Promote Academic Success in Your Home:
Tips and Strategies
This is part one of a two-part series on promoting academic success in the home- a guide for parents and students!
We’ve created blogs detailing tips on returning to school, advice for educators, and overall academic performance suggestions. However, your child needs to have a space at home that can continue the positive habits being implemented at school.
Both school and home environments can impact academic success, so we will discuss strategies to increase and maintain your child’s academic success at home. Part two of the blog series will discuss environmental suggestions to add to your child’s study space and help complete routines.
At-Home Strategies
Schedules and routines!
We know that building schedules and establishing routines are frequent topics at SENSE-ational Spaces, but that’s because it is truly that important! Routines can be used for various activities and times of day.
Morning Routines
Morning time routines can positively affect school and academic performance as they provide consistency, as the child knows what is expected of them daily to create a sense of security and independence (Raising Children Network, 2023). Additionally, morning routines will help a child (and parent) remain calm and organized. Consistency, expectations, security, and a calm and organized environment can decrease overall stress and anxiety, helping to set the day up for success.
One essential piece to a morning routine is implementing a healthy, nutritious breakfast for your child. Nemours Children's Health (2023) explained that eating breakfast provides energy and, therefore, can increase academic productivity. Other vital additions to a morning routine include brushing teeth, dressing, preparing a lunch box (if age and ability- appropriate), and anything else that helps your child wake up and start their day. When planning out these tasks, use visuals, cues, and other tangible objects to help your child transition from one task to another.
Interested in tips for creating a routine? Check out this SENSE-ational Spaces blog now!
Interested in tips for dressing with kiddos with sensory sensitivities? Click Here to view
Night Routines
Nightly routines can benefit a child’s school and academic performance as they can assist in regulating and improving a student’s physical and mental health, including lessening anxiety and stress- which can be exceptionally high during school (AASM, 2023). Additionally, a nighttime routine can increase the child’s sleep quality. Your body releases sleep chemicals when you are tired, but with an irregular schedule, your body isn't releasing sleep hormones at the correct time. If your body is on a regular schedule, it knows when to help your child’s body begin to sleep automatically, improving sleep quality and duration (Kim et al., 2015). Quality sleep is essential for maintaining good grades (Oxford Learning, 2021).
Check out Sensory Processing Disorder and Sleep: Building a Bedtime Routine for specific tips for bedtime routine creations, and check out our blogs on teeth-brushing hygiene!
After School Routines or Homework-specific routines
Homework-specific routines can be studying or doing homework assignments in the same area and being organized with schoolwork or other school-related activities.
Increased organization with homework routines may include making a priority list with your child each day of what activities should be completed first, second, etc. Oxford Learning (2021) explained that providing a schedule can help your child complete all the assigned tasks and allow for free time after to enjoy hobbies.
Additionally, Oxford Learning (2021) detailed that making priorities and organizing tasks can lead to decreased stress. Reducing stress is very important as stress can negatively affect children by reducing their attention and concentration in class, leading to poor grades!
So many more!
Routines and schedules can be created for any reason, especially for kiddos who become frustrated or have tantrums when transitioning between specific tasks. If it works for your child, great, use it! If not, try another strategy. No answer is the right one!
Set Expectations
As a parent, it’s essential to create expectations for your child. For children in elementary school, instilling the exact expectations in their classroom can develop a sense of responsibility and work ethic (Nemours Children's Health, 2023). However, it is important to note that appropriate expectations are essential. Too high of expectations can lead to a child feeling like a failure, but too low of expectations may not increase their academic performance. Wahi (2023) explained that parents significantly influence the child’s progress and future desires, so a parent should understand the impact of parental expectations on a child to ensure those expectations are not unintentionally hurting the child’s success.
Study Skills
Teaching study skills can help your child more efficiently complete their school-related tasks. Teach them how to break down more significant tasks into smaller ones to make preparing for a test manageable. Another study tip to explain to your child is the significance of taking a break. According to Nemours Children's Health (2023), after a 45-minute study period, taking a break can help increase memory and comprehension of the materials studied or completed.
Communication strategies
Talking to your child about their school day provides numerous benefits. First, asking your child about school can help with emotional regulation. Secondly, talking to your child about school can show them you care and display support for their academics. Showing support for your child’s school attendance, participation, effort levels, and standards can increase their success and encourage them to take their schooling as seriously as you do(Nemours Children's Health, 2023).
Another communication strategy is using positive reinforcement. Positive reinforcement is when one wants an action or behavior to continue, so they use praise or a desired treat to reward a behavior, resulting in the behavior continuing (Nickerson, 2023). For example, you can use this strategy if you want your child to focus on their homework. You could tell your child that if they complete one homework assignment, they earn 15 minutes with toy cars, dolls, etc. However, this reinforcement must be provided right after completing the task for the system to truly work (Cherry, K, 2023).
Overall, there are many small but mighty strategies and techniques a parent can use to ensure academic success is carried from the classroom to home and back again. Interested in learning further tips about schooling, sensory processing, and more?
Check out the links below for more information and helpful tips regarding promoting academic success in the home:
