As a woman focused on your career, you’ll know that balancing work, family life, and ‘you’ time is a constant struggle. There never seems to be enough time in the day, and you’re constantly playing catchup, spinning fifteen different plates at once doing your utmost to fulfill your commitments.
One of the most challenging aspects of this lifestyle is supporting your children through their education. While a good school will provide the foundation, it’s key that they have you to count on to help them with homework and work through concepts they’re learning about but are finding difficult to grasp.
In this article, you’ll learn about the ten key steps for doing so whilst managing a busy life!
1. The Importance of Priorities
Life in general is all about where your priorities lie, so the first step in supporting your children may be to reevaluate your schedule a sacrifice time somewhere else. This sort of educational support doesn’t have to involve multiple hours a week – focus instead in quality versus quantity.
For example, you can start small and set aside just 20 minuets a day to check in with your child: ask open questions such as ‘What did you learn today?’ and ‘is there anything I can help you with?’. You should also enquire about their school life beyond just their time in lessons – take the time to ask how they’re settling into a new year group and how they’re doing socially.
2. The Benefit of Routine
In several ways, routine is the cornerstone of a good upbringing, and that’s no different with this topic. One of the best ways to ensure that you’re adhering to a sound routine is to schedule your daily check-ins and homework help at the same time every day. You don’t want to simply try to slot it in where you can, as inevitably, this will lead to a more rushed, and potentially stressful interaction for the both of you.
For example, you could briefly have such discussions over dinner, and be ready to help with whatever is needed once the plates are cleared.
3. The Ideal Learning Environment
A calm environment is key when it comes to preparing a space to learn in; there are so many digital distractions to contend with at home, so you need to make sure there’s peace and quiet to be had wherever you sit down with your child to help them.
It’s best to create a dedicated ‘station’ if you have the space – somewhere where stationary and other materials are already set up and ready to go for minimal friction and to make the most of the time that you have.
4. Speak Regularly With Your Child’s Teachers
When you commit to setting aside time to regularly check in with your child’s schoolwork, it isn’t solely about the relationship between you and them – you should also have irregular talks with their teachers.
Having continued to build an educational bond with your child each and every day, teachers can offer insight into strengths and weaknesses like no one else. Beyond simply checking in on how your children are doing, you should be asking teachers specific questions, for example, “What do first graders learn in math?”; knowing exactly what your child is studying is, of course, crucial for helping them at home.
5. Don’t Do Too Much
Ironically, having managed to figure out a way of reconfiguring your busy schedule so that you have time to help, you can also do too much sometimes. As you work with your child to help them understand tough concepts and complete their homework on time, it’s key to ensure you’re not coddling them.
You should be guiding them lightly to foster independence and responsibility. In fact, these are two life lessons you can be teaching them at the same time – how to stick to deadlines, plan ahead, and organize their school day.
6. Weaving Learning Into Everyday Life
Supporting your child’s education doesn’t only revolve around the sessions described above – the more you try to make learning part of your child’s everyday life, the more natural the working relationship between the two (or more) of you will become.
Recall interesting news stories or factoids you discovered during the week at dinner, and try to look for maths, English, and science in activities you do together. It’s important to do so subtly, however, as you don’t want to be turning your child’s entire life into a school lesson. Their time away from school is equally important.
7. Find Ways to Use New Technology
In reality, there’s never been a better time than now to support your child at home with the resources they need. The power of the internet is continually bridging the gap between classroom and at-home learning, and if you use the right tools, a computer can be the perfect companion for you and your child to solidify a topic.
There’s a broad range of different apps that may be valuable for you, but Khan Academy and YouTube are great places to start; there are hundreds (to thousands in the case of YouTube) of videos on each subject and taught at a variety of different levels.
8. The Importance of Celebrating Your Child’s Achievements
Education presents many tough challenges for your child, so it’s crucial to remember to acknowledge and reward their achievements. Whether it’s a good grade on a tough assignment or positive comments on a piece of homework you took on together, remember to reiterate how proud you are of your children.
Even if they haven’t got the best grades in the world, it’s equally important to respond positively to effort alone. Positive reinforcement like this creates an enjoyable learning experience that they’ll come to look forward to rather than resent.
9. Become Adaptable and Know Your Child’s Strengths
Building a bond surrounding your child’s education necessitates an ability to adapt. Learning isn’t a linear process, and at times when your kids are going through a tough patch and are finding it difficult to grasp something, you need to hone your abilities to help them work towards their strengths.
Everyone learns in different ways – it may be that your children are visual learners rather than auditory ones, so search for ways to adapt methods that weren’t working to personalized ones that do (this is also something you should discuss with teachers).
10. Remember to Take Care of Yourself
As you work towards helping your children achieve their best, it’s just as important to remember to take care of yourself. Your child’s education should be a big part of your life, but for both your and your kid’s sake, it’s essential you’re well-rested and in a sound frame of mind to help them.
As you make room for the new block of time together, make sure you take care to rebalance the rest of your life to account for it. Have realistic expectations for yourself as well as your children, and as always, be sure to take care of the basics like getting enough sleep, maintaining a healthy diet, and engaging in regular exercise. You might not be firing on all cylinders all of the time, but every little helps.