Success at Home & School

Parents are the main influence on learning, but the pressures are great.

Parents are the main influence on learning, writes Jennifer Lansford on the Child & Family Blog. “Demonstrate to your children the value of education – that’s one of the most important ways a parent can encourage their learning.” But, as Suniya Luthar writes on our blog, the pressures on children at home are great. “In our research, by far the most important factor predicting anxiety and depression in children was low quality of relationship with parents. Following this was lack of structure to the day (separating time for leisure or fun), and high levels of distraction or inability to focus on schoolwork.”

Top tips for parents on home learning:

The Internet features great material advising parents what to do. Below is a guide to it all. Another good place to start is asking children what was good and bad about the lockdown from March to June because, as Roberta Golinkoff and Marcia Halperin explain, children have insights on the benefits and challenges of remote learning: Just ask them.

One of our favorite resources is Jelena Obradović’s tip sheet for parents supporting online learning at home. The sheet covers the themes of learning spaces, daily schedules, routines, goals and progress, as well as managing frustrations and ensuring closeness and connection. We have reproduced this sheet here:

1. Learning Space

• Find a space in your home that can be used every day for distance learning.

• If the space is shared, create a cardboard or cloth separation to minimize noise and distractions.

• Offer your child the chance to decorate this space to feel welcoming (draw a sign, bring a favorite pillow, etc.).

• Make sure the space includes essential learning materials. Ask teachers for help.

2. Daily Schedule

• Understand what teachers expect from your child. Email, call, or text to clarify.

• Write a simple list of activities that your child needs to complete each day.

• Include breaks for snacks, physical activity, wiggles or stretches, and free choice time. Younger children will need more breaks.

• Encourage your child to decorate the schedule and post it in their space.

• Revise to fit your family’s needs. Be flexible.

3. Predictable Routine

• Start early when your child is rested.

• Review the daily schedule and make sure your child understands it (e.g., first you will…, then you can…).

• Help your child build independence (e.g., learn to prepare their own snack, troubleshoot computer problems).

• Let your child know when and how they can ask for help.

• Keep regular sleep times.

4. Goals & Progress

• Together with your child, set behavioral expectations and review them daily.

• Set goals and timelines that your child can complete. It’s about progress, not perfection.

• Teach your child to use a timer to stay focused for a period of time. Start small!

• Mark daily progress (even on not-so-good days) with stickers, pennies, pebbles, etc.

• Use your child’s favorite activities as rewards for showing effort and progress.

5. Managing Frustrations

• Use simple calming strategies: counting to 10, taking deep breaths, a short break.

• Help your child describe the problem and express their feelings (I feel…, when…).

• Together, come up with a potential solution and connect it to previously set expectations.

• Explain how the child’s behavior is linked to consequences. Set gentle and firm limits.

• Assume that everyone is trying their best. Be kind to yourself. Be patient with others.

• Ask teachers and others for help.

6. Closeness & Connection

• Start each day with a brief joyful experience: a fun greeting, song, dance.

• Create opportunities for your child to be helpful (e.g., household chores, cooking prep, reading to siblings).

• Each day, try to connect with your child without any distractions. Highlight positive experiences. If you have time, do a fun activity together that the child selects.

• Create opportunities for your child to share their worries, and provide reassurance.

What can Parents do to help their child at home?

By Bill Lucas

Parents can do a number of important things to help. But the most important message for parents to hear is that it is what they do at home that matters most. The most important message for parents to hear is that it is what they do at home that matters most. The following approaches are most beneficial:

✔ Consistently set high expectations.

✔ Establish routines which promote questioning, reading, exploration, practising, problem-solving and study.

✔ Talk to children in ways which demonstrate interest in both their progress and development and the wider world.

✔ Read regularly yourself and talk about your own enjoyment of reading.

✔ Visits to museums, historic places, films, gardens, sporting events.

✔ Play the fullest possible range of games with the whole family and see the value of play as a vital part of learning .

✔ Praise your child in ways which specifically acknowledge the effort and hard work which has led to any particular success, partial success or failure.

✔ Require children to undertake household tasks and take responsibility for looking after other people (a younger sibling, a grandparent, a visitor, for example).

✔ Encourage children to learn to care for and look after the world (pets, plants, etc).

Wellbeing survey for 16-18s :This was co-designed with 16-18s. This is an annual survey that started in October 2021, supported by What Works for Wellbeing. We will look at the results of the survey at the summit.