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Help your child excel in school

By Ijeoma Thomas-Odia
28 January 2023   |   3:44 am
How to help a child excel in school is a common problem many parents are confronted with. They tend to enquire more frequently from teachers and school heads on how best to support their child’s learning. When your child is having a difficult time in school, the stress follows them home. Extra homework, anxiety and…

PHOTO CREDIT: https://www.allisonacademy.com/

How to help a child excel in school is a common problem many parents are confronted with. They tend to enquire more frequently from teachers and school heads on how best to support their child’s learning.

When your child is having a difficult time in school, the stress follows them home. Extra homework, anxiety and bad moods become a struggle for the whole family, hence parental support is key to making sure that your kids do their best academically. Here are a few tips to help you be of immense assistance to your child’s education.

Reading is key to learning, so help your child become an avid reader by finding topics of interest. Make family reading a way of life. Also, talk to your child’s teacher to know the curriculum in advance to help you prepare yourself and monitor his/her progress.

Be involved in your child’s daily life. Talk with him about school and life in general. Help your child find strengths and interests; and encourage creativity. Communicate with teachers early when you have a question or concern.

Volunteer at school and be an active learner and teacher. You don’t have to have teaching skills or a lot of time to be involved in your kid’s academics. Whether your child’s favourite subject is also your favourite or not, engage with him when he/she is reading and practicing it. Knowing that he/she has someone to fall back on is a reassurance that can help him/her gain the confidence required to succeed.

Enroll your child in a private tutorial to help him/her work on weak subject areas. Your child could always use some extra help, especially if it’s from someone who’s trained to help them see education in a more positive light and more qualified to teach them about particular subject matters or activities than other teachers, or even you.

Teach character by focusing on discrete habits. Fundamental habits that lead to success include attention, listening, organisation, good conduct, sharing and timeliness. Perhaps most important is the habit of respect to adults, peers and self.

Get outside to explore a local creek for frogs and turtles, or jumping in fresh rain puddles. Taking walks in nature is one of the best ways to build a sense of wonder, peace and gratitude.

Also, leverage technology by limiting media that wastes time. Instead, encourage your child to use online resources to accelerate learning.

Sleep is also essential; at least 10 hours of sleep a night helps children maximise their learning potential. Any less and their learning capacity drops off. Not to mention they are more likely to be irritable and less likely to pay attention in class if they don’t get enough sleep. So, establish a proper sleep routine. Also get your child a good, healthy breakfast so he/she can end and start the day on a good note.

Infusing home life with these significant practices provides a foundation of learning that inevitably guides a child to school success and lifelong learning.

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