What can you do for your kids’ education?
Answer: a lot.
In fact, there’s so much you can do that I couldn’t possibly cover the whole topic in a single blog post; instead, I’m going to talk today about just a few aspects of how you can benefit your child’s education. This article is aimed primarily at parents of kids who are already at school, especially those who have very little time on their hands.
Today I’ll mainly be talking about what you can do in the home environment to help your child do better at school. Your child’s home environment can contribute an enormous amount to his success in education, regardless of the actual quality of teaching at his school. As a teacher, I often encounter situations where a student vastly improves his results simply because his parents have become willing to reinforce or supplement the work he’s doing at school.
Spending time with your child
One of the best things you can do at home for your child is to have a Learning Time with him on a daily basis. The Learning Time is just an uninterrupted period with your child that is dedicated to supplementing and/or reinforcing the education he receives from school.
During this time, you can do anything from helping him organise his schedule to having an informal chat with him about what he’s done at school for the day. I’ll talk more about what you can do during the Learning Time in the next section.
Don’t worry if you think you are too busy to be able to spend much time with your kids, because the Learning Time need not take up much of your day. In fact, your child will benefit greatly even if you can only spare half an hour or fifteen minutes per day. Consistency is much more important than long hours, so a daily 20-minute Learning Time is preferable to a weekly 2-hour session.
What the Learning Time is all about
Before I talk about what you can do during the Learning Time, a quick word about preparation. Try to ensure that the learning environment is pleasant and relatively free of distractions. If lots of people are chatting noisily in the background or somebody is watching TV a short distance away, don’t be surprised if your child can’t concentrate!
As mentioned in the previous article, keep everything you do during the Learning Times relaxed and informal, so that your child associates his learning times with positive emotions. This is especially true if he is not used to discussing his schoolwork with you.
If you’re just starting out, all you need to do in the first few Learning Times is familiarise yourself with your child’s work and how he likes to do things. This is all part of getting to know your child. Here are a few obvious ways in which you can do this:
- Ask him if you can look through his books/notes. This will give you the clearest idea of what topics he’s studying, the quality of his work, and his strong and weak points.
- Have an informal chat about what he’s been doing at school. Many children prefer to answer more specific questions than “what have you been doing at school?”, in which case you should just ask him exactly what subjects he’s been studying. Ask him what he likes and dislikes about school, and what he would change if he could.
- Some children prefer writing to talking; if your child is like this, then ask him to write about what he’s studying at school, his favourite and least-liked subjects, what he’d like to improve on, and so on.
Once you’ve familiarised yourself with what your child is doing at school, you can start thinking about how you can use the Learning Times to help him. Exactly what you do during the Learning Time will vary depending on how old your child is, what he’s studying, his interests, and how he likes to learn. I give some examples of things you can try below — notice that you can provide a lot of help to a child even if you don’t fully understand the subjects he’s studying.
- Use the Learning Time to talk about your child’s homework. You can ask him if any homework needs to be handed in soon, and provide him with encouragement if necessary (but don’t do his homework for him!).
- If he has little motivation for his studies, it’s up to you to be the motivator! Provide incentives, give him praise for each small effort, look for ways to make his studies fun, and so on. See the last article for more details on how to do this.
- Help him improve his understanding of his work by asking him to explain some aspects of a topic he’s studying to you. Tell him that you don’t know much about the subject and would like to learn; many children enjoy being the “teacher” for a change!
Initially, keep your questions simple to make things easy for him, and don’t worry if his explanations aren’t perfect. Try to guide him towards the right way of thinking (e.g. by asking good questions) instead of just telling him that he’s wrong.
- Similarly to item 3, you could ask him to write an essay about any aspect of a subject he’s studying. In his essays, he could write about what he knows about a certain topic, what he likes or dislikes about it, why he thinks the subject is worth (or not worth!) studying, etc. Again, remember to keep things simple at first, especially if he’s not used to writing.
- Study skills 1: Help your child organise his work. Exactly how you do this depends on your child’s preferences: for example, he could write summary sheets for each subject, structure his books/notes on each subject in a consistent manner, or learn how to make use of colour-coded folders, sticky notes, etc. You could also help him improve the presentation (i.e. the general layout) of his work; even good students often have problems presenting their work, and it can affect the way they think about problems.
- Study skills 2: Suggest or help him gather resources to aid him in his studies. This can involve anything from acquiring information from books and the Internet to encouraging him to ask questions of his teachers and other people. Knowing how to make the most of one’s available resources is a skill many children lack, and hunting for useful materials can be a fun little excursion in its own right.
