3 simple ways you can support your child’s learning at home (even if you don’t homeschool!)

Parents are critical to kids’ success in school and life. Here are three simple things you can do to support your child’s learning…and have fun as a family at the same time!

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When asked, “Do you want your children to succeed in school and in life?” I’m confident that pretty much every parent would respond with an absolute yes. As parents, we love our kids (even if they drive us nuts sometimes), and we desperately want them to get a good education and have the best life possible.

Why Parent Involvement Matters

We also know from decades of research that parent involvement in children’s learning is critically important. In fact, the role of parents has been shown to be the most important factor in learning outcomes, specifically more than the role of schools and communities.

Now, this doesn’t mean you have to chuck public school out the window and start homeschooling if that’s not your dream. My kids are in public school, and as a former public school teacher, I know the the positive impact that teachers can have on student learning. Teachers spend countless hours doing all they can to help kids with a variety of needs, skills, temperaments, and learning styles to thrive. It’s not an easy task!

But teachers simply can’t do everything. The limits of testing, school policies, and the logistics of managing dozens of kids means that there are some things that teachers just can’t provide. This is where parent involvement can make a huge difference.

What Learning at Home Should Look Like

Keep in mind, the learning you do at home can and should look different than learning at school.

You don’t have to give your kids more worksheets or hire an expensive tutor.

You don’t have to make learning at home overly structured, expensive, or time consuming.

On the contrary, learning at home should be simple, fun, and woven into the natural interests and routines of your family.

Sound good?

The BIG 3

Now, there are many ways you can support your child’s learning at home, but here are what I consider the BIG THREE:

• Read
• Create
• Explore

If you focus on these three simple things, you will create a culture of learning in your home and give your child the tools to succeed in school and life. How can you do this? Keep reading to find out!

3 things you can do to support your child’s learning that make a BIG difference

1. Read together…LOTS!

If there is ONE thing you make time for in your schedule with your kids, let it be reading. Reading is an easy thing to add into your family’s routine, and decades of research tells us just how important it is! For example:

1. Simply having more books in the home correlates with higher reading scores for children.
2. Children who are read to at least three times a week by a family member are almost twice as likely to score in the top 25% in reading compared to children who are read to less than 3 times a week.
3. Kids who read more frequently reported significantly better mental health.

Don’t get hung up on needing to read together every single day. Did you notice that second statistic said reading just three times per week made a HUGE difference? There is wiggle room for busy schedules that mean you miss some days!

Instead of chasing perfection, focus on building reading into your regular routine. Whether you read aloud at bedtime or you get a little more creative about finding time to read with your kids, choose a time that works for you.

Also, make trips to the library a regular family outing, and fill your home with books. If you need ideas for some fabulous books to get you started, check out the following lists:

• Fabulous chapter books to read-aloud to your kids
• My absolute favorite children’s picture books of all time
• Favorite short chapter book series for kids that will keep them reading

Ideas you can implement today:

• Get out some books you own but haven’t read for awhile, and leave them out for kids to discover. Set them on the kitchen table along with an after-school snack, on the coffee table, or next to their beds. Scatter them around to be discovered and enjoyed!
• Plan a trip to your local library or bookstore and bring home a stack of books to explore.
• Look at your family’s routine and figure out where you can add in a little extra reading time. Read these tips for how to fit in more time for reading even when you have a busy schedule.

2. Encourage Creativity

It might seem strange to claim that creativity is one of the most important qualities our children can develop. After all, what’s the big deal about painting pictures?

The truth, however, is that creativity is so much more than doing arts and crafts. It’s any way we “make or otherwise bring into existence something new.” By this definition, creativity includes all kinds of innovation, problem-solving, and adaptability.

No matter what role your child grows up to play in the community–doctor, lawyer, engineer, construction worker, ANYTHING–this ability to think creatively is a cruicial skill.

So how do we encourage creativity in kids?

Before you go sign your child up for art classes, dance, and creative writing all at once, consider this: inspiring creativity in kids isn’t about doing more.

