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Methods
for Parents to Get to Know Their Child's School Better |
- Set aside a specific time for
your child to complete assignments. Encourage your
child to use their time wisely and show them how to organize
materials.
- Provide your child with a quiet,
private place free from excessive noise, interruptions and
other distractions.
- Make sure the study area has all
the supplies your child needs such as pencils, paper, ruler,
dictionary.
Carefully CHECK your child's completed assignments.
- Students in grade 2 through grade
5, receive a Daily Assignment Book to help them organize
work for every subject, each day. Many teachers also
use homework folders that needs to be signed nightly
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How
Parents can Help with their Children's Homework |
- Communicate with your child about
school. This includes talking to him about his friends,
activities, teachers, and assignments.
- Show enthusiasm about school and
homework.
- Set realistic goals for your child,
and then focus on one at a time.
- Help your child get organized.
Break down assignments into smaller, more manageable parts.
Set out needed items (clothes, homework, permission slips,
etc.) the night before to avoid last-minute rushing around
in the morning.
- Provide a quiet study corner in
your home complete with paper, markers, a ruler, pencils
and a dictionary.
- Never do your child's homework!
- Check with your child's teacher
about correcting homework.
- Expect, and praise genuine progress
and effort. An opinion: don't praise or otherwise reward
your child for doing what you and he know is expected. This
practice leads you down a slippery slope, often with really
bad consequences for you and your child.
- Be specific when you do praise
something.
- Focus on your child's strengths
in school.
- Build associations between what
is taught and what your child already knows and understands.
- Incorporate concrete materials
and examples whenever possible, especially with younger
children. Try to help your child learn about the subject
in more than one way, using as many senses as possible.
- Separate your child's school weaknesses
from your child. If your child fails a test, that is all
the child fails. He or she is not a failure.
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Questions
to Ask at a School Conference |
- Is my child performing at grade
level in basic skills? Above/Below? Math/Reading?
- What are the objectives my child
is supposed to attain? How do these objectives lead to the
overall goal for the course/grade?
- What achievement, intelligence,
or vocational aptitude tests have been given to my child
in the past year? What do the scores mean? (Be very specific
and be sure you understand completely what the reported
scores mean).
- What are my child's strengths
and weaknesses in major subject areas?
- What subjects do my child enjoy
most?
- Can we together go over some examples
of my child's class work?
- Does my child need special help
in any academic subject?
- Who are my child's friends and
how does he or she interact with other children?
- Has my child regularly completed
assigned homework?
- Has my child attended class regularly?
- Have you observed any changes
in learning progress during the year? Has learning improved
or declined during the year?
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