Academic success does not only mean securing high grades; rather, it reflects your child's positive habits and attitudes such as resilience, adaptability, and discipline, among others. Recognizing the broader implications of academic achievement is the first step towards effectively supporting your child.
When families actively engage with their kids' education, students generally achieve more and enjoy learning environments more. Numerous studies have shown a positive correlation between parental involvement and academic success. A renowned study in this field, titled "A Meta-Analysis: The Interplay of Parental Involvement and Academic Achievement in Urban Secondary Schools" by Jeynes, delves into the affirmative correlation between parental engagement and academic success. The study examines diverse facets of parental involvement such as expectations, communication, assistance with homework, and active participation in school activities.
This article will delve into understanding some effective steps that parents could take to help their child achieve academic success. But before that, it is important to understand some of the factors that determine your child's academic performance.
Is Academic Success Achievable for All?
Firstly, the definition of academic success can vary from person to person. In an educational setting, academic success means meeting or surpassing the existing academic standards and demonstrating competency across core subjects through tests, assignments, and so on.
It is common for some parents to believe that their children are not academically gifted if they perform poorly in school. However, low grades over a consistent period of time do not necessarily mean your child is academically weak. Report cards are not an indication of your child’s cognitive abilities; instead, they are a reflection of how they are taught the subject, their study habits, and the amount of effort they put forth to study. None of the aforementioned factors are innate abilities that cannot be trained or taught over a period of time.
Therefore, it is important for parents to understand that learning is a skill, and like any other skill, it can be developed and taught to children over a period of time. Developing the right mindset and the right study habits is the most powerful formula that you would need to guide your child to academic excellence.
How to Train Your Child for Academic Success?
Growth Mindset
Growth mindset is the belief that intelligence is not an innate ability, rather it can be developed with hard work and effort. Growth mindset values the process as much as, if not more than, it values the outcome.
For a young learner like your child, a growth mindset can be a life-changing mindset to cultivate. It can help them perceive setbacks or failures as an opportunity for learning and growth. Growing up with a growth mindset can encourage your child to take up more challenges as they are not afraid to fail, and they don’t associate the outcome with their sense of self-worth.
So, how can parents train their children to cultivate a growth mindset? The most powerful advice and knowledge that you can give your child is to help them understand that learning is a skill and that struggle indicates that they are growing. Parents could practice being mindful of the praises that they give to their children. Instead of praising your child for being smart or intelligent, appreciate their efforts. For example, instead of saying, "You're so smart," say, "I can see you put a lot of effort into this even when it was difficult, and I’m proud of you for that."
If your child is showing signs of giving up, talk to them about the power of “yet”. For example, you can say, "You may not understand this yet, but if you keep at it long enough, you will eventually figure it out." Eventually, when your child starts seeing positive results from putting in the effort to learn, they will start believing that learning is about growing rather than innate intelligence.
Getting Involved with their School Work
Getting to know what your child is learning at school is crucial when it comes to helping them out in academics. You can start by speaking to your child and looking through their workbooks and assignments.
Go a step further and speak with your child’s teacher. Let them know that you are willing to be involved in helping your child learn. If they are open, you could ask for their email address or phone number. One good practice is to speak to the teacher at regular intervals to gauge how your child is doing and to track their progress. If your child is showing signs of struggle in one or more areas of study, ask their teacher what you or the school could do to help.
You can support your child at home by providing an environment that is conducive for optimal learning. Set aside a designated study space where your child can do their homework, establish an after-school routine with specific time allocated for doing homework, and finally, remove distractions that can hinder their focus. It is also important to note that while hand-holding your child with their homework is not recommended, you should monitor the work to make sure that it is completed.
Build Discipline with Routines and Study Habits
As we discussed in the previous section, setting up a routine can build structure to their after-school time and cultivate discipline. Set aside specific time for homework and daily revisions. An ideal study duration for middle schoolers is considered to be about 30-45 minutes per day. You could also speak with their teachers to learn more about the expected amount of homework and the ideal time they suggest for daily homework.
Equip your child with positive study habits that can motivate them to learn and work through their problems easily. Teach them to use planners and calendars to help them keep track of assignments, deadlines, and important dates. Having a study plan to tackle challenging topics, meet deadlines, and prepare for tests helps avoid last-minute cramming. The recommended method is to teach them how to prioritize tasks daily based on urgency and importance.
Consider learning about techniques such as the Pomodoro Technique, where short breaks are scheduled after focused work intervals. You could add a twist to this by incentivizing the breaks to make learning more fun for your child.
Promote Independent Learning
Close supervision of your child's homework and assignments can seem quite harmless, especially when you are just trying to help them out. But on the contrary, it could backfire and limit their academic growth in the long run. The key to unlocking academic success is to get your child motivated to learn on their own without any external compulsion.
When parents jump in to handhold the child through homework and assignments, they also fail to learn vital qualities like taking up responsibility and organization.
Give your child control over planning and scheduling their study time. You could provide them with the necessary skills and tools to make this process easier for them. Building study habits and helping your child set personal goals can lay the foundation to build motivation and take necessary action towards independent learning. Encourage them to set interest-based goals and motivate them to pursue their interests outside of study hours.
Advocate Active learning
Each child has a distinct preference in how they process and understand new material, and active learning methods can accommodate these varying learning styles (such as visual, auditory, kinesthetic, or a combination of these).
Instead of relying just on passive reading, promote active learning methods such as summarizing information, teaching concepts to someone else, or creating flashcards. These techniques can enhance your child’s understanding and retention.
Visual learners can benefit from creating mind maps to visually represent the concepts they are learning. Auditory learners thrive through listening and speaking, so assign them a podcasting project where they create audio content explaining a particular concept or topic. Kinesthetic learners learn best through hands-on experiences. Treat everyday activities and common phenomena as learning opportunities for your child. For example, you could teach the concept of speed while you are on a drive with your child.
Taking into consideration the unique requirements of all the different types of learner, we have developed an exclusive “study skills masterclass”. This two- day masterclass will teach your child easy to follow study techniques like mind mapping, mnemonics, and more. Registrations are open till Dec 14 2023.
Be Your Child’s Cheerleader
Acknowledge your child's efforts and accomplishments, even the smallest ones. Celebrating small victories fosters a positive attitude towards learning and motivates continued effort. For your child to feel motivated to learn, they need to believe that they are capable and feel appreciated for their efforts. If your child is struggling in specific subjects, keep close track of their smallest progress and remember to always acknowledge their efforts.
Conclusion: Addressing Challenges
Academic success is a continuous process, and your role as a supportive parent is pivotal in shaping a bright and successful future for your child. While the steps discussed above are effective in keeping your child on top of their schoolwork and tests, it is also necessary to reflect upon your child's specific academic struggles. Consider offering access to subject-specific tutors who bring the expertise and tailored knowledge to address your child's goals and challenges.
At Rise, we take a holistic approach to working with students by combining subject tutoring with strategic mentoring. Whether your child needs support in a specific subject or guidance to cultivate skills they already possess, we’re here to help.
Crimson Rise programs are designed with a focus on academic achievements but they also go beyond addressing subject-level challenges. We are preparing your child for high-impact performance in high school, college, and beyond. Book a complimentary consultation to learn how our integrated model can supercharge your child's journey.
-3.png)
-2.png)