- Study skills 3: Help your child plan his work. He could make a timetable showing what he plans to do in each day (and you can both see whether he actually followed the plan!); alternately, he could keep a “school journal” so he can keep track of work that needs to be done, write down important deadlines and key dates, identify his strong and weak points, and so on.
- Study skills 4: If your child is revising for exams, you can discuss strategies and come up with a good revision plan. For instance, he should aim to cover all the relevant material well before the exam date, so that he has ample time to practice on past papers. You can also ask him to explain topics to you (this improves the depth of his understanding — see item 3) or try some quizzes (see item 10 below).
- If he’s stuck on a question you don’t understand, there are several things you can try: ask him to show you what he has done to try to solve the problem, make sure he’s read through the question carefully, ask him to look through his books/notes for material relevant to the question, etc. This kind of guidance will often enable him to solve the problem himself. As a last resort, he can look to other resources to help him with his problem (see item 6).
Alternately, you can try to learn more about the subject with him (which also sets a good example for him and shows him how you learn), or you can read about it in your own time so that you are better able to help him. I often do this!
- Make a little quiz out of the contents of his books; ask him about definitions and terminology, methods, or whatever else is relevant. This is something you can try even if you don’t fully understand the material, because you can easily compare his answers with the information in his books. It’s also a good way of ensuring he has a comprehensive understanding of the material.
- If your child is already a very good student, use the Learning Time to supplement his learning. Challenge him a little more by giving him harder problems and increasing the breadth or depth of his understanding. Look for resources (see item 6) and find things for him to work on independently.
- Just have a chat with your child about something constructive, and not necessarily directly related to his schoolwork. For instance, you could talk about his plans for the future, or something casual such as what he would do if he had a million pounds and didn’t have to work. Constructive conversations like this are particularly handy when your child doesn’t feel like doing any work!
Don’t forget that when discussing your child’s schoolwork, it’s important not to make the mistake of thinking that grades are all that matter! The goal shouldn’t always be to get “the right answer”, but to improve your child’s thinking skills and the way he looks at learning and his schoolwork in general.
Finally, the atmosphere of your household also has a considerable effect on your child’s willingness to learn. If everyone else in the house — especially older siblings — spends a lot of time reading or doing constructive activities, it will be very natural for your child to behave similarly. The simplest thing you can do is to behave the way you would like your child to behave.
May 16th, 2008 at 6:05 am
[…] swegene1 wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptIn fact, there’s so much you can do that I couldn’t possibly cover the whole topic in a single blog post; instead, I’m going to talk today about just a few aspects of how you can benefit your child’s education. This article is aimed … […]
May 16th, 2008 at 7:43 am
ermm…
it’s a good way to …study…
May 16th, 2008 at 12:49 pm
Puan Halimahton,
Thank you for this very clearly written entry.
May 17th, 2008 at 3:32 pm
Thank you for your sharing. My 8 yr old son, I think(I may be biased here :P) is blessed with the ability to understand Maths concept quite easily. (I think he’s bright though probably not gifted) However, his marks are not good as he was very careless in his work/test. He said he has checked before submission. Although understanding is more important than marks, his marks will determine which class he goes to next year. My question is: will doing more questions reduce his carelessness? Actually I’d rather spend time introducing other mathematical concepts with him rather than doing mock exam papers to reduce his carelessness. Also, he might find it boring doing the same thing again and again. But, really, he needs to overcome this problem of carelessness. My husband thinks that by introducing Maths concept beyond his level, I’m covering breadth and no depth. So, he suggests that my son does more questions of his level to cover depth and overcome carelessness. I look forward to your experienced input. Thank you : )
May 21st, 2008 at 7:15 am
Assalamualaikum Kak Halimahton…
I found that it is a good way to create good environtment at home…physically or in mentality…dont you think that it is a good idea too to get our kids involve in our activity such as making cookies..doesnt matter whether our kids is a boy or a girl…
May 21st, 2008 at 7:21 am
salam sis. Till now, i really salute you on how you teach your beautiful kids on how important is education. I’m so proud to have a muslimah muslim sis as strong as you. YOu’re my idol.
