How Parents Help 

Many things that you do at home on a daily basis will help your children the most.  The activities described below benefit all children.

1. Set aside a special reading time.  Tell your child you look forward to and enjoy your reading time together.  Children who are read to ------READ.
2. Listen to your child.  Oral language experience is also a foundation for literacy.
3. Talk to your child.
4. Make time to play with your child.
5. Solve problems with your child.
6. Have your child count everything and anything.
7. Write stories out as your child dictates them.  Children love to see their ideas on print.
8. Praise your child whenever possible.
9. Talk with your child about school and everyday events.
10. Supervise homework.  Give your child a quiet place to work, and check that assignments are completed.
11. Encourage exercise and good nutrition.
12. Encourage your child to write.
13. Broaden your child’s horizons by taking him or her to parks, museums, libraries, zoos, and historical sites.  All these places offer fun learning experiences.
14. Tell your child education is important, and encourage him or her to do well in school.
15. Children do not know intuitively hoe to behave; kindly but firmly teach your child.
16. Help your child get a library card from the public library.  Take your child to the library as often as possible.
17. Help your child pick out interesting books to read.
18. Talk to your child about subjects that interest him or her.
19. Give your child his or her own place to keep books.
20. Write notes to your child.  Leave them to be found in special places----under pillows, in lunches or in favorite books.
21. Encourage your child to keep a scrapbook about a subject that interests him or her (example: stamps, dogs, birds, trucks, photos)
22. Limit your child’s television watching.  Turn the television on for a specific show, and turn it off immediately after the show is over.
23. Read and discuss school work with your child.
24. Provide materials for creative projects.
25. Give your child a calendar to write down special events and mark off each day.
26. Help your child make a telephone directory with the names and telephone numbers of his or her friends.
27. Ask your child to write or dictate a sentence or two for letters or e-mails your write to faraway relatives.
28. Give your child specific duties at home to perform on a regular basis.
29. Invite your child to help you prepare dinner.
30. Subscribe to a children’s magazine in your child’s name.
31. Bring books for your child to read in the car.
32. Look up words with your child in the dictionary.
33. Encourage your child to show his or her school work to your friends or relatives.
34. When traveling read word signs with your child.  Discuss what they mean.
35. Show your child how to use a yardstick, ruler, or tape measure to measure things around the house.
36. Give your child a special place to keep items he or she must regularly take to school.
37. Show your child how to tell time.
38. HUG your child daily!