7 Ways To Help Your Kids Succeed In School (& How To Motivate Them)

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Every parent wants their child to do great in school. There are more than a few reasons why, such as:

• Making sure they learn as much as they need
• Setting them up for attending a great college and eventual job
• Helping them learn social skills

Despite your intentions, you might not know how to help your kids succeed in school. It could seem like you’re forcing them to do something they don’t want to do, which has the opposite effect than you’d want.

What if there were a few ways to make it easier? By using a few specific strategies, you shouldn’t have a problem getting this done. If you actually want your kids to succeed in school, it’s worth giving them a try. Seven, in particular, stand out. 

Help Your Kids Succeed In School: 7 Top Strategies

1. Teach Organizational Skills

If your child isn’t organized, they could find it difficult to stay on top of their schoolwork. In time, this could end up becoming worse and worse, and they’ll fall increasingly behind because of it. You’ll need to help your child avoid that as much as possible. 

The easiest way of doing this is to teach them organizational skills. While you might need to keep this basic when they’re younger, you can show them more and more as they get older. Help make their space look organized with a few cute and colorful storage boxes or cubes to store school paraphernalia in designated places. 

Once they know how to stay organized, they’ll end up being able to stay on top of their schoolwork. They shouldn’t risk falling behind on anything, and they’ll be in a much better position to actually succeed in school. Take the time to teach them these skills from an appropriate age. 

2. Attend Back-To-School Nights

Kids do well in school when their parents show interest in their academics. Simply asking them about their day isn’t enough to show this interest, however. You’ll also need to spend some time actually interacting with their teachers and the school itself.

Parent-teacher meetings are the most obvious way to do this, but they’re far from the only way. Some schools have back-to-school nights at the start of the year, and parents are usually welcome to attend these.

You might be surprised by how much you’ll learn during these events, such as school-wide programs and events that’ll happen throughout the year. You can also meet your child’s new teachers and take advantage of other opportunities. Spend the time to actually turn up to this. 

3. Know Disciplinary Policies

School disciplinary policies, also known as a code of conduct, is in place for a reason. It outlines how the school expects your child to behave when they’re at school. When you’re helping your child at school, you’ll need to focus on these behavioral areas, too. Simply focusing on academic performance isn’t going to cut it.

You wouldn’t want your child getting into trouble all the time, especially for seemingly minor infractions. Put the time and effort into making sure you know the disciplinary policies so your child doesn’t fall afoul of them. It’ll make sure there aren’t any problems going forward because of the dress code or other minor areas.

4. Use The Right Resources

What you mightn’t have realized is you have quite a few resources available when you’re trying to help your kids succeed in school. It’s worth taking advantage of these as much as possible. They’ll not only help you get more involved in your child’s education, but make it easier for them to learn.

That ends up letting them do better in class and in their exams. If they struggle with a certain subject, focus on getting them resources that can help with this. If math is their weakest subject, for example, consider getting them some math worksheets.

These resources breakdown subjects in a much more understandable way, letting your child learn about them faster and easier. There’s no reason not to consider getting them.

5. Get Involved

When you’re trying to help your kids succeed in school, sometimes it’s worth getting as involved as possible with their academics. That doesn’t just mean asking them about their schooling every day. Instead, you could try volunteering at their school, if that’s an option. 

Even taking the time to be a part of school trips as a chaperone could be enough to show your child you’re interested in their schooling. You’ll need to take your child’s preferences into account when you’re doing this, however.

Quite a few would like it if their parents were more involved in their academics, while others would prefer it if they weren’t at all. Speak with your child about this and see what their preferences are. If they want you more involved, then it’s worth doing it.

6. Show Them How To Study

Many kids don’t know how to study properly. While teachers will do their best to show them various ways to do this, there’s no one-size-fits-all approach for this. What works for one child mightn’t work for yours. It could be worth showing them how to study in a way that suits them.

While it might take a while to figure out the most appropriate way for them, it’ll be more than worth it once you’ve done so. These study skills help them do much better in exams, and you’ll see their grades improve significantly in time. Combined with the organizational skills mentioned above, this difference could be quite noticeable.

Be patient with your child, and you shouldn’t have a problem getting this done.

7. Make Time To Talk About School

You might have a general idea about what your child’s doing in school, but you might not know many of the specifics. Go out of your way to find out more about how and what they’re doing. By asking questions, you can find out a lot more about them. By doing this, it shows them that what they’re doing in school is important to you.

If they feel like it’s not important to you, it’s less likely to be important to them. At the same time, it gets them actively thinking about their studies more. They could even bring up problems they’re experiencing, which you can then help with.

It’ll have much more of an impact than you’d end up thinking. Take the time to talk about school every day, and you should see your child doing better and better in time.

How To Motivate Your Child To Learn

As much as each of the above can help your kids succeed in school, they might not be enough if your child isn’t motivated to learn. All that work could be in vain if they’re just not interested in learning anything. You’ll have to get them motivated, which means knowing how to motivate your child to learn.

As difficult as that sounds, it could be much easier than you’d think. While every child needs a personalized approach, there are more than a few things you could try. Some of the more notable of these include:

• Focus On Your Child’s Interests – Sometimes, your child simply wouldn’t be interested in learning because they don’t like the subject at hand. By focusing on your child’s interests, you can create more of a desire to learn. In time, they’ll end up wanting to learn more and more.
• Introduce Different Types Of Learning – In many cases, it’s not that your child doesn’t want to learn more, but they’re unmotivated by the way they’re expected to 
• learn things. Thankfully, there are different ways to learn that they could try, some of which will be more appealing to them. Introduce these different types, and your child shouldn’t have a problem finding one they like.
• Recognize And Celebrate Achievements – Many parents focus on when a child does wrong or fails an exam, which isn’t the best thing to do. By recognizing and celebrating when they do well, however, you can make them more motivated to learn. It shows them that doing so leads to positive consequences for them, making them more likely to put the effort in. 

By knowing how to motivate your child to learn, you’ll have a much better chance of helping them succeed in school. The time and effort you put into it will be more than worth it, so there’s no reason not to give it a try.

Help Your Kids Succeed In School

If you want to help your kids succeed in school, you’ll need to go out of your way to actually do it. That doesn’t mean it has to be a difficult process, however. All it takes is concentrating on a few particular areas.

Making the time to talk to them about school, teaching them organizational skills, and getting involved as much as you can are all great ways of doing this. Combined with knowing how to motivate your child to learn makes sure they’re set up for as much success as possible.

While that means putting a bit of time and effort into it, there’s no reason not to. It’s your responsibility as a parent.