7 Simple Ways Parents Can Support Learning at Home
7 Simple Ways Parents Can Support Learning at Home
Written by Grace Bruins
Student Success Starts at Home
Great teachers matter. Strong curriculum matters. But research continues to point to another important influence on student learning: what happens at home.
A recent article shared by the Wisconsin Council of Religious and Independent Schools (WCRIS) highlighted findings from a global survey done by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) with approximately 760,000 15-year-old students. Among students, those who reported feeling supported at home demonstrated stronger learning outcomes.
The findings are an important reminder to parents: you don't have to become your child's teacher to make a meaningful difference in their education. In fact, parents can support their children through simple daily habits like reading together, encouraging play, setting boundaries, and showing interest in what they are learning.
At Central Wisconsin Christian, we have long believed that education works best through a partnership between home, church, and school. A parent is a child's first and most influential teacher. The church helps nurture faith and discipleship. The school comes alongside both, providing an education rooted in God's Word and teaching students to glorify God and serve in His world.
4 Ways to Support Elementary Students at Home:
So, what can parents do at home to help their children thrive? Our elementary teachers offered four simple suggestions.
1. Read to them—and with them.
Perhaps it’s a bedtime story at night with your preschooler, or listening as your third grader reads to you. Reading together builds vocabulary and comprehension. More importantly, it creates something harder to measure: conversation, curiosity and connection.
2. Read Bible stories to them.
Talk about what the stories mean. Ask questions. Let your children ask questions, too. Pray together about what you've read. At CWC, students encounter biblical truth throughout their education, but faith formation was never intended to happen only at school. When children see their families making God's Word a regular part of life at home, they begin to understand that faith isn't simply another subject on their schedule. It shapes how we understand all of life.
3. Have them play outside.
Give kids opportunities to run, explore, build, imagine, get dirty, solve problems and occasionally be bored enough to figure out what to do next. Unstructured play gives children opportunities to practice creativity, independence, cooperation and perseverance.
4. Say “no” to them.
This one might be the hardest. Establishing loving boundaries and allowing children to experience appropriate disappointment helps develop patience, self-control and resilience. In life, much like in the classroom, things don’t always turn out the way we want. Children who learn discomfort isn't something they always need to escape are better prepared to persevere through even greater challenges.
3 Ways to Support Middle and High School Learning at Home:
If you’re parenting older children, involvement in education will look a little different. For middle and high school aged kids, our teachers suggest:
1. Show interest in what they’re learning.
Ask your student to tell you about a book they’re reading, a science experiment they did, or something they learned in history. Teachers can help facilitate this by sending activities or updates home that correspond to what is being taught in class.
2. Celebrate effort, not just grades.
Recognize when your student sticks with a challenging assignment or keeps trying after making a mistake. Growth takes perseverance and a willingness to keep learning. It is easier for a student to Strive to Grow if they have support at home.
3. Talk about why school matters.
Connect what your student is learning to something you encounter in everyday life, their interests, and their future goals.
You don’t have to know how to solve the math problem or explain the science lesson. But you can communicate to your children that what they are doing in school matters to you in small ways. These conversations may feel ordinary, but over the course of a childhood, they reinforce an important message: learning matters, growth takes effort, and you have people walking alongside you.