How to Help Your Child Succeed in School

Here’s the scenario. Does it sound familiar?

It’s a weeknight, and your child has spent most of the evening on the same school assignment. It’s pretty clear he doesn’t understand the information. To top it off, he’s brought home a note from the teacher warning you about a failing grade.

Now what do you do?

Many parents immediately assume the worst. They think their child has a behavior problem, has difficulty learning, or is just plain lazy. But most of the time school challenges like this aren’t a crisis. The trouble may be as simple as your child’s learning style.

Think about it.

All the kids in a class may be taught the same way even though each student’s learning style is quite different. What is crystal clear to one person may sound like a foreign language to another.

Author Carol Barnier, our guest on yesterday and today’s programs, recommends parents think of themselves as “the keeper of the keys.” That means that if your child doesn’t understand a concept, the problem may be that it wasn’t taught with the key the child needs to unlock that information.

Your job as a parent is to find the right key. In other words, help your child discover the right learning approach that presents information in a way they can understand.

For example, one of my colleagues told me that his child is often required to write down his spelling words. But speaking them out loud is generally the way he learns best.

A simple key like that can transform a child who’s struggling and discouraged into one with a renewed passion for learning. And it’s hard to put a price on that.

If you’ve been seeking ways to get more involved in your child’s learning but you’re just not sure how to go about it, this program is for you. We discussed so many practical ideas for how to really dial into your child’s ability to learn and how you can help them learn most effectively that we took two shows to do it. I think it’ll be just the thing if you’re discouraged.

Carol Barnier is an author and a speaker, and she hosts an online community called SizzleBop. Most importantly, she’s a mom who has dealt with some of these learning challenges with her own kids.

Join us for the broadcast today, the second part of “Discovering the Best Ways to Educate Your Child,” on your local radio station. Or tune in anytime online or via our free, downloadable mobile phone app.