The 1991 No Child Left Behind Act encourages parents to become actively involved with their child's education at home and at school. The Harvard Family Research Project notes that parental involvement enhances student's academic achievement across varied socio economic strata and ethnicities. Parents can communicate routinely with teachers, participate in parent-teacher associations, or PTAs, and school board meetings, and volunteer at school, but above and beyond these efforts, parents can become involved in their child's day to day education at home.
Great Expectations
Parents who expect their children to do well in school, foster children who do better in school, according to Education.com. Parents who attribute lack of academic success to children's insufficient effort and attribute success to children's ability engender the greatest achievement in their children. Expect the best from your children, and they are likely to rise to the challenge.
Demand and Reward Effort
Expectations alone will not necessarily awaken the inner-scholar in your child. You must reinforce your expectations with consequences that motivate. Insist that your child complete homework and reading assignments before they earn the privilege of TV or video game time. Give your child verbal praise when they complete homework, show improvement, or demonstrate learning.
Review School Work
Become involved in your child's day to day school work by reviewing homework assignments before and after completion. Do this while your child is young to help her develop good study habits. Inject your counseling with liberal encouragement and praise. Once your child reaches middle school, she will find such hands-on interventions intrusive. At this point you can still inquire about daily assignments, and praise completion. You can even continue to insist on completion of homework before TV or game console activities. However, by middle school, you can offer, but don't insist on being a study-buddy. Simply recognizing and verbalizing your appreciation of your child's efforts---along with granting the privilege of well-earned video-game time-- will encourage your child's diligence.
Enrich the Environment
Good students are bred, not born. Create a home environment that is rich in academic influences. Guide household television viewing toward educational programming as much as possible. Add museums, theater, concerts and libraries to your entertainment itinerary. Encourage your child to participate in art, music, and sports programs. Have your child participate in local educational programs offered by community groups, community or area colleges and libraries. Buy, rent or borrow from the library edutainment computer programs. These programs appeal to your child's, well, inner child, but still refine his cognitive skills and broaden his knowledge. Talk with your child about the stuff she is learning at school. Foster your child's and your own curiosity about her academic lessons. Encourage your child's special-interests by buying arts, sports, educational and learning-toys.
Read Together
Read to your young child, or have him read to you. For older children, you can read the same books and then discuss your mutual impressions. Before traveling, pick out books on CD with your child, and then listen to the books while on the road.
Work The Program
Read through your child's text books and assignments to familiarize your self with the content. Find supplementary material online or at the library that can bolster and broaden your child's understanding of the material. For example, if your child is studying the revolutionary war, get DVDs that discuss or dramatize that topic. Read through all paperwork provided by your child's teachers and school, and carefully review testing scores and reports of your child's strengths and weaknesses. Work at home to remediate weaknesses.
Make Learning Fun
Throughout all of these endeavors do your best to make the learning and educational process fun and rewarding. Over the long haul, your child will continue to achieve to his utmost when it is something he enjoys and feels good about.
