| a parent with school-going children? Is your child's | | | | out the words or draw out the objects to help them |
| academic performance at school giving you a splitting | | | | understand the concept. |
| headache? As an experienced teacher, I have come | | | | Audio learners need to listen to the sounds to |
| across many parents coming to me for help because | | | | understand so you might sometimes hear them talking |
| they are aware that their children have the potential to | | | | to themselves as they attempt their written work. You |
| attain much better results at school but are failing to do | | | | can help by reading out the questions or the story in |
| so as they are too lazy to put effort in their studies. | | | | small chunks to your child. Then, get him to verbal |
| What can you do to get rid of such children problems? | | | | explain what he understands from the story he hears |
| The first step that I would advice parents to do is to | | | | and to tell you the answer that he has in mind before |
| analyze the situation very carefully before you start | | | | getting him to write it down. |
| running to get your child a private tutor for each | | | | Kinesthetic learners need to touch the objects in order |
| subject that he is weak at. Aim at solving whatever | | | | to understand the concept. Try carrying out |
| children problems you can find at the home level first. | | | | experiments at home or using teaching aids to explain |
| What does this mean? | | | | the concepts taught at school. You can do this either |
| Start off by having a heart-to-heart talk with your child. | | | | before the lessons are taught at school or after as a |
| Find out what problems are bothering your child? Is he | | | | reinforcement. |
| losing interest in studies or that he does not understand | | | | Most children learn well with a combination of all the |
| what is being taught at school? By all means get a | | | | methods. Start off by understanding what is your |
| private tutor if you need someone to explain the | | | | child's learning style and then tailor your home lessons |
| concepts to your child again but the main support | | | | to his needs so that learning will not be a struggle for |
| should still come from the parents. Below are 3 ways | | | | him anymore. As he starts to understand the |
| in which you can use to solve some of the common | | | | concepts, his confidence in learning will grow and his |
| children problems that you might be facing. | | | | grades will naturally improve. |
| 1. Building up child’s confidence / self-esteem | | | | 3. Rewards |
| Encourage your child instead of severe and frequent | | | | Is giving an incentive important? Of course! Just ask |
| reprimands which will only further dampen your child's | | | | yourself, do you look forward to pay increment, |
| self-esteem. Help your child to see his good points and | | | | bonuses and gifts? As such, you can plan out a |
| do not overwhelm him with work at home. Try giving | | | | rewards system with your child. Help him to |
| bite-sized practices instead so that he can experience | | | | experience a sense of accomplishment when he |
| success which will build up his confidence that he is | | | | manages to get a task right without help and reward |
| fully capable of doing them. In this way, he will not give | | | | him for it. You set him the budget for different |
| up easily the next time he faces problems. Remember, | | | | categories of prizes depending on the difficulty of the |
| no child is incapable of learning. It could just be that the | | | | task. |
| lessons at school are not tailored to his learning style | | | | For example, you could give a large prize for having |
| or that they are not capturing his attention. | | | | achieved 20 stars for task accomplished, medium |
| 2. Understanding your child’s learning style and | | | | prize for 12 stars and small prize for 5 stars collected, |
| act on it | | | | etc. Set the criteria with your child to ensure that you |
| Children learn best when the lessons are pitched at | | | | child feels confident in achieving them. Also, work out |
| their learning style. You need to find out whether your | | | | the rules and set the prizes for each category with |
| child is a visual learner, an auditory learner, a kinesthetic | | | | your child's participation so that he feels involved and |
| learner or a combination of the various types. | | | | motivated to work towards the target. |
| Visual learners need to see the objects or words to | | | | All children problems can be solved if you put in effort |
| understand what is going on. Thus, for these children, | | | | to find out what has gone wrong and then work |
| do not give too many verbal instructions. Instead, write | | | | towards a solution for it. |