A good relationship with education starts from those early years in school, believe it or not. You either gain that sense of loving to learn, or you find it a little more difficult and thrive in other more physical activities. However, the early years departments are developing at such a huge rate that now they are really helping children to thrive in the school environment.

So how can you help a child through the school years? While you can’t sit there and do it for them, although I’m sure any parent would love to take away and hardship and stress their child may have, it is important to be a huge support to them throughout those school days. As a parent, much of what you do at home can be just as important as what your child does in their school day. I wanted to share with you some of the ways you can help a child through the school years, helping them develop a love for learning, and who knows, go on to university life and even gaining degrees.

Develop a partnership with the teachers

It’s easy to feel enthused when your child is just starting out at school. It can be a big transition from a nursery environment where you are aware of how your child spends their day to not getting much information. Children as young as four start school and can often not remember what they did throughout the day. This is when developing a good partnership with their teachers could really aid them through the first year. This should be something that you try and do consistently as each year changes and your child gets a new teacher. It will help you to gain a better understanding of what is going on in your child’s day. You can also get up to speed if there are any areas of concern like reading or socialising amongst the other children. Providing vital feedback for you to support your child.

Accept that technology can play a vital role in learning

As technology is developing at a faster rate, there shouldn’t be any surprise that it is now being used to develop education. Students in university or college are encouraged to use computers, submit assignments online and now children of secondary education can use a smartphone application to know what homework assignments are due when. Some schools even use applications to keep parents up to date with how their children are developing. But it is how technology is changing the school classroom that could be the real exciting element of technology in the school. The use of tablets in the classroom can really transform the way a teacher teaches. Enabling them to use video and photographs in real time with a tap of the keyboard to help spark imagination. Technology such as learning applications could also be used well at home, to help children learn and develop at their own rate. Encouraging the use of such technology for things other than gaming could help support your child and develop them further.

Support children with at home studies like reading or homework assignments

Just as much as you want your child to thrive in the classroom, it can often be just as important with what you do at home that helps them advance further. Most children even as young as four will have homework assignments each week, and it is important for you to ensure that these get done and time is spent on them. Reading is also just as important at home, and actually encouraging children to learn with you can often help you see exactly how far they have come. Good communication with your child and regularly discussing their day and what they have learned will help a child to think back to their school day and relive those learning experiences. Which could also reinforce what they have learnt. It is also about the level of support that you give your child, and support them through talking and actively doing things with them at home to help towards their learning experience could be hugely advantageous.

Get involved in school activities

Finally, you may want to involve yourself into the school so that you know first hand what is going on during the day. This might be becoming a member of the parent teacher groups, it might mean volunteering for school parties or to help fundraise. However you want to be involved, big or small, it can really help you to gain a better understanding of the type of day your child has as well as the children and teachers they are associating with. Also being involved can give you notice as to changes that might be made, which again helps you to support your child, if it it directly affects them.

I hope that these tips help you to support your children through the school years.

Find Additional Resources to Help Them

If your child is struggling with a particular subject, you may want to go out of your way to find additional resources to help them progress. It is normal for young children to go through general struggles with the main subject areas such as English and Math, but there are plenty of additional ways to help them work through these tough points. For example, you can find free math worksheets from DoodleLearning right here, and work through the questions together. As soon as you can pinpoint where they need extra help, you will be able to dive into all sorts of free or inexpensive resources to support your child’s education. Your child’s teacher may also be able to recommend certain worksheets to help them through any gaps in their knowledge.

Image: Pencils