Ten Tasks for Improving Quality of Education at Home

Improving quality of education for your children is as easy as ten simple tasks that you can do at home.

Task One

Routine: Set up a simple after-school routine to help make sure that homework gets completed in a timely manner. Help figure out the optimal sequence of after-school events for your child.

Does your child need a break after school before getting to his homework? Does your child like to get right to it so that he is free to enjoy the rest of the day without homework later? Get into a homework routine and watch your child's sense of accomplishment drive him to keep that routine going.

Task Two

Daily Choices: An important aspect of improving quality of education involves instilling in your child the importance of making good daily choices to assure the best performance every day.

Physical Activity Choices: See to it that your child gets a minimum of 30 minutes of moderate physical activity every day. Taking a walk, playing tag, jumping rope are all ways to get the muscles and lungs pumping. Physical activity improves concentration when it comes time to settle down and do seat work.

Sleep Choices: Help your child figure out how much sleep he needs to perform at his best. Some children may need 10 hours of sleep a night where others may do better on 7 hours.
Studies have reported that many children are not getting enough sleep and their academic performance reflects this deficit. Make sure your child is getting the right amount of rest.

Snack Food Choices: Stock the refrigerator with nutritious snack foods. Set your child up for success by making foods available that are quick and nutritious. Fresh fruits, fresh vegetables and high protein snacks are suggested. Plan ahead and pack the snacks to go so the child will have them available when away from home.

Task Three

Organize: Arrange the child's things to ease the flow from one activity to another. Keep the going-to-school things in a particular place so that each day the out-the-door shuffle is as smooth as possible. This task of keeping things organized helps keep the stress of lost things from overwhelming the child on his way to school.

Task Four

Work Space: Your child's job is schoolwork. He needs a place where the tools of his trade are available to get the job done. It can be as simple as a bookshelf or a bin with all the necessary supplies at hand situated near a table. Good lighting and minimized distractions are also important.

Task Five

Read: Create a reading rich environment for your child. Invest in all kinds of good quality literature from fiction and non-fiction, science, math, history, health, classics, poetry, and reference books. Books in the home have shown to be a predictor of academic success.
Model a reading habit and share the vast world of words and story with your child.

Task Six

Lifestyle of Learning: Demonstrate curiosity about the world and the environment you live in. Encourage your child to ponder how things are made, why it does this or that. Seek out the answers together. Visit museums, take a tour, and seek out a new park.

Task Seven

Connect: Take time each day to connect with your child. Many times a parent can get preoccupied with managing events of work and home life that meaningful connections with the child can get lost in the shuffle. At the end of the day before either one of you goes to sleep be intentional to give your child an opportunity to have your undivided attention.

It can take as little as ten minutes to let your child know that you care to hear what they may have to say. Often times a child's guard is down and they will open up more readily when relaxed and share what is on their heart.

Task Eight

Teacher Contact: Be in the know about what is going on at school. Improving quality of education for your children involves keeping regular contact with your child's teacher so that there are no surprises about schedules, assignments and report cards. A quick e-mail or phone call to check in with your child's teacher lets them know you are interested in keeping the lines of communication open. A teacher is more likely to contact you if an issue comes up when you have made the initial effort to seek them out.

Task Nine

Rewards and Consequences: Look for opportunities to explore your child's feelings and emotions when he experiences a job well done and when he has performed poorly. Help him to see the natural rewards such as feeling good about himself and the satisfying sense of accomplishment that comes when he sees a task through to completion. Also, help him to identify the sense of disappointment in himself when he hasn't put in the effort to do well.
Helping your child to connect his quality of effort with these feelings will help him seek out the good feelings through determination and effort.

Task Ten
Believe: Children want their parents to believe in them. Reinforce your child with your positive thoughts, attitudes and behaviors. Let them know that you are on their side. Readily give them genuine verbal praise. It takes just one person to believe in a child to help them overcome their obstacles. Demonstrate daily that it is you in their corner.

There you have it! Ten Terrific Tasks toward improving quality of education that you can do at home. Try one or all ten, either way you are off to a good start toward helping your child succeed.

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