It Takes Time
Let’s face it – kids need some help to be great students.
Every student is unique, and it takes lots of direction both in school and at home to become a successful life-long learner.
There are several ways to help guide your student towards academic success.However, you shouldn’t assume it will change overnight.
After all, Rome wasn’t built in a day.
Healthy Habits
Learning doesn’t happen if students are tired or hungry. Routines and healthy habits are a critical base for digesting new information.
Focusing on school work is certainly hard without adequate sleep and a healthy breakfast. Developing a sleep routine—especially keeping bedtime and wake up consistent—are simple ways of ensuring academic success for your child.
After school tutors and homework help make it easier to sleep early and soundly knowing they’re prepared for the next day.
Make Homework Important
We often forget that homework is, in fact, work intended to be completed at home. All too often parents don’t stress the importance of completing these tasks, and as a result, the student fails to see the importance in doing homework.
Prioritize homework by getting involved, designating space, time to get it done and helping them stay organized and on top of their assignments.
Check their work or make sure that you are available to answer any questions. If your student is advancing in subjects, help with chemistry homework may be off the table. Memberships with homework help and on-demand tutoring were created to help families solve this problem.
Be Supportive
Getting involved with homework can be an easy step on the road to academic success, but only if your student is open to help.
A resistant student might be frustrated because they have fallen behind in class.
Sometimes a student’s refusal to do homework isn’t a sign of defiance, but a sign that they may also need a tutor for some extra help.
Make sure to never criticize a student for not “getting” a concept. Every human learns in a different way.
Additionally, make sure to let your student make some mistakes. This might sound counterintuitive, but parents stepping in to fix a student’s work isn’t going to help that student in the long run. Instead, that will foster even more poor student behavior.
Be supportive, but don’t do the work for the student.
Model Learning Behavior
One of the best and most effective ways towards creating a great student is to model learning behavior.
As adults, we might not always see how our behavior can be rubbing off on our children, but it's happening all the time.
A 2017 study surveyed high school graduates to gauge the relationship between parental involvement and GPA. The more involved the parent, the more the student perceived that they valued education, which led to higher academic achievement.
It turns out that a child’s perception of how parent(s) values books and education tends to have a big impact. Make sure to let your student know that learning is fun.
Watch a historical documentary instead of reality television just for fun.
Go out into the world and take your child to museums and exhibits. Curiosity is a big part of learning, and your student can discover that through parents’ enthusiasm.
Modeling organized, inquisitive and lifelong learning behavior is important to the overall wellbeing of a student and their academic success. Additionally, modeling a “never give up” attitude is also important.
When a student watches their parent give up out of frustration, they’re more likely to repeat the behavior. Model learning behavior by seeking help, taking a break and always returning to complete the task at hand.
Parents can easily model this behavior in a conscious way to the benefit of their students.
Be A Learning Family
Overall, the best way towards creating a great student is to think about your home and your family as a learning family.
During your student’s academic year, learning isn’t (and shouldn’t) only be happening in school. Creating a healthy environment with healthy habits is the first step towards academic success.
Getting involved in the learning process together helps your student feel supported and confident. A family can do great things to help each other become better learners.
Need Help?
If your family could use some extra support, we’re here to help! Whether you need an after school tutor or the occasional online homework help, The House makes it easy to access tutoring on demand. Please contact us today to find out how we can help your student achieve academic success.