Parent Involvement
You may have heard your child’s teacher say, “It’s a partnership.” They want teachers and parents to work together for the growth of the child.
That’s why teachers assign reading logs to encourage us to read to our kids or make sure they are reading and we hold them accountable and sign off. But it can go beyond that and I find as a parent that the more involved we are, the more interest our kids take in doing well in school and the more you learn about your own child. And it really helps out our teachers!
And each kid is different.
For my 5 year old, I have to find creative and fun ways to pull it out of him. For 7 year old very independent and strong daughter, I let her talk first.
When Aubrey’s 2nd grade teacher announced an economics project called, “Market Day,” I was beyond thrilled to put on my parenting/entrepreneur hat and get involved.
But I slowed my role and tried to lead and get involved, by letting her lead and listening to what she wanted to do first. This is really hard sometimes for parents since we know what “will work,” but the point of learning is to guide our kids as they figure it out and be around in case they need to process the success, the failure, etc.
A little background on Market Day. The kids have been earning “school money” in class for doing their homework, keeping their desk clean, etc. They could now use that money to purchase a “business license” some square footage space (aka desk), marketing materials (aka poster board), and other things to create their mini business. This business was for them to come up with a good to sell to make more of their school money which they could then spend on other businesses in their class.
Ok more about Market Day on my work page. Here, I’d like to share the parent involvement side of the experience.
If we don’t let our kids come up with their own ideas and we give them our ideas, we can’t really see where they are at. What they are thinking. And find out why they think what they think. It’s so fascinating to see the world through their eyes based on their experiences and it can provide some pretty cool insight into what they believe based on the life we have so far provided them.
Listening first and asking them questions helps us to understand what they think will work and what won’t. And what they think their peers will like. And who knows, they may know better than we do after all since they know their target audience of customers (aka friends) better than we do.
After letting them go first, that’s when we can then chime in with our thoughts to guide them toward the end goal. It’s not a competition. It’s a chance for our kids to create something they can be proud of, learn how to market and sell it, and buy things from others too. It’s a chance to experience how the economy system works. How they contribute to their society and how money can be used as a tool.
It’s to give them a glimpse of what we do! Work and earn money. Spend money on goods and services. Repeat. What a meaningful learning project that can be applied to life! Thank you teachers!
I guess all of this just to be an encouragement to you to get involved with your kids’ learning. Don’t miss what they are doing in school. It might be something we ourselves need to re-learn!
erin’s tip
Ask the teacher how you can support him/her in your child’s learning. Our teachers see them 6 hours a day and can provide us some helpful insights and tips for us to tag team and do our part at home.
