As a tutor myself, I cannot stress enough the importance of parental involvement in children’s education. I don’t just mean send them to extra tutoring because they’re finding school hard or tell them ‘do your homework’ when they’re playing on their tablets. It’s so much more. It’s something we must understand, as a team who has the child’s best interests at heart. Tutoring is one thing but parental investment is so much more, but parents can often benefit from the help of an expert tutor from Ravensthorpe.
Now I know that may sound very self critical, but the truth is that most children spend not even 1% of their weekly lives at tuition. Most of it, of course, is at home. The place they eat, the place they feel most comfortable, the place where they are the focus and in terms of education, the place where they do their homework and independent learning.
Independent learning and gaining knowledge for yourself is a trait we must try to implement in children from a very young age. High school requires an ounce of independence. College requires most independence. University requires total independence. So whilst tutors spend a couple of hours a week explaining difficult work, introducing new methods and communicating as teachers-to-students, where does the independent learning take place? The answer of course… is the home.
Children today grow up with toys that include helping learn the alphabet or counting up to 10. Why? It’s all about growth, development and learning from the very start. That is what is important and that is what will help your child accelerate through their educational life. For some parents, children may now be grown up and it’s obvious they won’t be playing with toys right? But that doesn’t mean the encouragement, dedication and investment should stop.
Below are a list of 4 things I believe that parents can do to assist with their child’s independence and learning:
- Take children to museums. Sometimes, museums are seen as simple school trips for the kids but in reality, they are great promoters of active learning. As well as unfolding significant history and British culture, they encourage asking questions and physically seeing fascinating treasures. Many museums have little tasks to keep children occupied and help them gain insightful knowledge.
- Actively speak to tutors about your child’s progress. As I’ve experienced, many parents simply pick up and drop off, without discussing progress. Though you can ask children what they did in the session, you will not be receiving the constructive feedback you need to take the appropriate action at home. Frequently set up meetings with tutors to communicate and ask important questions
- Present to your child a positive attitude about education. Many times I have heard ‘I hate english’ and ‘I don’t like doing this’ but the truth is, if children don’t see their learning as an opportunity, they won’t make the most of it. Make it your task to consistently give children pep talks about why they are so blessed to be able to attend school and why they should never take it for granted. Make them understand that though the work may be difficult, they can always get through it because they can accomplish anything they set their mind to do.
- Limit how often they have screen time. In our media and technology consumed world, many of our children feel they can’t go a day without a screen. The reality however, is that it is possible but because they have grown up being exposed to screens from a young age, they feel bored without them. As parents, you can control how much time they spend on devices at home. You have the power to discipline them and teach them that the outside world is much more beneficial both for their physical and mental health. Use this power, not to spoil children and allow them to be stubborn, but to set boundaries and teach them what really matters.