Improve Your Child's Grades: A Check List

Simple Steps that Can Assure Your Child’s Academic Success

 

Evelyn Smith

M. S. in Library Science, University of North Texas  (2012)

Ph. D. in English, Texas Christian University (1995)

1.    Keep cell phones, computers, and TVs out of the bedroom past 8 p.m. at night.

Seaman, Andrew M.  (2015, January 5).  More evidence against keeping electronics in kids’ bedrooms.  Reuters.  Retrieved from http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/01/05/us-electronics-pediatrics-sleep-idUSKBN0KE1SI2015010

7 reasons to banish your phone from the bedroom (2014, November 3).  Huff Post Healthy Living.  Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/03/no-phone-in-bed_n_6022284.html

2.    Confiscate your child’s cell phone before he or she boards the school bus, or tell your child’s teacher that you will personally deprive your child of cell phone use if he or she is caught using it in school.  Most schools prohibit cell phone use in class; however, making sure students’ cell phones are turned off and put up in their back packs is a major disciplinary problem.  

Earl, Robert. (2012, May 18).  Do cell phones belong in the classroom?  The Atlantic.  Retrieved from http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/05/do-cell-phones-belong-in-the-classroom/257325/

3.    Make sure your child gets in 30 minutes of aerobic exercise daily (preferably outdoors) apart from P.E. class. Take a brisk walk with the family after dinner, bicycle as a group, and/or enroll your child in swimming, tennis, or gymnastic lessons, or make sure that he or she participates in the team sport of his or her choosing.

Doheny, Kathleen.  (2013, October 21).  Kids who exercise may get better grades.  WebMD.  Retrieved from http://www.webmd.com/parenting/news/20131021/kids-who-exercise-more-may-get-better-grades

4.    Read to your preschool child 20 minutes per day, and read with your elementary and middle school age child 20 minutes per day.

Read to your preschool child and read along with 
your elementaryand middle-school child.

The importance of reading aloud to your child through elementary school. (2015).  Kumon.  Retrieved from http://www.kumon.com/resources/the-importance-of-reading-aloud-to-your-child-through-elementary-school/

Rich, Motoko. (2015, January 8).  Study finds reading to children of all ages grooms them to read more on their own.  New York Times.  Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/08/us/study-finds-reading-to-children-of-all-ages-grooms-them-to-read-more-on-their-own.html?_r=0

Why read 20 minutes a day?  K12 Reader.  Retrieved from http://www.k12reader.com/why-read-20-minutes-a-day/

5.    Schedule activities during the summer that make up for the summer reading slide: Sign the kids up for summer camp and swimming lessons, and take them to summer reading programs at the local public library, and enroll them in Vacation Bible School.  May colleges and universities also have special summer programs for children.

Kim, Jim S.  (2009, July 22).  Fighting the summer reading slump.  Usable Knowledge.  Retrieved from http://www.gse.harvard.edu/news/uk/09/07/fighting-summer-reading-slump

Trelease, Jim. (2007). Is ‘summer setback’ the smoking gun in the ‘reading gap’ between the rich and poor?  Retrieved from http://www.trelease-on-reading.com/summer-setback.html

6.    Talk to your toddlers and preschoolers while doing household chores, and make sure to include your elementary and secondary school-age children in dinner conversations.  Eat dinner as a family at least six nights a week.

Family dinner linked to better grades for teens.  ABC News.  Retrieved from http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/Health/story?id=1123055&page=1

Fishel, Anne. (2015, January 12).  The most important thing you can do with your kids?  Eat dinner with them.  Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/01/12/the-most-important-thing-you-can-do-with-your-kids-eat-dinner-with-them/

Markham, Laura.  (2015).  Raise a smart kid who loves to learn.  Aha!  Parenting.  Retrieved from http://www.ahaparenting.com/parenting-tools/intelligent-creative-child/loves-learn

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Addendum

Sax, Leonard. (2015, December 17). Parenting in the age of awfulness. Wall Street Journal. Retrieved from http://www.wsj.com/articles/parenting-in-the-age-of-awfulness-1450397051

A pediatrician argues that teaching children manners and respect for others means children need to put away their cell phones, have dinner with the family, and treat their elders with respect.

