Category: Parent Resources

It is vital that the parents establish a time-based regimen from the early age stages of a child’s life. There should be a set pattern devoted to both doing homework and playing outdoors and helping out with house chores. Planning the weekend is very useful. This is a time when the child has more time than on school days. The weekend could be sued to catch upon pending assignments and for planning ahead the school week. Similarly, if the child has been studying very hard during the weekdays, the weekends should be used to ensure that he is fresh and ready for the week ahead. Time management eventually translates into the child finding enough time for each of his activities and homework isn’t just squeezed in the daily pattern of activities.

Developing the Right Attitude
A child as young as someone in the first grade needs to understand that doing homework isn’t a matter a choice rather it is an absolute necessity. This may require the parents to behave a bit stricter than they usually are, but once this idea is set in the child’s psychology it seldom requires the parents to explain it again. This one-time effort is essential to make sure that the child looks upon completing his school assignments as a part of his daily routine and not as a predicament.

Encouraging a Struggling Child
Some children have more difficulty in getting used to sitting down in a place and studying and completing their homework. For such children, the parents have to exhibit how easy it is to concentrate. For this, if the child is facing difficulty in reading for more than a few minutes, the parents should sit down with him and they should read together. If the child complains about too much homework, help him out and tell him that he is not alone in this.

What is ‘Helping-out’ with Homework?
The parents should be careful and not get over-involved with the child’s studies. They are supposed to provide guidance and not answers for school assignment. By providing answers, the child’s learning abilities get compromised and he would become dependent on his parents rather than seeking their assistance and his own efforts get compromised.

The best way to promote good learning habits in children is through a joint effort, involving both families and schools. This way responsibility is shared for creating a better working relationship which is concentrated towards the child\’s overall development. Parents can help out the education received at school and the effort made by the teachers by implementing some simple measures at home. These include:

Reading Together:
When adult family members read out aloud to or with their children on a regular basis, the interest level of the child improves. Taking children to the library and helping them find suitable books is another way of inculcating reading and learning habits among them. Such habits assist the teachers in improving upon the child’s reading, writing and general learning skills.

Establishing a Family Routine:
Routines could include setting up a timeframe for completing homework, running household errands, eating meals and watching television. A family routine balances and complements the disciplining being conducted at school by the teachers.

Using Television:
Parents should limit the amount of time spent by children, watching the television. They should help the child choose the appropriate programs for viewing. Some TV programs help raise the level of curiosity in certain subjects and act as a resource for the lessons being taught in school.

Keep in Touch:
Parents should be aware of what the children are learning, in terms of their assignments, projects and examinations. A child’s progress should be ascertained with regular communication with the teachers and by regularly attending the PTA meetings.

Praise and Encouragement:
Parents and families play a significant role in affecting a child’s confidence and motivation to become a good student. They should encourage the child to complete his weekly assignments and participate in extracurricular activities as well.

Teachers contribute to the child’s classroom learning. However, they can increase the child’s performance by involving the parents and making them a part of the education imparted. This can be done by:

Involving Parents in Activities:
Teachers can increase the scope of involvement of families by asking for their help with specific activities. Parents can participate by organizing classroom materials or by serving on some school committee or providing their spare time at classroom activities. The more involved parents are likely to understand the teacher’s practices and expectations from the students.

Involving Parents in Decision-making:
A parents’ perspective should be discussed before making decisions about the children’s teaching tools. School programs should involve the family members in setting academic goals for the children. Parents should be informed about the changing school policies and services. Parent/teacher conferences should be looked upon as an opportunity to exchange viewpoints and deciding upon the best possibilities for improving the child’s performance.

Essentially, like any other form of good communication, a parent/teacher forum for corresponding involves meeting each other. The parents should be positive and courteous when meeting a teacher and seek his/hers’ honest opinion about their child. This ensures that the parent gets a true, first-hand true account of the child’s performance in school and the problems he is facing.

When to Have a Conversation?
Parents should find out about the most suitable time to talk to a teacher. If the parent is at school, he/she could be tempted to abruptly ask about the child’s well being, which could be latching on to an unprepared teacher. It is imperative to check with the teacher if the time is convenient for a conversation. If a parent does happen to bump into a school teacher or staff somewhere in the town, limit the communication to exchanging pleasantries. Such accidentals meetings form a part of a social scenario and are not meant for a parent-teacher discussion.