On the contrary, it’s often about doing less. It’s about stepping back and giving kids the time and space for unstructured play where they can explore and experiement with new ideas. There is value in free play, in lazy Saturdays, and…yes…even in boredom.

This doesn’t mean we do nothing to encourage creativity, it just means that rather than planning everything, we focus on providing opportunities and then letting kids take the reins.

One of the BEST (and easiest) things we have done to encourage creativity is to create an “inventor box.” Also called a “loose parts bin,” an inventor box is a collection of supplies (such as basic arts and crafts materials and recyclable items) that kids can use to create…anything! It’s a completely open-ended offering where anything goes. My kids have used our inventor box to make puppets, pulley systems, robots, castles, candy dispensers, a watering system, and more! Truly, the sky is the limit!

This type of open-ended play is so beneficial for developing brains. Kids learn to hypothesize, generate a plan, experiment, adapt, problem-solve, innovate and more. Who knew that making a robot from an egg carton could do all that?!

Want more creative ideas to support your child’s learning? Here is a whole list of ways to encourage creativity.

Ideas you can implement today:

• Raid your recycling bin and put together an inventor box for your kids.
• Go outside! Nature makes a fantastic playground and laboratory, and rocks, sticks, and dirt are wonderful open-ended toys. To get the ball rolling, try offering a nature cutting tray.
• Gather together your most used, basic art supplies and put them in an easy-to-access location for your kids to use. Our “art cart” lives right in our kitchen, and it gets used daily!
• Let them be bored! Next time your kids are bored, don’t step in and rescue them. Reframe boredom by teaching kids that it’s an opportunity for their brains to explore new ideas. Boredom is the catalyst of creativity!

3. Explore Real-Life Together

Every time you give your child a new experience, whether it’s traveling to a foreign country or teaching them to make a grilled cheese sandwich, you are giving them valuable knowledge that will enrich their lives.

These hands-on, real-life experiences are incredibly valuable for kids’ learning. Why?

Because whenever we learn something new, our brains link that new knowledge to existing information we hold. As Natalie Wexler, author of The Knowledge Gap, explains, “Knowledge, like Velcro, sticks best to other related knowledge.”

Essentially, The more experiences we have, the more our brains can “connect the dots” to reinforce learning and make meaning of new information.

Educators refer to this concept as “building background knowledge” and it plays a key role in kids’ academic success. Before introducing a new concept, teachers try to build background knowledge by reading stories, showing videos, doing experiments, having discussions, and occasionally going on field trips. But there are SO many experiences that teachers can’t offer students in the confines of a classroom.

Parents, on the other hand, can offer endless real-life opportunities for kids to learn “in the wild”. It’s one of the reasons I love to travel as a family. But there are plenty of ways to help our kids explore the world and support your child’s learning right at home, too. Here are just a few of the many possibilities…

Ideas you can implement today:

• Cook together (find a recipe here)
• Watch a nature documentary (we love Planet Earth)
• Go for a hike
• Explore nature together
• Attend a concert or play
• Build something together using real tools
• Plant a garden
• Visit a museum, zoo, farm, factory, or any other interesting location in your community
• Go grocery shopping together and talk about various foods and how pricing works
• Play games and do puzzles
• Visit historical sites
• Learn to a new skill together (sewing, juggling, drawing, etc.)
• Find non-fiction books on topics your child is interested in
• Talk about the daily activties you do
• Answer the “why” questions that kids are so good at asking

The great thing about teaching your kids through real-life experiences is that it can be fun for you, too! Simply invite your kids to be a part of the things you enjoy, get out and enjoy life together, and they’ll learn so much from these daily experiences.

The key to raising smart kids

At the end of the day, if you want to raise “smart” kids, just let them see that learning is fun and is something they can enjoy throughout their lives. Read together, get creative, and explore the world around you. As you invite your kids to learn, play, and create with you, you’ll create lasting family memories and set them up for success.

Now it’s your turn…In the comments, tell me what YOU do to support your child’s learning in your home. Also, what challenges get in the way of doing these things?