Parent Strategies for Supporting Children through Secondary Education
A few years on the children will reach secondary school. The
work is getting harder for them and subjects have to be learnt in greater
detail. Parents may or may not be familiar with all that is now being taught in
school. But do not despair, for Ravi and Lena still need the same kind of
attention that they have been given so far.
Using Media
At this time one of the best things the parents can do for
them, is help them to manage their time for study and for play. It is important
to from good study habits from now, as it will be useful for them when they
grow older and move into higher education. It is a matter of helping them
become self-disciplined to work on their own. The reading skills the children
have practiced from the beginning will come in handy now for it will be easier
for them to spend time reading subject matter from the textbooks. While it is
good for them to concentrate on the books that form the part of the course, it is
necessary to encourage them to gain information from other sources too. For
example, there is a lot of information in the media on various topics that are
dealt with in the school curriculum. Magazines like the National Geographic
give a lot of information on the subjects like environment, animal kingdom,
geography etc. These journals and magazines are easily obtained from public
libraries. If possible one can, along with a few other parents, buy one of each
kind of magazine and share them.
Besides watching TV for entertainment, the children should
be encouraged to watch educational programs as well. It would be useful to
check the weekly guide and decide which programs are going to be helpful to
Ravi and Lena. It is sad that we do not make use of this powerful medium to
help our children learn. Visual information is much easier to remember and to
understand even as it is not seen as studying time but rather as enjoyment.
Once the programs have been seen then parents can help the children to relate
it to their own study so that links are made and information can be processed
to make sense of the program in terms of new learning. Many of our homes have
the facility to record the programs or use the on-demand TV viewing via the internet;
this will allow for viewing missed programmes as well as reviewing the seen
ones if, there is something that the children have not understood.
Using techonology
Technology is rapidly expanding and again something the
children have to learn to use. Besides learning use of computers it is possible
to obtain vast amounts of information by searching for specific information
related to the course. For example, if Ravi has to do a project on waters of
the world, then it is possible to get information and pictures related to
oceans, seas and rivers. The information can span subjects like geography,
climate, animal life, plant life etc. If Lena is asked to do a project on Life
of Mother Teresa, there is vast amount of information available at the click of
the mouse. Ravi and Lena also can learn to do word processing, which will help
in essay writing, as it checks out spelling and grammar. It also helps with
presentation of their work. There are many sites on the internet which help
children with further explanations on the topics they are learning about.
Ravi and Lena need a lot of practical help as well. This can
be in the form of discussing their understanding of the subject matter at hand.
They will require guidance to plan their projects or essays. Parents can help
them gather their information from different sources. It is a good idea to take
the children to the public library to browse through books that would be
helpful. When they have done draft work for the essay or project, spend some
time reading it and making suggestions on how to improve the work.
Studying with friends
Every so often the children find it useful to sit and work
with a few friends. This should not be discouraged by parents. While it is true
that when a group of youngsters get together, there will be some chatting and
joking, but this kind of approach allows them to learn to work with other
children, the skills needed in later life for working with other people in
teams. Parents can ensure that more work and less chatter takes place by
supervising them.
Ask -
• What they
plan to study?
• How they
have divided the work?
• What are
the issues they are going to tackle today?
• How long
are they going to take to accomplish the work?
This will give you, the parent an idea of what studying is
being accomplished. From time to time make a quick check on the progress of the
work without being seen as a taskmaster. It also tells the children that the
parent has trust in them to work without constant and strict supervision. This
will help build their self-confidence and self-esteem. Remember you are dealing
these days with teenagers who are learning to become adults and changing both
physically and mentally. It can be an agonising time for both the parents and
children.
No comments:
Post a Comment