Write down goals that are agreed upon by both the child and parents. Students who write goals down with their parents are more likely to accomplish them because they have a list to remind them why they need to work hard. Also, written goals help students when they are struggling because the goals teach them to work toward a result that will satisfy them. Above all, it teaches self-motivation, which is the key ingredient that often separates the top performers from the average ones. Also, parents gain insight into what motivates their child.
Encourage the parents to talk with their children about what they are learning in school, without focusing on grades or test scores. All too often, parents only ask about their children's performance but not about the knowledge that has resulted from that performance. Talking about the lesson itself will not only get the parents participating in the learning process with their children, but it will also help the students retain the knowledge better and recall it more readily in the future. Having a positive conversation about the lesson with their parents means the children will associate the lesson with positive feelings, which often leads to them being better students. As the parents become more invested in their child's education, they can celebrate together when their child performs well and work together when their child is having trouble.
Identify a student's individual strengths and weaknesses, then share your findings with the child's parents. Talk about the student's learning style, whether it is more auditory, visual or kinesthetic. Auditory learners want to recite things, read out loud, sing, and talk through problems. Visual learners enjoy making flash cards, looking at pictures of what they are learning, writing out observations, and drawing pictures. Kinesthetic learners like to act things out, build things, put puzzles together, create collages and use their hands to make projects.
Parents love to learn more about their child and share what they have noticed at home. Encourage them to talk about this in a positive way with their child and utilize the knowledge when interacting with the child at home.