It can be quite frustrating to see your child struggling with their schooling. School-age children these days seem to face so much stress for varying reasons, and the fact that primary school is just the beginning of their journey makes things even more daunting.
As their parent, you would do best not adding to their sources of stress. Rather, you can be part of the solution by employing the following strategies:
Get a Private Tutor
The most direct way of helping your child with their school subjects is finding a person to impart knowledge productively. Not all intelligent people are good teachers, which is why you need someone who does primary school English tutoring, for instance, if that is the subject your child has shown weakness in. Sidcup schools take pride in their comprehensive curriculum but to keep up with the schoolwork; students might need that helping hand. A private tutor will have an idea of what the school expects of students, and this makes them effective in creating lessons that specifically target those aspects. This way, your child will see improvement in their grades, which will only motivate them further to keep learning.
Make Learning More Fun
English may not be the hardest subject in the bunch, but it sure requires a lot of thinking and analysing. This is where children feel discouraged, particularly if they are tackling well-known pieces of literature and they think they are not saying something that has not been said before. You will notice that schools often include plays, reenactments and reimagination of literature. This is a way to engage children and help them immerse into the world they are studying. Show a little bit of excitement for what they are doing, and they might just want to try harder and, therefore, do better academically.
Share Your Stories
Education should not be a source of stress for children so young. You remember your own time in primary school and how you wanted to escape classes to stay in bed or watch your favourite show. You were not always the adult you are now in front of your children, and perhaps that knowledge will help them push forward and feel motivated to do better. When you notice them feeling down and worrying about their grades, set them aside, close their books and just talk. Share stories from your own time in school and show them a side of you they would not have imagined. Perhaps you pretended to be sick once or twice, but your parents never let you skip school knowing how important it is. Include positive outcomes of going to school and persevering, such as meeting lifelong friends and learning information that you found handy someday. They will get the encouragement they need from knowing you once had the same struggles they have now, and you managed through it all.
You may be an adult now, but it pays to bring out the inner child to help your young students excel in school.