I have 3 kids. 5, 2 n 6 mths. My first son is very capable in memerizing anything. even the cable car number we took when he was 1 yr old, he remembered what colour n the number. I’m a working mother sis, when i came back late, they will be asleep by then. I miss them soo much especilly teaching them. But i got no choice with the high std living in spore. the only worry me is that..my maid is taking care of them n most of the time, they will be watching tv only i guess when i’m not around. This is bad rite coz all ofthem are so into TV that they refuse to study when i attend to them. Is it true having boys a bit tough for us to teach hem due to their activeness?
Pls adv sis.
Thnk you
wassalam
Yati
May 21st, 2008 at 7:52 am
Hi…this is definitely useful. My daughter is 6 years old and i’m trying to prepare her for Primary 1 next year. She’s doing quite well for her English but as for Maths, she got herself confused with addition and subtraction. To be honest, it’s quite frustrating having to repeat myself everytime. Letting her know the difference between subtraction and addition (and this is just the beginning….). Help
May 21st, 2008 at 8:45 am
Assalamualaikum,
Terima kasih atas input yang amat berguna ini.
Sebagai ibu kepada anak berusia 7 tahun artikal
ini membantu saya melibatkan diri dalam pembelajarannya.
Semoga puan terus menulis dan Allah jua yang membalasnya.
May 21st, 2008 at 9:26 am
hi! I really enjoy your blog entry and learn a lot from you. thx for the sharing! may allah s.w.t bless you and your whole family.
May 21st, 2008 at 5:07 pm
Salam dearest kak halimahton,
You look so cheerful when teaching your kids. i know u really enjoy coaching them. but not for me. i dont have the patience. though i am a teacher myself (but i have patience with other peoples’ kids). Pitty my children.
My kids at the university now, believe it or not, i never check their homework. only luckily they r self motivated.
but now i regret what i did. i want to coach my little kids (6, 8, 9 and 12 yrs old now). i want them to be more excellent than their elder brothers and sistes. could u pls give us some simple tips on how to be patient, cheerful, and motivated, teaching our own kids.
wassalam,
umi sufiah
May 22nd, 2008 at 4:57 am
Assalamu’alaikum wbt
kak Halimahton,
terima kasih di atas kesudian akak menerangkan serba sedikit tentang cara pembelajaran yang betul. saya amat bersyukur dan terharu kerna dapat berkongsi ilmu pembelajaran dari akak. sebagai seorang kakak kepada 4 orang adik lelaki, saya cukup menghargai dan berbangga dengan kesabaran akak dlm mendidik anak-anak akak yang semakin membesar. keempat-empat adik saya mempunyai kelemahan dari segi teori (membaca dan mengingat) tetapi mempunyai daya kekuatan fikiran semasa membuat praktikal (menerima maklumat secara lisan dan mempraktikkannya). adik saya berusia diantara 24,22,18 & 12 thn. saya mengikuti perkembangan mereka dari kecil sehingga kini. bagai mana kah cara mengatasi atau menarik minat mereka mencari maklumat dari membaca (sendiri) atau melakukan “research”melalui membaca…? saya harap akak dapat membantu saya dalam menyelesaikan masalah ini.
saya doakan semoga akak sentiasa diberi kesihatan yang baik, ketenangan dan kebahagian disamping kejayaan anak2 akak.
wassalam,
Ruzainah
May 22nd, 2008 at 8:50 am
Salam puan halimahton,
Thank you for sharing. Though i keep reminding myself, i keep losing patience when i spend some learning time with my daughter. From your article, i realised that i’ve been doing it wrongly. i usually spend longer hours revising the lessons when the exam is near which can be exhausting to me and my daughter who is eight years old. i should spend time consistenly with her, like you said.
it’s true that we shouldn’t focus on the grades too much but instead i should help to improve her thinking skills and to ensure that she enjoys learning..but i feel that my daughter now may not enjoy learning due to my outburst at times.
i should say that she is doing well in school currently but she doesn’t have the initiative to study unless i remind her to do so. she likes watching tv most of the time. she’s also very calm before, while and after exams, which i think is good, but i’m afraid that my way of teaching can change her and i don’t what that to happen.
if i give my daughter a set of mathematical problems verbally, she can give correct answers but if she has to write them down, she tends to make mistakes, even simple equations. Why?
Just want to share one disturbing (at least to me) experience (but i guess tis the result of the M’sian education system). Yesterday, I sat in between two mothers comparing how their primary school going children fared in the recent mid year exam. One was complaining her year two son didn’t do well in his maths and science (despite scoring 91 and 94 marks respectively) and felt that the teachers were at fault (for so many reasons). The other mother wanted to complain because there were four questions (in year five science paper) from a syllabus that hasn’t been taught in her child’s class (fair enough but shouldn’t we be proactive when it comes to learning?). Btw, her child also scored A for that particular paper. Concerned and dedicated parents? Yes, that’s good but insisting on a perfect score all the time? I only hope that i, myself, can stay focused in the objective of educating my children. Thank you again for your input.
