What does it mean to be involved in your child’s education?

You might think that being involved in your child’s education means supervising their homework, attending parent-teacher meetings, and participating in special events. But your involvement can actually be much more diverse and flexible.

Keep in mind that, as a parent, your involvement influences your child’s motivation, engagement, and success. That influence can be positive, but it can also be negative. The deciding factor? The way your child perceives your involvement. For example, as they get older, some children want their parents to keep an eye on their school work at home, but less so at school. It’s important to consider your child’s point of view and find strategies that work for them.

Participating in your child’s education is about more than just homework and worksheets. You can reinforce what they learn at school (apply it to other situations) in lots of informal ways:

• Use idle time—like when you’re in the car—to play guessing games. Here are some ideas:
  • What’s the bridge in Trois-Rivières called?
  • Can you spot a maple tree?
  • This person is my uncle’s daughter. Who is it?
  • Can you calculate this in your head?
• Ask your child to help with garage sale transactions
• Write a card or a note to a loved one
• Play board games or do a puzzle
• Read a recipe and work out the quantities
• Plant and care for a garden
• Play an Alloprof game with your child

If your child has already completed one of these activities, ask them to show you by pretending to be your teacher. Not only will this reinforce what they’ve learned, but it’ll also help them build confidence.

Talking about your child’s day at school can give you a better idea of what they’re learning, the fun they’re having, and any challenges they’re going through.

• What did you talk about? What surprised you? What was your favourite?
• Who did you hang out with? How is so-and-so doing?
• I heard about something new at your school. What do you think about it?
• How’s it going with the project you were telling me about?

Keep the discussion going with questions that require more than a yes or no answer and that give your child a chance to share their thoughts. Their answers will help you better understand how things are going at school.

As parents, we want to encourage our children to be independent so that they can take charge of their own learning. We can help them think more analytically by asking certain questions:

• How did it go with the assignment/test?
• What did you find helpful? 
• Is there anything you could do differently so it goes better next time? For example, changing the environment (noise, people around, TV, tablet), focusing on your physical/mental state, reviewing the material, using tools . . .

The idea is to help your child realize that they are in control of their wins: “Working this way helps me. But I can improve this other thing.” 

Being involved in your child’s schooling also means helping them set goals to stay the course. Talking about their interests and their future will help your child figure out what they want and understand the steps they need to take to make it happen. 

• Try different activities to find out what they’re interested in
• Discuss the connections between their interests and certain professions
• Learn about different study paths
• Identify next steps

That said, it’s important to be flexible about your child’s new interests so you can readjust as needed.

Every parent can be involved in their child’s education on a daily basis. Each discussion you have or activity you do with your child is an opportunity to reinforce what they’ve learned, how they learned it, and why it matters.