Counseling Education

How to Supplement Your Child's Education in 5 Effective Ways

Getting high quality education for children is one of the greatest desires of every parent. But there are times when you become deeply concerned about your children's performance at school. You may have discovered that your children are not really receiving a well rounded education or they are performing poorly in certain important subjects. In such cases, there are a number of ways to supplement your child's education. We will be discussing a couple of these methods in this article. As you read on, bear in mind that you need to consider your child's age, personality and learning style when trying to implement these ideas.

Encourage Your Children to Read More

Reading is one of the most important aspects of your child's education. Effective reading skills are lifetime skills. So it is very vital for you to get your child to read well and to read more often. There are several ways to improve your child's reading ability. You can start by getting them registered at the nearest public library.

On weekends, take them to the library. Let your kids select books on different topics that may be of interest to them. For example, if your children like dogs, encourage them to search for fiction books on dogs as well as books that describe various species of dogs. After they have read these books, ask them to give you a verbal or written summary of what they have learnt.

For older children, you should encourage them to read books on 'how to read'. And then allow them to practice effective reading techniques while reading any other books they like. Improving your child's reading skills is one of the best ways to improve their grades in all other subjects.

Start Playing Regular Family Games

Learning should be fun. Your children can learn a lot more while playing than they learn in the structured classroom environment. To create a fun-filled learning experience for your children, start a regular evening family game event. Invest a little money to buy board games that can teach your children about finances, real estate, insurance, health, religion, geography, business, stocks and several other important subjects. As you play these games, take time to explain the meanings of new words and other technical terms that your kids need to learn.

Help Your Kids With Their Homework

This is one of the best ways to supplement your child's education. In many cases, kids don't receive adequate attention in a class of 30 or more students. And what they need to improve their grades is simply a little more one-to-one attention.

Before you start helping your child to do their homework, get a little more information about your child's strengths, weaknesses and learning preferences. Then focus on helping your child to overcome his or her weaknesses through patient and consistent effort. In order to assist your child further in critical subjects like mathematics and English grammar, you could also get a tutor. You can find very good home tutors by searching online or through consultation with the schools guidance counselor.

Take A Lot of Field Trips

Kids are usually exposed to a lot of information in the classroom. But most times, they don't fully understand or appreciate them until they see, touch and experience what they are learning in a practical way. Therefore, you need to plan a lot of practical trips for your kids. Help them learn about animals by going to the zoo. Let them understand plants by going to the park. Assist your kids to understand history by visiting the museum. They will be eternally grateful to you for these trips.

Teach Your Kids About Nutrition While Cooking and Eating

Good nutrition is one of the most important aspects of human existence. Help your kids to learn and master basic principles of good nutrition while you cook and eat delicious meals. Every weekend, educate them about all the basic food substances and nutrients available in different kinds of foods you eat. Then over time, encourage them to assist you in planning various meals that have a variety of essential nutrients required to stay healthy.

Those are 5 proven ways of supplementing your child's education. Review them again and start applying them. They will help you to give your kids a well rounded and comprehensive education.

About the author: Mary Stedman is a freelance writer, currently writing educational articles on behalf of Shine Education, tutoring agency from Sydney.