Quiz: What do you do to improve your children's education at home?

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Permalink Reply by JCLeftie on September 19, 2008 at 1:26pm

1. yes
2. Oldest: math, Youngest: spelling
3. I'm running out of ideas!
4. Not usually.
5. Very limited entertainment
6. I help but make it clear I won't do it for them. Check before they turn it in.
7. Schools here hand out so much homework we have a hard time juggling. Reading usually happens on the weekends.
8. We have a hard time sticking to a schedule. Depending on the day it can be anywhere from 7:30 to 10 (they are in 4th & 2nd grades).
9. Anywhere from an hour before leaving to 10 minutes before leaving.
10. unknown
11. It depends on when they get up.

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Permalink Reply by Sunshyne76 on September 19, 2008 at 4:46pm

1. Yes
2. None really, he gets mostly A's with the occasional B
3. I double check his homework if I have time, if the writing is not neat, he has to re-do it, I have him do ALL extra credit that is available!
4. IF he is done with his homework, he may get on, but no longer than maybe 30 min
5. both, he is always allowed to use the computer if it is for homework and he is allowed to check his myspace and stuff IF he is done with everything else
6. DoI help if he needs it, which is slightly more often now that he is doing Algebra and is only in 7th grade.... I actually LIKE helping him
7. Yep!
8. Generally he goes to bed between 9-10 depending on the amount of homework and if any of our "together time" tv shows are on lol
9. He wakes up for school at 7am
10. What the heck is a school voucher?
11. He always has either a bowl of cereal, PBandJ, or on occasion I get those Lean Pockets (breakfast ones), or some turkey sausage! Whatever lol

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Permalink Reply by Nikki on September 22, 2008 at 7:50pm

1. 2 are in school
2. My oldest struggles with nothing, my daughter has trouble in math and spelling.
3. I work with my daughter every night on her spelling words and last week she got a 100% I was so proud!
4. Sometimes
5. Both
6. Yes and Yes
7. Yes
8. on school night between 8:30 and 9, on Friday and Saturday it is 10.
9. 7am sometimes before
10. Yes
11. Yes

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Permalink Reply by daNanner on September 26, 2008 at 12:38pm

#1 TURN THE TV OFF! no movies, no video games, no NOTHING. After 15 minutes they will be so bored they will LET you know what they are interested in. Drawing, reading, art, science, math, etc. In my opinion that is the best way to improve education at home. Whatever academics they are truly interested in can be made to compliment the other subjects (oh yeah, I homeschooled for about 4 years)

1. Yes, they are.
2. My son with math. Like me he needs a translator. My daughter with reading. Just not her thing, but she takes after the boys in my family. She's very articulate, awesome imagination, likes to draw and write, but not read. But she likes audiobooks and to be read to. Go figure.
3.My son, I sit with him, explain the process, do one and make him do the rest with me. My daughter, I just instituted a "no activity book" rule when we go to the bookstore. She can pick anything she wants to READ, but it must not have activitites. I'm going to be learning a LOT about animals over the next few months....
4. They do, but I highly recommend teaching them to research offline and use newspapers, encyclopedias, etc FIRST so they can learn to discern between crap research and resources and the good stuff.
5. Both.
6. Yes and yes.
7. My son reads above grade level, so I don't have to worry about that. My daughter has timed reading assignments from school.
8. around 9 for both of them
9. around 7 for both of them
10. I would if they were available.
11. They are supposed to. Sometimes we run out of time, but I try to get at least a muffin and some OJ into them. In lieu of that, I pack their lunches with healthy snacks for snacktime.

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Permalink Reply by Stacey on October 8, 2008 at 8:14pm

1. Are all your kids in school? No I have a 22month old son
2. What subject(s) do your children struggle with? Math for the girls and really nothing so far for my older son
3. How do you help them improve? We help every night with home work and my kids have the advantage of being in a reaaly small school so we have great coomunication with the teachers.
4. Do your children use the internet? Very rarely so far.
5. If they use the internet, is it for education, entertainment or both? I let my daughter get online for homework mostly with while I am in the room. She thinks I am able to see every last thing she did on the internet. I like that she thinks I actually am a geek. I in truth am pretty inept. I know how to look at hte history but beyond that I wouldn't know which way is up.
6. Do you help your children with their homework? Do you check it? I only check the hoemwork sometimes. I depends on how much help they needed with it. I want them to know that they are responsible for their grades and I am not going to make sure every i is dooted and wvery t crossed. They are accountable.
7. All school children have required reading. Do you time them or check their reading material to make sure it is age and reading level appropriate? As luck would have it I don't really worry about that too much because I graduated from the school that my kids go to and I trust them completely even though most of the teachers I have are now gone.
8. When do your children go to bed? My 1st and 2nd graders are supposed to go to bed at 8:00pm but that rarly happens. I make sure that they are in bed no later than 9
9. When do they wake up for school? 6:45-7:00 am
10. Do you support school vouchers? We don't have them.
11. Do your children get breakfast every morning before school? We try but they get breakfast at school too so it's not a huge deal if we have had a bad morning.

I am also very involved in my kids school. I think it is very important. That way they know you care and they will care more about what they are doing. I am the Vice President of the Parent Teacher Club. I think it makes a big difference in my kids attitude towards all aspects of the school.

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Permalink Reply by Valdorsha on October 11, 2008 at 4:44am

1. No - oldest is in 1st grade. Youngest is only 2.
2. Biggest issue is reading, but we only just realized he was having a vision problem and got him glasses at the beginning of this school year. The improvement has been remarkable.
3. We homeschooled him through age 4-5, and have continued doing so along with regular school (but we make it fun)
4. Yep. He's been hogging my computer since age 3.... traitor lol
5. We use it for both. Educational sites with puzzles/word games/math games/etc, fun science stuff, as well as games just for fun - Toontown time is his reward for a job well done (and taken away as punishment when it's not. Works like a charm)
6. Yep, at this age, we still go through it together. I don't do his homework for him, but I'm there to answer questions, etc. I check over everything before he can be officially "done."
7. Yep, I check the material he's reading. I do not, however, time him on it. He doesn't get to dawdle, but the only requirement is that he learns (instead of memorize) even if it takes a little longer.
8. Bedtime is supposed to be 8:30-9pm. It varies by a couple hours daily though.
9. Usually at 7am.
10. No. I don't think this is the right answer. The ENTIRE education system needs an overhaul. Vouchers undermine the idea that even inner city schools NEED to provide a decent education for those going there, and the kids whose parents don't go seeking the vouchers are left to fall through this crack in the system.
11. Heh, when he will eat, yes. He is rarely hungry at all in the morning. I make breakfast, and make sure he at least drinks a glass of milk and toast or something, but he is like I was growing up - I never ate breakfast as a kid. I'd get sick to my stomach if I ate right after getting up.

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