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7.    Sign your children up for orchestra or band in school or sign them up for private piano lessons.  Make sure they practice  a minimum of 30 minutes to an hour daily, depending on their age.  To inspire them, take them to live concerts.

Dewar, Gwen.  (2014). Music and intelligence:  A parent’s evidence-based guide.  Parenting  Science.  Retrieved from http://www.parentingscience.com/music-and-intelligence.html

 Mehr, Samuel. (2013, December 20).  Music and Success.   Sunday Review.  New York Times.  Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/22/opinion/sunday/music-and-success.html

Music teaches math skills as well as well as the cliche that practice makes perfect.

8.    Regularly take your children to sports events, live musical concerts, plays, and art museums.  Additionally, encourage your child's school to take the children to children's concerts, plays, and exhibits.

How the arts teach the tools for success. (2014). Arts Edge.  John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.  Retrieved from https://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/families/at-home/cae/high-school

Mathews, Jay. (2014, January 29).  Children learn much from field trips that they can’t get from lectures or textbooks.  Washington Post.  Retrieved from  https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/on-parenting/children-learn-much-from-field-trips-that-they-cant-get-from-lectures-or-textbooks/2014/01/27/467d96b4-845a-11e3-bbe5-6a2a3141e3a9_story.html

9.    Study a foreign language together as a family, perhaps in preparation for a family vacation in another country.  Learning a foreign language emphasizes that one can look at the same information in different ways.

 Heinle, Charles  A. L. (2006).  Human intelligence and second language learning.  The Link, 3(6).  Retrieved from http://www.homeschoolnewslink.com/homeschool/articles/vol3iss6/language.shtml

References for cognitive question: There’s evidence that early language learning improves cognitive abilities.  (n. d.).  Retrieved from http://www.actfl.org/advocacy/discover-languages/advocacy/discover-languages/what-the-research-shows/references-cognitive

10. Make sure your children master their multiplication tables, fractions, and addition and subtraction facts.  Admittedly, this doesn’t involve higher thinking skills, but learners must learn basic facts before they go on to learning higher thinking skills.  Then with rephrased questions, help your children advance to higher-learning skills.

Thomas, Alice and Thorne, Glenda. (2015). How to increase higher order thinking.  Reading Rockets. WETA Public Broadcasting.  Retrieved from  http://www.readingrockets.org/article/how-increase-higher-order-thinking

Memorization techniques. (2010).  University of Utah School of Medicine.  Retrieved from http://medicine.utah.edu/learningresources/tools/memorization.php

Using memory effectively. (n. d. ).  Study Guides and Strategies.  Retrieved from http://www.studygs.net/memory/

11. Teach arithmetic by letting elementary-school age with household chores; for example, measuring the dry and wet ingredients for cookies and cakes, hanging pictures, or deciding what size area rug you want to buy for the living room.  Show older children how to enter items in a checkbook and balance a budget.  Educational games that teach math skills and reasoning include Monopoly, dominoes, checkers, and chess. 

Cooking helps teach math skills.

     Brown, Laura Lewis. (2015). Instill a love of math.  PBS Parents.  Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/parents/education/math/math-tips-for-parents/instill-a-love-of-math/

Keith, Kimberly L.  (2015).  Help your child learn math skills.  About Parenting.  Retrieved from http://childparenting.about.com/od/learningenrichment/a/mathskills.htm

Morin, Amanda. (2015).  Math activities around the house.  About Parenting.  Retrieved from http://kidsactivities.about.com/od/EverydayMathandScience/a/Math-Activities-Around-The-House.htm

12. Make sure your children have a library card, and regularly take them to the library to check out books and participate in planned activities.  Parents of preschoolers should take advantage of regularly-scheduled Library story times.

Cullinan, Bernice. (2000).  Independent reading and school achievement.  School Library Media Research, 3.  Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/aasl/sites/ala.org.aasl/files/content/aaslpubsandjournals/slr/vol3/SLMR_IndependentReading_V3.pdf

13. Give books for holiday and birthdays presents.  Let your child see you reading for pleasure and information.

Books in home as important as parents’ education in determining children’s education level. (2010, May 21).  Science News.  Retrieved from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/05/100520213116.htm

Jacobs, Tom. (2014, May 27).  Books in the home are strongly linked to academic success.  Pacific Standard.  Retrieved from http://www.psmag.com/books-and-culture/books-home-strongly-linked-academic-achievement-82144

Taking a child to church regularly can improve his or her chance of academic success.

