Parenting throws you dozens of obstacles to overcome and challenges to complete, and that’s true already from day one. Needless to say, instilling a strong healthy attitude towards school, school-related activities, and learning in general is a giant task. It takes time, patience, effort, creativity, understanding, but it’s more than rewarding and helpful to your child. That support and creativity shouldn’t stop at any point of his or her education and it is also important as a good precedent for college. Here are some ways you can encourage (or rekindle) your child’s passion for learning.
Finding new and interesting ways to learn
Especially with younger children, learning can sometimes be turned into a game or assume the form of an entertaining knowledge-enriching activity. The ways to peak your child’s curiosity about the world and what we know about it are numerous. For instance, learning can happen in a social context: You can organize study sessions for your son or daughter and invite a couple of their classmates over. They can do homework as a team and help each other in case something is unclear to one of them.
There’s also the option of having the child conduct an experiment related to something he or she has just learned about in school (like growing a bean plant at home and learning about its development first-hand). Additionally, don’t be afraid to let them use technology in the process, just remember to limit its use strictly for learning during study sessions. There are numerous educational series, cartoons, and programs for students that help make knowledge acquisition more interesting.
Sharing materials with others
Making education more colorful and successful can be done through sharing or rather exchanging notes and learning materials with others. Acquiring that habit early and preserving it all the way through college has a positive impact on the learning process. The point behind this can be put like this: Knowledge should be shared and we need to remain open to that. So, keep the information flow unhindered by helping others on their education journey and receiving that help from others.
Getting around online
This particular step is firmly connected to what has previously been said about sharing. Information exchange happens online in endless ways and forms. The power of the internet has been put to use in the goal of acquiring knowledge as well. It is the place where numerous apps which aid learning and mastering different skills can be found or downloaded.
Besides that, students of different ages are able to access excellent online learning platforms, such as Think Swap, where they can engage in the previously mentioned exchange of study and class materials, and other kinds of content such as extremely useful SACE notes. By accessing these materials, your child will have a chance to be better prepared for tests, written and oral exams, or simply find answers to many questions that he or she might be having while studying at home.
Engaging in online learning activities
Another great thing about the internet as the source of knowledge is that it offers other entertaining learning activities as well. Such activities include all sorts of games, cartoons and films, digital classrooms, or immensely amusing and informative quizzes such as Sporcle.
Encouraging reading
Reading is the door that lets us into different worlds. It strengthens imagination, helps us grow as people, allows us to learn about ourselves and about the world. A great source of knowledge lies precisely in them, as they not only feed us information, but keep reawakening our curiosity and hunger for learning. So, motivate your child to build a close relationship with books and they will have friends for life.
Establishing discipline
Teach your child that working, studying and learning is often a matter of having a solid routine and organization. If there is no procrastination and effort is invested on a regular basis, better results are achieved – learning doesn’t happen under time constraints or pressure. Discipline and good time-management are important throughout the entire period of education, as well as later on in life.
The ways to prepare your child well for college and help them establish healthy habits and work routines are indeed countless and they keep emerging with the progress of technology and modern-era inventions. Read Things I Wish I Knew Before I Went to College for more inspiration.
Phill Anchman is a Sydney based blogger focused on travel stories and staying fit. When at home he is a one man Hollywood trivia quiz, crazy about all things entertainment, pinchin’ fashion tips away from TV shows and movies – especially the DC universe villains. Genuine hell-man! He dreams of one day snowing in space so he could ski down the edge of the Sea of Tranquility screaming “cowabanga dude!”. 10/10 would definitely share the experience on his facebook page. So better start following just in case. Follow his work at https://highstylife.com/author/phill-anchman/
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