During today’s busy schedules, parents are under pressure. It’s difficult to notice when your child needs a bit of extra help with their homework. You might even miss the fact that they’ve fallen behind in the class. It’s only at this time of year when you get a chance to attend a parent teacher meeting, that you realise that there may be a little more intervention required.
You often race home from a busy day at work only to heat up that shepherd’s pie you spent half of Sunday evening making (when you’d rather have relaxed in front of the telly) as you know one of them has rugby and another has Irish dancing at the same time, the following evening. It’s dark now in November when you collect the kids from the after-school care and they’ll get no dinner if they don’t eat it in the car on the way. They’ve spent the few minutes at home getting changed into their gear. They’re eating and spilling food in the car as you drive & you’ve to frantically turn around as one has forgotten gum shields despite you reminding everyone of everything they might need, as you run out the door. You’re loaded down with food, cutlery wrapped in a tea towel, bottles of juice & water for the activities. You’ve the schoolbags with you as well, because they’re not all finished at the same time. The smallest one still has the uniform on, that’s no problem as you’re going to spend the next hour doing spellings and homework with her in the car, while she complains that she’d rather be at home. You’ve dropped the two older ones off to their activities, you begin to do homework with the smallest. As you turn around to her in the back seat; you notice that there are dog hairs all over her school uniform. Your great idea to bring the dog for a family walk in the local woodlands on Sunday meant that he’d been shedding hair (as bad as a barber’s floor) in the back seat. Everyone felt so happy after the crisp November walk, that you made toasted sandwiches and tea upon your return. You completely forgot to clean the back seat… another job for another day. In the meantime, you write an ‘x’ on the back of your hand to remind yourself to put a throw over the seat until you’ve time to clean it on Saturday (after their music, soccer match & art class!)
How do you help your struggling child in today’s world? Some parents like to try different things themselves. This is always best as you know your child’s ways, talents, and concentration limits. You are also the child’s primary educator in so many ways, since the very first day that they became part of your family. You have been working hard to ensure that they have had their basic needs met, and built on these everyday since. You’ve been choosing the best food to offer, kept them clean and warm and taught them how to communicate from the beginning. From the time they are born, they are learning from those around them. As they start to learn through play, you make every effort to nurture their education and development by buying the best educational books, toys, building bricks, jigsaws and so on. These are so beneficial, but ‘time’ spent with your child is an important part of learning too. Even a few minutes reading with a young child is rewarding for you both. It is important to say here that even a few minutes is difficult as we try to keep on top of the bills; so, don’t beat yourself up as a parent if you can’t do it every day. Life is busy…What was that ‘x’ on your hand for? Try to help them as often as you can, cleaning the car can wait! I have put a few links together to help you to do just that.
There are websites, apps and so on that parents can refer to for extra help. https://www.webwise,ie/parents/ is a good place to start. They have information and support you need to ensure that your child makes the most of their time online, safely.
Another is http://www.helpmykidlearn.ie have fantastic projects, instructional videos and so on. It is an easy website for parents to navigate and they provide links and activities. It is useful for parents of children 0-12 but activities could be adapted for older children.
There are many educational support providers that provide private tuition for your primary or secondary student. These vary, some providing one to one help. This can help the child who is struggling to keep up with any or all of their curricular subjects. The decision to go to an afterschool private support provider could be made by the parent if they’re worried about their performance at school or it could be as recommended by the findings, following official assessment. Private support providers will create an individual plan to meet your child’s needs whether it’s auditory processing, literacy help or improving their handwriting. One that I am passionate about is https://paulinehyland333.wixsite.com/ican . It’s one to one education support, private classes in the Laois area. Also, classes are offered on a variety of areas such as study skills, concentration and memory techniques. Classes for primary school students in Irish language are catered for, while relaxation though art for wellbeing will help to calm the over anxious student. There is no comparison to one-to-one help for your child whether it is provided by you as a parent or by the professional. It cannot be
emphasised how extremely beneficial this can be. Parents have reported how fast their children have improved at school after as little as four classes of only an hour. Sessions can help secondary students to explore and investigate career choices too.
https://khanacademy.org suggest they can inspire a lifetime of learning and discovery with free, fun educational activities for children aged 2-8.
https://krokotak.com look at arts and crafts, colouring and so on. Like a lot of websites and apps, they do have adds that pop up at present which makes it a bit annoying, but printable sheets are available to help parents provide artistic activities for their children.
www.npc.ie are all about supporting parents supporting children. They provide an extensive amount of information to parents of early years & primary sge groups. They also inform parents about the child’s transition from pre-school to primary school. They provide many other invaluable information on ‘getting involved in your child’s education and ‘supporting your child’s learning at home’. They even provided art instructional videos for parents to show their young children during lockdown. To quote from their website (& I couldn’t say it better myself) ‘You can build your child’s self-esteem through encouragement, praise and by listening to your child’s opinions and feelings’
One for the parents is http://www.triplep.net This is a positive parenting programme with many courses running around Ireland. This is a great help to parents who thought they have seen all the parenting skills as they are parents for a long time. We mightn’t always approve of other people’s parenting styles. And none of us are as perfect as we would like to be as a parent. A course like this can encapsulate a lot of the difficulties that parents go through, and will provide an opportunity to meet other parents in a similar situation. Sometimes, parents need to be reminded that they redoing a great job and its okay to send your child to get the extra educational support they need, even if its only for a term. Its amazing how quickly a child learns when the teacher is focused on them alone.
As science week happens in November, with the subject becoming increasingly important, the website https://www.sfi.ie encourages parents to engage with science and maths. Have a look at DPSM, their new Discovery Primary Science and Maths programme, Curious Minds. This is a great time to start to enhance your child’s interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. This can have a profound effect their choices in second and third level. It could change the world. Parents can also look at sustainability and discuss projects such as Junk Kouture, https://junkkouture.com that looks at using recycled materials to create high end fashion. This is usually the focus of transition year students, but there is no reason why younger students (and adult learners alike) cannot create art or functional pieces using recycled materials. Get your thinking caps on! Changing something by adding leftover paint or reused fabric to upcycle it, makes sustainability fun. If children meet up o a group to do a project, they learn so much more. There are social skills, working as part of a team and maximising the different talents to name but a few.
So, there is a synopsis of a few areas that a parent may find help to enhance their child’s learning and maybe make life easier. It certainly doesn’t encapsulate all you do as a parent or guardian. As I said, while I can blog as an Educational Consultant and as a parent, YOU are the expert on your own child. You are aware of their likes, dislikes, challenges and talents. They all develop in different ways and at different times. Each child is different and their needs & priorities will change as they move forward. All you can do, is to do your best to help your child to be the best that they can be. Keep thinking positive and they will too…
Written by:
Pauline Hyland, B.A. Hons, Dip. Man. Ed.,C.Guid., S.P.FAC., A.T.A.I.
iCan Educational Consultants
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