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How You Can Further Your Child’s Education at Home

Everyone wants their child to be the smartest, brightest mini-Einstein in their class at school – but it’s rare that this will happen without proper tutoring. Children absorb new information and knowledge like sponges, so the more you feed them, the more they’ll grow.

Here’s how to educate your child at home and build upon what they learn at school and day care, to give their brains a head-start in life. 

Send them to the best day care and after-school care facilities

Send your children to a day care center where staff keep children engaged, like Little Peoples Place, based in Australia, or The Goddard School in the U.S., and introduce them to new ideas each day.

Talk to other parents to find out how their children like their day care or after school care provider, and what the parents think of the education there. Based on recommendations, pick a center that has great facilities, like an outdoor area, art supplies and sport equipment, to ensure children are stimulated and learning a broad spectrum of subjects.

 
Find out what they’re learning at school

In order to reaffirm what your child is learning at home, you’ll need to find out what they do at school! Asking your child won’t always provide the answers (asking your child what they did today often ends in a “don’t know!” and them running away).

Chat with the teachers there about what the kids do and how you can support this. Make sure to read the newsletters and email about extra classes like music and physical education too! For instance, when they are learning about playing football, get your own football to play along at home and on weekends, so your child goes back to school knowing their way around the game.


Set up learning stations at home

Learning doesn’t have to be boring! Everything is new and learning through play is a huge part of early development. Simply learning the rules of sports, how to use paints, and how to read counts as both fun and learning.

Children love to experiment and use their imaginations, so make methods of doing this available to them at all times at home. Have areas where they can build Lego, do drawings, and play with dolls at home, to develop creativity and social skills. 

Seek tutors or additional support

Don't be afraid to seek additional support or tutoring when you notice signs of difficulties or disinterest in certain subjects. Seek out tutors, like those available at Tutor Map, that can help you keep you child engaged and on track. Even if you have the best intentions of helping your child learn at home, you may simply not be as effective as a trained teacher or tutor in meeting your child's specific learning needs.

Even if your child is doing quite well in school subjects, you may benefit from working with a tutor who can offer advanced level work or practice to keep your child growing and interested in an easier subject. 

Go on your own ‘school trips’

School and day care centers will often take children on trips to the zoo and the beach – but doing these things at home as a family is also important too!

Learning about new animals, new habitats and more aspects of the environment encourages curiosity and understanding of the world we live in.


Draw on your own expertise

Are you a chef? Is your husband a builder? Do your older children love ballet or golf? Everyone in the household has something to teach the youngest member of the family and can introduce them to new ideas and things to do.

Your child will love learning ballet with her older sister, cooking with Mom or being taught how to build a house out of blocks with Dad. Spend time with your little one teaching them all that you do and allowing them to develop their interests. You might even learn something from them!


Read!

Possibly the most important thing that parents can do at home with children is read. This is a huge foundation of skills and knowledge required at big school – and if they are ahead of their age group for reading at this point, they will excel in other subjects far more easily too.

Make bedtime stories a routine and provide a big bookshelf at home if you can just for kids. You’ll find them picking up stories all the time at home, and their reading will improve before your eyes. This is also a brilliant way to reduce screen time for little ones.


Let them lead

If your child asks you if they can make cookies, make time to do this in the near future. If they want to play jump-rope outside or to read a story, encourage them. Give your children freedom to enjoy their interests, and they will happily learn of their own accord.

Teachers and the staff at day care will notice that your child is bright, happy and clever.


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