Understanding Your Child’s Educational Progress

All day long your child is in the hands of another adult, one who is responsible for teaching your child about different subjects by giving lessons, assigning homework and grading exams. What many parents forget, however, is that they still have a responsibility to understand their children’s educational progress and to help the teacher out through at-home learning. Even though you may be busy working, running errands and taking care of other obligations, monitoring the education of your child should be priority number one. The following tips will help you stay proactive when it comes to your child’s education, and help you track their progress.

Get Involved With the School

Getting involved with the school is one of the best ways to get a glimpse of what’s going on inside the school on a regular basis. Making regular visits either through volunteering, attending events or chaperoning excursions is a great way to keep track of what your child is learning and also see how your child interacts with their teacher, other students and the subject material. Stick around for a few minutes when you drop your child off at school to see what you can observe. You may find that what you see is vastly different from what your child describes to you at home.

Get to Know the Teacher

One of the biggest problems associated with parents being unaware of their child’s progress is a lack of communication with the teacher. When it comes down to it, the teacher is your partner in educating your child, so communicating with them through face-to-face meetings, phone conferences or emails will give you a sense of how your child is progressing and what work needs to be done at your end. Although parents generally aren’t involved with the lesson plans, the teacher can still keep you up-to-date with what’s being taught in the classroom.

Be Available to Your Child at Home

A big part of your child’s education will be work they do at home, and this is the best time for you to see how they are progressing. Set aside some time every day to talk to your child about their day at school, find out what they learned, discover their interests, and even help them with some of their homework. Your child’s education doesn’t stop the moment they leave school, and if you want to stay on top of their progress the best thing to do is to see them in action at home. Make sure you have all the necessary school supplies at home to assist with homework, and help your child set up a comfortable study space.

Network with Other Parents

With the help of other parents, you can get a much clearer idea of what happens in the classroom. Start by getting to know the parents of your child’s friends, and then try to stay in contact with substitute teachers, PTA members and classroom volunteers. The more people you are in touch with, the more insight you will gain as to how your child is performing in the classroom.

If you want to stay up-to-date with your child’s educational progress, then all you really have to do is be active, diligent and creative. Although looking at grades will give you a sense of how well your child is doing, to really know how they are progressing with subject material, you have to be proactive.

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