Children Every child is different, which means every child is motivated through different methods. There are many ways that you can encourage your child to learn at home, but it’s about finding the best way that supports your child’s needs. In this short article, we will be looking at 7 different ways you can encourage your child to learn at home.
Reward them for achievements
It’s encouraged to reward children for their achievements. This reinforces the value of what they get when they put their all into their work. It also teaches them that effort pays off. Knowing that from a young age will benefit them later in life.
A reward can be something like a snack they like after dinner. Perhaps, for a bigger achievement, a day out or dinner out one night just to prove that, through hard work, you will reap the rewards. However, don’t reward them every time they do something relatively right as it will build up an attitude that you wouldn’t want your child to develop and the rewards over time lose their moral value to the child.
Rewarding them for working hard at young age reinforces positive working characteristics that will undoubtedly help them in the future, especially when it comes to employment.
Keep on asking your child about their learning, not just their results.
When you pick up your child or when the child returns home you should always keep asking them about what they have learnt. Quiz them so that they can show off their knowledge to you. It is important to focus on what and how your child is learning as opposed to exam results, teaching them that learning is much more important than grades encourages them to focus on what they’re learning more than panicking about tests.
Share stories of your own learning to encourage your child to learn.
Sharing positive (and sometimes negative) stories about your learning experiences will motivate and fascinate your children because they want to be able to do what their role model has done, or better. This will encourage the children to focus in school because you set the bar that they want to match, furthermore that gives them a target to achieve and something to work towards so the child never feels that learning is pointless and they will show an interest.
Share your enthusiasm for their learning.
Sharing your enthusiasm for learning will rub off on your children. When they see that you’re enthusiastic about learning new things they will want to be involved in that, therefore they are likely to be excited and passionate about learning new things. Try and get them to see that the subject you are enthusiastic about leads to new opportunities and exciting adventures.
Provide your child with safe internet access.
The internet provides a perfect opportunity to teach your child in engaging ways, right from the comfort of your home. It is also important to filter and regulate what they are able to see on the internet, as it’s filled with information good or bad. Allowing them safe access to the internet means that they can have a fun and engaging experience whilst learning to use technology this could be anything from playing educational games for maths or watching videos that help them learn The internet provides a range of brilliant ways to learn such as:
YouTube:
There are lots of educational videos that can be found on YouTube as well as other video platforms like YouTube Kids for the younger generations and schools tube and social media platforms.
Educational websites:
There are a range of websites that provide educational based mini-games for children to learn subjects like mathematics. BBC Bitesize is a fantastic site, for kids of all ages and different learning styles. This can be by anywhere from watching videos to reading text, looking at images/diagrams, and mini exams where they can test out what they learned. There are a number of sites like that, such as; Topmark, and Make Time 2 Learn.
Online courses and mock exams:
There are many sites where your children can watch videos on a particular subject, that also provide mini-tests. These can take up to an hour and are a fun and engaging way to encourage learning. This also is a brilliant way to teach them how to make notes properly, which they can use for the online exam or help them with preparation for any exams they may be taking at the time.
Focusing on their strengths.
Positive reinforcement is the best way to encourage a child to continue their studies when learning at home. For example, if your child is good at English writing, then providing positive mental reinforcement of that strength would be a good way to encourage a child to learn more about the subject at home.
Implement reading into your child’s life from an early age.
Introducing reading to your child from a young age will significantly help their learning in the future, not only will it help them in classes and exams, but it will also give them a deeper understanding of the world around them, books are a brilliant way to gain knowledge no matter what your age, so you can see how the earlier your child engages with books the more it will help your child in the future.
Children love to mimic their role models, which at an early age are their parents. So if you show them from a young age how much you enjoy reading, then they are sure to follow. You can use other methods such as; putting posters around the house, leaving newspapers around, or even encouraging them to read with you before bed. Make sure not to put pressure on your kids to read though, as they are less likely to find an interest in reading, it must be their choice and it must be fun and engaging for them.
Hiring an online tutor.
If your child is in the middle of an exam or assessment period a brilliant way to help them learn from home would be through a qualified online tutor. Not only are they professionals within their subjects with lots of knowledge to share, they have also trained for years to understand how to work with young people and help them to be more engaged in their work, sites such as My Qualified Tutor make finding an online tutor quick and easy.