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Education is the
Most Important Gift
you can give to your children.
In our family, we encourage learning at every level
and every opportunity.
Here are some of our strategies for raising kids
to be life-long learners.
Learning in the Home
 Read
to your children
Read as often as you can, even if the last thing you feel like doing is
reading to your children.
 Ask
questions
Give your kids plenty of chances to tell you what they have learned.
This does not mean the usual "what did you learn today" routine. Instead,
ask "I wonder why the male mallard duck is more colorful than the female",
or "Why do turtles have shells?", or "What time is it in London right now?".
Gear the questions toward the appropriate age, of course, but be sure to
ask challenging questions, not just easy ones.
 Teach
math through time, money and measuring and music
After your child has learned the basic facts of simple counting, she is
ready to begin counting pennies. Later, exchange five pennies for a nickel.
Soon she will know how to make change from a dollar. Learn about
fractions by talking about time - quarter hours, half hours, etc.
Learning to read music has reinforced our son's knowledge of both time
and money, as he learned that four quarter notes add up to make one whole
note, just like four quarters add to a dollar, and four quarter-hours add
to one hour.
 Work
puzzles together
Beginning in toddler-hood, this encourages visual/spatial learning, and
helps with fine motor coordination. As your child grows, jigsaw puzzles
can aid in reasoning too, as they determine from the color clues where
each piece should fit.
Offer
educational computer games
Our kids have really enjoyed the Davison computer games: Math Blaster
series, Kid Phonics, Ready for School, and others. Our kids were
both pointing and clicking when they were two years old, and have enjoyed
"playing", when really they were learning. They actually prefer the
educational games to any regular video-game sort of game we have.
Visit
interesting places together
We often visit the Baltimore Science Center, because our kids like science.
We also are regular visitors to the National Zoo in Washington D.C., and
the National Aquarium in Baltimore. Don't limit these visits to the
purely educational sites, though. A minor-league baseball game can
be a learning experience, as kids learn about the rules of the game and
how to be a good sport.
Play
with blocks or Legos
These highly manipulative toys are learning devices in disguise!
Kids can make patterns through color and shape. They can learn the
basic principles of structural engineering, by attempting to build strong
walls or bridges. We had our son using Legos to visualize subraction
with regrouping.
Parents and Teachers - Partners in Education
Meet
your child's teacher
As soon as you know who your child's teacher(s) will be, introduce yourself!
Just that act will make you stand out in the teacher's mind as a parent
who values education. Same goes for the principal, vice-principal,
office secretary, gym/music/art/library teachers, etc. Become a familiar
face within the school building.
Volunteer
at your child's school
Whether you're a classroom mom or dad, or an office assistant, or a playground
parent, or whatever, there are always ways to volunteer at your child's
school. If you work full time, ask the teacher for things you can
do from home in the evenings. We have colored and cut out bulletin
board decorations on many occasions while watching our favorite TV shows!
See if your employer will let you form a partnership with the school, allowing
you a couple of hours on a regular basis to be at the school in the employer's
name.
Join
the PTA
If your PTA is active, join in. If it is not, jump-start it. Our
school's PTA is very active and organized, which makes participation at
any level fun and mostly easy. Volunteers are needed for anything
from organizing fund-raiser sales to baking items for a teacher's appreciation
breakfast, from gathering used toys and games for indoor recess, to collecting
money at a Family Bingo Night. Of course, I can't do anything half-way,
so I'm the chairperson for the Special Events committee. I'm in charge
of putting on the annual Fall Fling and Spring Fling. My son is very
proud of the fact that I am so active in the PTA - he knows that the PTA
works to make the school better, and he is happy that his mom is part of
that.
Follow
school board issues
Many times, school boards do not hear from parents, and so votes on important
issues can often go against popular opinion. If you keep in touch
with the issues facing the board, then you'll know when to make phonecalls,
write letters, or speak up at meetings on behalf of your children.
Links:
Howard County Public Schools
- Howard County, Maryland, USA
Stevens Forest
Elementary School
National PTA
Education Resources -
Lots of links
Education, Teachers, K-12
to University - Lots of links
Parent Education Resources
- Is your child ready for kindergarten?
There are countless other ways to encourage
learning behaviors in children.
If you have ideas or stories to share about education
and your children,
email us and
we'll be glad to share them on this page.
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