10 Ideas for Engaging Parents in their Children’s Education

Parents, you are the most important teachers in your children’s lives. Remember your child’s first few years? You helped your child learn to stand and walk, to say words and eventually sentences. Once your child enters school, you are still critical to your child’s education. These 10 Ideas for Engaging Parents in a Child’s Education are meant to inspire and encourage you on this lifelong challenge.

Inspiring your child to continue learning outside the classroom will help them understand why the lessons they learn in school are relevant to the real world. Plus, you can help them remain at or above grade level during the summer months.

Here are 10 Ideas for Engaging Parents to Support your Child:

Meet with and email the teacher regularly. Check-ins help to find out if there are any struggle areas for your child. Ask for tips on how you can best help your child overcome these challenges. Continue with this habit all the way through high school.
Designate a homework time everyday after school. Regardless of age, structured time is important to help teach time management skills. Sit with your younger child to keep them focused or answer any questions. Encourage your child to double-check their answers. Be sure to guide them and not actually do it for them. (Resist the temptation.)
Find a tutor if necessary. Sometimes your child may need extra help. Many local libraries, churches, or community centers offer free tutoring. Local high school honor society students need “volunteer hours” to maintain their NHS status. Contact the high school to help point you in the right direction. Otherwise you could hire a neighbor, a service, or ask the teacher for recommendations.
Go to the local library. Get your child their own library card and sign them up for a summer reading program. We want them to continue reading as a habit. Once it’s back-to-school time, you’ll save weeks of ramp-up and help your child’s teacher. Plus, being the owner of a library card shows them that they’re maturing and you trust them to make good decisions on their own.
Read with your child. Some parents make a ritual of reading to their young child or letting their child read aloud every night before bed. This bonding time also creates a love of books and thirst for knowledge and storytelling. However, for older children, we recommend you check out a book or two and read as well. Talk about your stories together.
Explore the outdoors. Nature is full of hands-on educational opportunities. Make science journals to record your discoveries.
Go to a children’s museum. Young children learn through play!
Go to a “grown-up” museum. Exposing your child to art, science, history, space, oceanography, or other topics is a wonderful way to introduce them to future careers and show them why math and reading is so important. Most museums have free days or free hours. This is why Washington D.C. is a fantastic family vacation destination as the museums and landmarks are free!
Ask your child what they find interesting and then develop a project for that topic. If your child likes butterflies for instance, you could teach them about metamorphosis and then help them act out a skit showing the different life stages. Or, you could even raise caterpillars and watch them transform to butterflies! If they like baking, find cookbooks and YouTube clips of great bakers or designers.
Be the role model. You are your child’s number one hero. Show your child how important education is by advancing your own. Read books, listen to podcasts, or take a continuing education or professional development course.

These 10 Ideas for Engaging Parents in a Child’s Education are a great starting point. You know your child best. Use these tips to stay energized, stay focused, and enjoy the parenting process. Be as excited about them discovering their unique gifts and talents, as much as you were when they took their first steps or spoke their first words.

CoolSpeak works with local school districts, churches, and organizations to help provide parents the resources you need to make a positive impact in your child’s education. Contact us to learn more about how CoolSpeak can support you in helping your child succeed.

CoolSpeak – We put the Motivation back into Education. CoolSpeak is the nation’s leading youth engagement company. Since 2009, we deliver unique speakers, programs, events, books and products designed to keep students inspired, parents involved, and teachers engaged.

It’s the first day of summer and that means… Summer Vacation! Students yearn for it, and yet so often they drift, slip backwards in their educational competencies in something researchers call the “summer slide;” and sometimes even get into serious trouble. For many youth, summer programs for high school students are the lifeline that keeps them trying new experiences and stretching their skills.

But summer programs can offer an even more powerful and rewarding experience for high school students. Whether a camper or a counselor, a high school student in camp can forge a deeper connection to their values and dreams.

As the summer season gets underway, we want to encourage organizations, camp directors and parents to look at camp programs and ask…

Is this summer camp the best it can be for the teens who need it most?
Is your summer camp program doing justice to the high school students who signed up?
Are you navigating the challenges of cultural diversity or using the same camp curriculum without thought or care?
Are the campers exercising independence in a new context?
Are they growing as individuals and learning how to be a catalyst for positive change?

Many camps neglect to ask the campers themselves about their experiences beyond a low bar such as “fun.” But we all know camp can offer so much more. Especially when spending extended time away from home, and building skills around different interests, summer programs for high school students can and should offer meaningful and inspirational opportunities for change in a child’s life. We are talking about comprehensive change, a move to become a better person in the context of the camp community and in life going forward.

At CoolSpeak, we have a proud track record working with school districts, organizations such as GEAR UP, and independent camps and schools. We put together a custom camp program for your organization, on short notice or with extraordinary care for next year’s season. Schedule us for a week or just a couple of days. There are plenty of options to fit your needs, timeline, and budget.

We also shift the course of your current camp summer program. Our experienced, skilled CoolSpeak speakers can come in now to offer a presentation to campers and counselors alike that will motivate all the participants to develop skills to shape the future they want to see. Campers will come away with life strategies to cultivate internal motivation, improve emotional intelligence, and enhance critical thinking skills that will serve them in any situation.

Take action! Reach out to us to learn more about how to take your summer programs for high school students to the next level with CoolSpeak Programs and CoolSpeak Events. Let’s bring high school campers the powerful confidence and engagement we all know summer camp can deliver.

Posts

10 Ideas for Engaging Parents in their Children’s Education

10 Ideas for Engaging Parents in their Children’s Education

Reforming Summer Programs for High School Students