Parent Involvement Gives Students an Advantage: Here’s How to Help at Home

Here are some tips on how to help give your student an advantage:

· Discuss what happened at school with your child each school day.

· Let your child know school is important. Talk to them about how you still use what you learned in school.

· Give children opportunities to be independent and responsible for their own actions.  Hold them accountable.

· Help children to think and to solve problems. Discuss options and examine alternatives with them.

· Limit television viewing and video game time. Students who watch little or no TV tend to have higher grades, read more books and exercise regularly.

The U.S. Department of Education found that students who watch more than 10 hours of television per week earn lower grades. In addition, studies of students’ exposure to violence on television shows that students who watch violence on TV are more likely to exhibit aggressive behaviors with their peers. From more than 40 years of research and from over 1,000 studies, the evidence points to the connection between students watching violence and showing violent behavior.

 

Suggestions for how to be an involved parent:

· If your child is involved in an incident at school, be willing to listen to all sides.

· Set aside space and time for your child to do homework and to read each day.

· Join in the life of your child’s school. The more help parents give teachers, the more time teachers can spend with students.

· Show your children your own love for learning and set their learning sights high.

· Learning is a process. Praise children when they do well; support them when they make mistakes; and give children the respect they deserve.

· Know your children’s friends and whereabouts.

· Keep lines of communication open with other parents of high school aged children.

· If you speak another language at home, continue to use it so that family communication remains effective.