments to be completed on time and neat; reviewing in class assignments and test, and redoing things that were incorrect.
6. Talk with your child about what he or she sees on television or current events. With younger children discuss the difference between real and pretend. With older children discuss current events and their impact on your local community, your family and how these events connect to lessons in school.
7. Reinforce good behaviors – reward good behavior; clearly distinguish between good and bad consequences; work before play; and point out examples of people who try hard to succeed.
8. Encourage your child to enjoy life and learning. Get your child involved in activities that are fun and point out how what is learned in school can help your child. So that he or she understands learning is an important part of what he or she cares about.
9. Read to and with your child. Reading to and with your child not only helps your child to develop literacy skills, it helps to develop brain cell growth and strengthen connections between parts of the brain.
10. Give your child LOVE, ATTENTION and SUPERVISION. Children learn what they live.

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