May 22nd, 2008 at 1:46 pm
Confused Mother - If you can, try watching your son as he does some of his homework, so that you can see what’s causing him to make mistakes. Usually the cause is something simple, e.g. he’s trying to work too quickly or he’s not reading the questions carefully. Once you’ve determined the root cause of the problem, you can address it directly; see if he can answer just one or two questions correctly with your supervision, and then build up from there. He might not think accuracy is that important, in which case you’ll need to give him lots of positive feedback and/or rewards after each correctly-answered question in order to motivate him. Also, let him focus on getting everything right the first time, because it’s much harder to find mistakes than to avoid them in the first place!
Lynnda - Definitely! The Learning Time is only a small part of what you can do to help your child, and getting your kids to participate in hands-on activities like cake-baking or gardening is an excellent idea.
Yati - Thank you. You’re right about boys often being very active and finding it hard to settle down. In my experience, getting them involved in sports or outdoor activities usually helps them work off their excess energy, and they’re fun things to do in their own right.
Wati - Is your daughter completely comfortable with addition and subtraction on their own? That’s the first thing I’d make sure of; it’s easy to get confused if you feel you don’t completely understand one or the other. I don’t normally teach subtraction until the ideas behind addition have fully sunken in. Understanding the concepts behind arithmetic is important, as well as the actual mechanics of computing something like 16 + 5 or 71 - 23.
I usually like to teach the concepts behind addition and subtraction with sweets: addition means you give the child some sweets, and subtraction means you take some away. Having a good grasp of counting and the notions of “more than” and “less than” is all that is required here. I think it’s important to only transition into the mechanical side of arithmetic once the basic concepts are mastered, so that addition is thought of as “giving me more” and subtraction is viewed as “taking things away”. In fact, I usually say “take away” instead of “minus”, just to make things clear.
Umi Sufiah - That’s a good question. I do enjoy teaching, but everyone gets frustrated from time to time — it’s only human. When this happens, I often just stop teaching for the day! Kids are usually quite understanding if you tell them that you’ll do a better job tomorrow. Another thing I do is to make sure I’m in a good mood before teaching, so basically I like to be well-rested, and I take care of other responsibilities like household chores before settling down to teach. It’s much easier to be patient when you’re not under any time constraints or thinking “oh, I’ve got to make dinner/wash up/feed the cat”.
If you find yourself getting frustrated due to a lack of progress, try letting your kids start on something small and achievable before gradually working up to bigger things. Break complex learning tasks into a series of simple, easy-to-achieve goals, so that both you and your child can visibly see the progress he’s making. In my experience, one can get a lot of pleasure out of seeing the child do well at even the simplest of things!
Hope this helps,
Halimahton
May 22nd, 2008 at 5:11 pm
first of all i need to thank kak halimahton for sending me this article. honestly, this article is informative and useful. however, i just wondering how to encourage older people to learn something which is not their interest. as we know, higher learning institution offer a bit difficult and challenging subject which sometimes need more focus and hardwork. since student in this stage have their own habit or ways of learning which sometimes is not pratical or good. is there any alternative ways regarding this matter? secondly, i would like to ask about older people who has problems in understanding english (oral and grammar). is there any simple method that can be apply? i’m glad to be your unofficial online student.
best regards,
May 27th, 2008 at 12:16 pm
Salam Kak Halimahton…
Thank you for sharing your learning tips with us. I have an active 5 year old son who loves to spend time reading his Peter and Jane books and doing his maths workbook, although that only last for only 10-15mins tops
Will surely try your tip on having constructive chats with him!
May 31st, 2008 at 5:33 pm
Thank you, Puan Halimaton kerana sudi mengongsi tip-tips puan mengajar anak. Saya ada soalan.. semasa mengandungkan anak, puan ada tidak amalan2 atau pemakanan supaya anak itu apabila sudah lahir menjadi seorang yang bijak.. contohnya yg saya pernah dgr letakkan headphone di perut supaya baby dpt dgr lagu klasik..(clssical music), atau baca quran ke? Makan apa untuk pertumbuhan otak bayi yg cerdas?
June 4th, 2008 at 8:17 am
thanx for this useful tips.. keep writing!