Creating the climate for family learning at home

Parents should be valued members of the school community and equal supporters of their children’s academic success. When parents establish a learning climate at home, they demonstrate to their children that education is important.

Consider these ideas for parents to support learning at home:

Establish an environment for learning at home. Provide the tools your child needs to read, write, and do homework. This includes pencils or pens, paper, and a quiet place to work, free from distractions and noises. Strive to keep a consistent time for addressing homework, reading, and exploring new topics and ideas. If possible, grab a snack and a drink when arriving home each day and settle in to complete homework needs right away. 

Reading before bedtime is a great way to settle a child’s mind while also building reading and vocabulary skills. The Cultivating Readers Family Guide provides tips to grow reading skills from birth to age eight. The guide is free-of-charge and available in English and Spanish.

Set your family expectations for learning. Get everyone in on the act and lead by example! Letting your child see you read, learn about, and explore new things on a regular basis establishes you as a role model for learning. Even when school is not in session, setting time each night to read as a family pays dividends, especially when children go back to school. Explore 30 Days of Families Learning Together for a month’s worth of family literacy activities and practices designed to inspire family memories rooted in imagining, playing, and learning together.

Provide simple opportunities for learning every day. Turn everyday experiences into teachable moments. Take a walk to the mailbox and see how many bugs you can find along the way. Talk about the bugs, ask questions, and pique children’s curiosity about bugs. Or, the next time you go grocery shopping, sit down with your child to make the shopping list. Perhaps dictate the list while your child writes, and then search for the items together on the store shelves. Make learning together fun and memorable!

Supporting children’s learning at home sets them up for academic success. Parents, what are your best tips for keeping children learning at home?

See related post, Creating the climate for family learning at school, to learn how teachers and school administrators can better engage families at school.