Parents Should Look Forward to Scheduling a Special Meeting with the Teacher if:
• The child has special needs and the teacher needs to be informed about them before the new academic session begins.
• The child’s grades have dropped rather suddenly.
• The parent’s suspect that the child is having difficulty in understanding what is being taught in the classroom.
• The child is very upset about something that had happened in school but isn’t volunteering to speak about it or is very hesitant in doing so.
• The child never seems to do his homework and yet the teachers aren’t complaining.
• Some changes at home have happened which could directly affect the child. For example, someone in the family has died or the parents are about to get divorced.

Having the Right Conversation:
The best form of a conference or any purposeful communication is when both the teacher and parents stay composed and try to work out a strategy to solve the problem regarding the child. Arguing and blaming anyone usually doesn’t solve an issue and the same common sense is applicable here.

A Few Good Questions to Ask:
• Is the child performing differently in different subjects and if yes, why?
• How well does the child get along with the other children?
• Which are the child\’s best and worst of subjects?
• Does the child work to his true potential?
• Does the child participate in class discussions?
• Is the child prone to miss classes or skip school?

Summers are pleasing and everyone needs a break…may be a sun tan, a dip in the pool or a tropical treat. There is one good thing about summer, which is in fact more than a good thing – Vacations.

Spending some of the best moments with the family leaves long lasting impressions on everyone. The average working day is too boring and lifeless – parents at the office, attending meetings, children at school and then study and homework – there are few moments to celebrate or cherish.

Come vacations and we will be merrymaking, if that is what you felt or promised to the children and other members of the family then stick to your word. But, what are you going to do this vacation – roam around in the city from one shopping center to another with frequent pauses – long pauses – at the traffic lights and in the traffic jams. No, sir. Bad choice. Let it be a grand celebration this time, wait a minute; how much will be the bill!

Before planning anything you must consider the impact on your purse and how far you can go. We don’t have anything against you if you are planning for Disney’s or Waterworld, but there are other ways of doing it.

All pleasure, fun and excitement are not to be bought from credit cards only. A simple walk in the countryside can be more thrilling than a month’s journey. Now that depends on your taste and what your family likes. But when it comes to cutting the cost and being effective at the same time we may give you some valuable advice.

Let us start from higher budgets. Extended family vacations are one way to enjoy and pamper everyone in the summers. There are many places you can go – a nearby hill station, beach resort (not with kids), a hotel at the seaside or travel to the nearby city. But then, you will have to pay for the resorts, hotels, restaurants, transportation and other interesting places you happen to visit. At hill stations, beautiful settings, pure oxygen and peaceful ambience are for free.

To make your trip more fruitful and a learning experience to your children, just go for family camping. Camping has the greatest advantage that you don’t have the restriction of being stationed to one place or geographical point. It brings you close to the nature and at the same time reduces some burden on your purse. But be careful as some tour operators charge hefty amounts for family camping.

Amusement parks, easiest to reach, always available and no planning required. All you need to do is get the list and leave for the day. You may plan it for a week for different parks and places.

It is a family treat, and that is what is soothing in the summers.

Public schools have different meanings for schools established in different countries. In North America and U.S., public schools are those that are administered by the state and are also called as state schools. In Britain and some other countries in Europe, public schools refer to a particular type of schools that evolved from popular schools in the past. In Britain, public schools may demand a fee from the students for various education facilities.

In India, public school is more like a brand name, which represents that of the schools established in United Kingdom. As Indian education system still bears the influence of the British education system, the concept of public schools has survived in this country.

Public schools are accessible to general public. For public schools, the government provides for the non discriminatory nature of the school. Anyone can receive the education in the public school, provided the students in question are citizens of that particular state.

In India public schools are sometimes confused with private schools. However, public schools can be either owned and administered by the government or privately owned.

In India there is a lot of difference between private and government schools and public school has nothing to add or contribute in it. A few decades ago, government public schools were considered to be the most important education institutions in the country. These institutions were quite successful to provide the basic amenities, as there used to be a shortage of resources. Today, even though the nation is considered as one of the rapidly developing in the continent, with surplus of resources, the quality of education in government public schools is just deteriorating.

Privately owned public schools on the other hand have become the preferred choice, as quality of education has been greatly improved in the last couple of decades.

Apart from public schools, there are also community schools, run and administered by specific communities and groups. Indian constitutions guarantees the right to education and that includes religious and other community based education. Community schools are attended by the members of the community and admissions is not given to anyone outside the community. They are self governing and self funded and often run by small trusts.