How to be more involved with your child's education

How to be more involved with your child’s education

Sending your child to school can be overwhelming for any parent, but you also want to ensure that you do what is best for them. School isn’t easy for every child and some children will find academics much harder than their peers. While you want to help them and get involved as much as you can, you might also be aware of going too far.

Some children are receptive to help whereas others may put a wall up. There are also other ways to be involved in your child’s education that won’t directly involve your child. I wanted to share with you some of the ways you can be more involved with your child’s education. 

Help them with their homework 

One of the first things you can do would be to help them with their homework. It may sound obvious, but this is the easiest way to get more involved. You will gain an insight into the subjects and areas they are covering at school, and it could also give you an idea of how your child is coping with the work. Many schools give weekly homework and having dedicated time to sit and do it could form part of your routine. 

Join the School PTA if they have one 

If you were looking for an indirect way to be more involved with your child’s education then you could join the school PTA. This is the parent-teacher association. Not all schools have a PTA but it will give you a chance to be more involved and to help your child’s school with things like fundraising. 

Apply to be a parent governor

Another option if you have the time and dedication is to apply to be a parent governor if a vacancy becomes available. This gives you a chance to have direct involvement in what your school does. The governing board will make big decisions on the direction the school will take as well as having involvement in the financial side. Governors need to give their time to attend meetings and also provide feedback and oversight on different areas of school life, so while you will be involved with your child’s education, there is a lot more to the role than you might initially think. 

Read together 

Reading is one of the best things you can do with your child and is something that all teachers will encourage you to do to help you be involved but also enable your child to move forward with their education. Reading will help them in so many ways, but often a child finds it hard to read on their own. Sitting down comfortably and reading together, or listening to your child read to you is extremely beneficial. It is also a great way to spend some quality time together. 

Extra activities at home 

If you feel that your child is struggling in a particular area of their education then you could try and do some extra activities at home. This doesn’t necessarily mean printing off worksheets and making your child feel like they are doing extra homework, you can find games and fun activities online that will help them in different areas. It could be a physical game or solving a mystery on a maths worksheet. I struggled with maths while at secondary school and I needed a bit of additional help. A maths tutor worked wonders for me and helped me to see things in a way that I just wasn’t getting at school.

Help them be prepared for upcoming tests

Like with most school settings, there will likely be tests they need to prepare for. It could be SATs that they embark on in year 2 or year 6. It could be things like times tables tests or reading tests. As they get older there could be regular tests as they prepare for big examinations like GCSEs. Helping your child to prepare for those tests is a great way to build up their confidence. Whether it is an extra practice in different areas, or you help them to revise or test them on different subjects, it will help to give them the confidence they need for that upcoming test. 

Enjoy educational days out

Finally, you may enjoy days out as a family and a great way to be more involved with your child’s education is to use those days out for things that are educational. This might be a visit to a museum, a place of historical value, or an art gallery. There are potentially so many things that you could do that will have an educational side to them, and this could be beneficial to your child. Especially if you can coincide it with things they are currently learning in class. 

Hopefully, these suggestions will help you to be more involved with your child’s education. 

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