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Show Parents should be integral part of child's education EDITOR'S NOTE: Utah leads the nation in the number of students per classroom. Its schools will admit more students in kindergarten than will graduate from the 12th grade. Where schools once simply taught the basics - reading, writing and mathematics - educators today teach up to 18 subjects. More than ever, education needs parents to share in the responsibility of teaching children, says Dr. Marilou R. Sorensen, associate professor of educational studies at the University of Utah. She speaks from experience. This mother and grandmother taught in the elementary schools for 11 years and now teaches those who will educate future generations. The following is an open letter to parents of children in kindergarten or the elementary schools. Dear Parents: As you send your children off to school, many for the first time, there is a sense of excitement and anticipation. You want them to have the best education possible, but you may be groping for ways to ensure their success in school. Helping them achieve success is not mysterious or as difficult as you may think, and the patterns you help develop now will extend throughout their lives. With a new year beginning, here are some tips. 1. Work with the schools and open lines of communication. Visit the classroom, meet the teacher and find out what will happen during the year. Ask about curricular guidelines and teaching strategies. What activities and experiences will the child have? If your children will enter kindergarten, kin-dergarten, ask if they will be taught to read and what method will be used. Find out what or if you should do something to help at home. Ask about new philosophies, practices and methods that guide education today. If you're unhappy with what's going on in the classroom, volunteer to help. 2. Support your school. Critical comments made at home carry over to a child's actions at school and may create disciplinary problems. When there are concerns or criticism is justified, deal with the school, not through the child. 3. Teach responsibility. Assign chidlren chores and duties. School is a give-and-take experience and if they have not had responsibility at home, it will be an earth-shattering experience. Help them learn to complete tasks independently. Help children make decisions. Even three- and four-year-olds can make choices, but sometimes they must learn to live with them, which may be a hard lesson. Being in a classroom with 35 other children all day doesn't give them much physical or psychological space, so teach your children to respect others. 4. Promote self-worth. Children are no more than what they think they are and how they feel, act and look. Self-worth is challenged when children are continually downgraded, compared with peers or brothers and sisters, or criticized for what they don't do. Be more positive - and more individual -with children. Guide your children through new experiences. Give them options to deal with the unknown. Children who don't have a set of standards on which to depend will act out their frustrations, pout, cry or become bullies. There's nothing more important to children than feeling good about themselves. Children's needs are different at different ages, so be sensitive to them. Be open for compromise and, above all, listen to your children. 5. Learning environment at home. Make the time, place and materials available to children. Have a special place for them to study that's well lighted and well equipped. Keep distractions to a minimum. 6. Homework. Be aware of assignments. Talk with teachers if you feel there's too much or too little. Should you help with homework? Yes and no. Help if needed, but if homework isn't done and the child gets a lesser grade, the child must assume responsibility. Assure children that homework is practice, that there's a reason for it. Never! never trick a child into doing homework or use it as punishment. 7. Put extracurricular activities in priority. Some children are bombarded with outside activities and sports. While some extracurricular ex-tracurricular experiences are valuable, most children cannot take three music lessons and play on two athletic teams and still do well at school. You, not your children, must decide what will wait. 8. Quiet time. Even if it's just a few minutes, have a time at home when there is no television, radio or visiting. 9. Enrichment. Children need good music, wonderful literature and exposure to the rich aesthetics of life that schools cannot always provide. Give them the best, even if it's a few moments a day. A good sense of humor is also important. And talk about what happened during the day. 10. Practice basics at home. There are many opportunities for children to practice at home. Leave notes for them, encourage them to write notes to you, have them prepare grocery lists and menus. Hearing literature is one of the most important experiences for developing literacy. Read aloud: a neglected language skill today is listening. Speaking opportunities are vital. Have children try speaking al home so when they do so in class they're more comfortable. com-fortable. 11. Encourage risk-taking. Let young people know that making mistakes isn't wrong. It's okay, that's how we learn. It will be hard at first, but let children make choices. A toddler who puts a coat on backwards, spreads too much jam on bread or combines things that are awful is experimenting. Let some of these things happen. When your children come home with less than perfect papers, don't come apart the seams. Ask them if they understand the problem now. Talk about it. , ' 12. Taking tests. In some school kids are uptight about taking tes Others figure they'll do the w they can; a test is not the end fw world. Good teachers show kids W to take tests. Relax, don't craft read ahead and role-play. You ,; help, too. Assure them youll love them if they don't score w percent. Remember, there are alwaj ways to deal with friction a problems. Sometimes we ourselves too seriously. lnslwe letting the clock dictate to us, w time for family s655101 yourselves, have we ia"K together lately? How can we n family member under strfiover anybody having ProblemnsreS or allowance, homework, cno unmet expectations? Above all, . keep the lines communication open. . $ I know how harried your lite a parent. But success in depends a lot on attitude -j and your child's. I hope , see school as an opportune drUdgC- -Marilou B. |
