by Ernest Capraro

Created on: September 07, 2007   Last Updated: February 24, 2011

Hopefully you haven't waited until your student is a teen before encouraging them to make good grades. If you spend those first twelve years teaching them to value knowledge and achievement, you'll find that much less work is needed. Some parents don't know how to do this, so here are suggestions for your little ones.

Spend time reading together. Reading doesn't have to be learned at school, your little ones can start at home, or gain momentum at home by practicing with you, and then you have full control over what to read - books that you both enjoy rather than whatever may be popular in the curriculum or with the teacher. You can start by reading the story and following the words with your finger while letting your little one watch. As you progress, let them do the following along, recognizing the flow of words. Rereading the same books helps to build the pattern recognition, so don't get impatient when they want to repeat the same stories. Let them try sounding out the words and reading the story to you. Part of this will be repeating what they've already memorized, but it is a step. Be supporting, and don't hold back on praise. (Never refrain from praising acheivement.) It'll snowball from there.

Don't wait for mandatory science projects at school. What fun is it when there's a due date and a grade pending just like every other assignment? Check out a simple book of science projects from your library and do them for fun. (Or if you know your science, make up your own.) Grow crystals, make rock candy, make volcanos, make bottle rockets, build robots, make fossils, dissect broken radios, play with static balloons...you build curiosity and a craving for understanding, and show them that learning is fun.

Play math games, and have fun with them. Fun with math? Sure! My dad taught me exponential notation when I was eight on a family vacation when it was raining. He didn't call it exponential notation, he called it a "code", and once he showed me the basics, challenged me to figure out tougher ones. There are actual math games you can buy too. One called "Ring-A-Round" was fun for us. You use dice and any math functions you want to make all the numbers from 1 to 18, which isn't hard with dice, but it helps you practice your skills while competing and trying your luck with dice too. But parents, if you yawn and look bored, your kids will learn that math is boring too, no matter what. Your own attitudes toward learning in general will define theirs. (Kids do learn

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