All parents want their children to succeed in their courses, and want to put their kids in the best possible position to succeed. Parents often ask what they can do to help their children with their studies, so with a new year ahead, here are 5 New Year’s resolutions that parents can make that will help their children succeed:
- Provide your child with a space to do their work – success in math and science courses requires that students take the time to work through lots of questions and problems, and practice the various techniques that are taught. With this in mind, create a space for your child in your home where they can spend the time they need to spend working on questions and problems, with minimal distractions.
- Discuss your child’s short and long-term goals – often students are faced with whether or not to take additional math and science courses, and are not sure what decisions to make. It’s important to have discussions with your child about what their goals are, both short and long term, in order to understand what courses they should take. Many programs require math and science course for entry, so be sure to help your child with determining what they should be taking.
- Help your child create achievable and challenging goals – it’s important for students to set goals with respect to what they want to achieve in their math and science courses. This will help them guide their expectations as they move through the course, as well as inform the amount of work that they need to put in. It is important, however, to create goals that are reasonable and achievable so that your child does not get discouraged, but also feels challenged and encouraged to work hard throughout the year. Have a discussion with your child about what they achieved in their math and science courses the previous year, and what they would like to achieve this year, and guide them through creating challenging but achievable goals.
- Help your child maintain a balance – Students should always strive to do as well as they can in their courses, but also need to work towards achieving a good balance. Particularly in high school, when sports, clubs, and social engagements start to become a higher priority, help your child ensure that they make time to participate in extracurricular activities, while still setting aside sufficient time for their studies.
- Get your child the right support – parents often want to get their children support with math and science courses, and often get their child a 1-on-1 tutor, assuming that this is the best option for them. There are, however, many different support options for students, so depending on the learning style of your child, 1-on-1 tutoring might not be the best option. Spend time doing research into the various options, so that you can get your child the best support for them.