How to Support Your Child’s Learning At Home as a Parent

This is a collaboration post.

Photo by cottonbro studio: https://www.pexels.com/photo/woman-in-white-long-sleeve-shirt-sitting-beside-woman-in-red-shirt-4778621/ 

As a parent, there is nothing more important than your child! From the moment they are born, they become your number-one priority and you will do anything to make them happy and for them to live their best life. 

Part of living their best life is for your children to get a good education, so they can have a good career, earn a nice wage and be able to have their own children one day. In order for your children to get a good education, they must work hard themselves, but it’s also important that you support them and help them learn as they grow up and at home. 

Ways to support your children’s learning at home as a parent include encouraging them to be curious and ask questions, removing any distractions, using technology to their advantage, setting a good example (this is so important), and giving them a dedicated workspace, amongst many other things. The more ways you support them, the better their learning will be. 

Below we have written our guide on ways to support your children’s learning at home as a parent. Keep on reading to learn more about our tips, and hopefully how you can help them yourself. 

Set a good example for your children 

Rule number one of being a good parent is to set a good example for your children. If you want your children to learn and be positive about learning, you need to set the example that learning is fun and encourage them to do well. Think of it this way, if you tell your children school sucks, every day, then that attitude is going to rub off on them. Instead, tell them how learning is fun and play fun games with the knowledge they have learnt. Going on trips away with your children to educational places can also make learning more fun, such as visiting your local science centre or historic venues. Also, having positive messages and learning materials dotted around the house, creates a more positive environment, such as Preamble to the Constitution.

Encourage your children to be curious and ask questions 

Encouragement is so important with your children. Always encourage them to be curious and ask questions – there are never bad questions! By asking questions and being curious, they will continuously learn new things throughout life, and being curious and asking questions should be important, even when you are an adult. Find out what they have learnt this week and find ways to incorporate that into your daily activities. For example, ask your children to calculate the bill at a restaurant and find ways for them to ask questions when they are calculating the bill. 

Give your children a dedicated workspace 

Having a dedicated workspace is so helpful to adults who work from home, so of course it will help children when they are learning at home. Having a dedicated workspace for your children will help them focus when they need to do their homework. It will remove distractions and it gives consistency to their life – they know when they are in their workspace, it’s time for them to learn. By having a dedicated workspace for your children, you can dress it up nicely for them, so they have a space they are proud to work in – Pinterest is great for children’s workspaces! You can buy a nice bookshelf for their books, a desk which they can work off and draw on when they have free time. 

Use technology to your children’s advantage 

Technology has come on leaps and bounds over the last 20 years. Now, technology is everywhere and you have to use it, if you want to keep up – that being said, you have to use it in the right way. For children, you can download maths games on your iPad that they can play, to practise their times table. You can buy a Kindle, which they can read from or a laptop for them to watch educational videos on YouTube. With all the pieces of tech you buy, most will have children’s privacy settings which you can control, to ensure they are doing things they should be – instead of watching a film on Netflix! You can also share some of your technology items, such as a laptop and use it for your own work and business when the children don’t need it. 

Remove any distractions from your children’s learning 

When you think back to when you were a child, getting distracted was very easy! Now, it’s even easier, due to technology being readily accessible (even though we mention some of the benefits it offers above). Your children may have their own phones, kindles or tablets, which they will use to distract themselves when it’s time for them to do their homework. It’s important you monitor their screen time and use the privacy setting to disable their access when it’s time to learn and do their work. 

Set goals and targets 

Goal setting is used a lot at schools to target your children to do better and achieve more than they think they currently can. The same theory can be applied at home to help them learn. Find out what they are currently learning and set goals and targets that they can achieve at home, which will then help them when they are at school. You can put together your own maths or English test or you can speak to their teacher and get some extra work which they can aim to complete at home. Homework is never enjoyable for children, but remember, it’s for their future. 

Encourage physical activity 

When you are growing up, physical activity is very important for your health and also for effective learning. Regular exercise can help you focus more and concentrate better on the task at hand. Your overall mood improves when you are exercising, which will make learning feel more fun and enjoyable. It’s advised that you and your children try to exercise at least two to three times a day, through solo activities like running, swimming or cycling, or sports like football, cricket, tennis, rugby etc. 

Eat together and talk 

Dinner time is the perfect time to spend some quality time with your children and support them with their learning. You can eat your dinner, whilst talking about how their day has been and discussing the topics they have been learning that day. Going through what they have learnt, it’s repetition for them, helping them remember. It also shows a good example that you are taking an interest in their learning, which will give your children some gratification. When talking about their lessons, your children may have some questions which they aren’t sure of, which you can answer, to help their knowledge grow. 

Read, read and read more 

Read together and encourage your children to read on their own. Books are full of knowledge and it’s so important to read, as this will assist your children’s knowledge and growth. Set a goal of x amount of books a month to read and then have small rewards along the way as a way to say well done. Choose books that have links to your children’s passion, such as a football book, if they enjoy sports or a science book if they are inquisitive about the universe. Your local library is a great place to rent books out and they will sometimes have reading clubs which you can join, helping your children meet like-minded people. 

Play games that make you think 

Instead of playing games like Monopoly, where you roll a dice and hope, play games that will make your children think, helping improve their cognitive skills – sometimes, it is fun to play a simple game! Board games like chess will help improve your memory as well as creativity. Playing with Lego and building new things, will also help with your memory as well as Jenga or dominoes. You could also look on sites such as Etsy or Kickstarter which can have more unique games that can help to support your child’s learning and have them think outside the box. It’s a great way to try something new together, play as a family and also help with your child’s education at the same time.

Look Out For Yourself And Get Help If Necessary

You cannot do your best for your kids if you aren’t in a good place yourself. While your kids are your primary concern, that doesn’t mean you can take part in self-care exercises. You can take some initiative and do things alone, or you can get help from individuals and groups dedicated to doing so. From ministry groups that guide and help single moms to therapists who deal with specialist problems, being proactive in this way will really put you in a better place for years. You cannot pour from an empty jug, after all. 

As you can see, there are so many ways in which you can support your child’s learning at home as a parent. The biggest advice we can give is to set a good example. Setting a positive example can affect your children hugely and really help encourage them to do well in school and in all activities in life for that matter. 

What advice would you give to a parent who is trying to help their children with learning at home? Which of the above tips did you find most useful and are there any tips that you think we should be adding to our guide? Let us know in the comment box below, we look forward to hearing from you