14. Take your child to church, mosque, or synagogue and talk together about the worship service  afterwards, patiently summarizing and explain the sermon.

Abbamonte, Jonathan. (2015).  A link between church attendance and academic performance. Values & Capitalism.  Retrieved from http://www.valuesandcapitalism.com/link-church-attendance-academic-achievement/

15. Sign your child up for Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts, or Camp Fire, or enroll them in youth programs at the Y, a sports team, or a drama or dance troupe, or encourage them to write for the school newspaper or become a member of the school yearbook staff.  Cheer them on as they enjoy their interests.

Rivers, Sera.  (2015). Extracurricular activities and academic grades. Synonym.  Demand Media. Retrieved from http://classroom.synonym.com/extracurricular-activities-academic-grades-4906.html

16. Make sure everyone in the family eats two servings of Omega-3 fish, such as salmon or tuna, weekly. Also, make sure that they get enough “brain food”.  Shun fast-food restaurants.  Instead make home-cooked meals.

Eat for a sharper mind: 5 brain-boosting foods. (2015).  Eating Well.  Meredith Corporation.  Retrieved from http://www.eatingwell.com/nutrition_health/healthy_aging/eat_for_a_sharper_mind_5_brain_boosting_foods

Kreuger, Anne.  (2015, May 12).  7 brain foods for kids. WebMD.  Retrieved from http://www.webmd.com/add-adhd/childhood-adhd/features/brain-foods-kids

17. Emphasize working hard and trying to do well over grades.  Praise effort not “being smart” or looking handsome or beautiful.

Dweck, Carol S. (2015, January 1).  The secret to raising smart kids.  Scientific American.  Retrieved from http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-secret-to-raising-smart-kids1/

18. Allow kids to make mistakes.  Don’t helicopter parent, always hovering over your children.

Broder, Michael S. (2013, October 14).  3 mistakes ‘helicopter parents’ make that prevent their children from growing up.  Huff Post Parents.  Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-s-broder-phd/three-mistakes-helicopter-that-prevent-their-children_b_3741412.html

19. Challenge your children when they voice preconceived beliefs and stereotypes.  Emphasize not everyone thinks like you do!

Russell, Marie. (2014).  Watch for preconceived notions and limiting beliefs.   Inner Self.  Retrieved from

http://innerself.com/content/self-help/behavior-modification/attitudes-transformed/perfectionism/6342-watch-out-preconceived-notions.html

20. Involve your child’s senses in learning in ways that go beyond passive reading and listening, employing different ways of learning to understand information.  For example,  physical exercise can help children memorize if they connect the rule or concept they are learning with their kinetic motions. Have your older children teach their younger brothers and sisters how to do things, or ask them to explain to you how they found an answer since teaching a topic helps the teacher master the subject.

Tips for educators on accommodating different learning styles.  (n.  d.).  Center for Access and Success.  University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.  Retrieved from http://www.umassd.edu/dss/resources/facultystaff/howtoteachandaccommodate/howtoaccommodatedifferentlearningstyles/

Johnson, Roger T. and Johnson, David W.  (1994).  An overview of cooperative learning. Retrieved from http://www.campbell.edu/content/662/overviewpaper.html

21. Expect a standard of excellence for homework tasks like studying for weekly spelling tests and award improvement.  After administering a pretest, have the kids correct their mistakes and understand why they didn't have the right answer, and then retest them on their mistakes until they achieve mastery.

Evitt, Marie Faust. (2015).   How to teach kids perseverance and goal setting.  Parents.  Meredith Corporation.  Retrieved from http://www.parents.com/parenting/better-parenting/style/how-to-teach-kids-perseverance-goal-setting/

Self efficacy: Helping children believe they can succeed.  Communique, 39 (3).  Retrieved from http://www.forsyth.k12.ga.us/cms/lib3/ga01000373/centricity/domain/31/self-efficacy_helping_children_believe_they_can_suceed.pdf

22. Make sure grandparents and older friends and relatives share their childhood memories.  An interest in history is often sparked when a child asks, “What was it like when you were growing up?”  Oral histories can also become a history fair project for middle and high school students.   Stop along the highway to read historical markers and explain what life was like everyday at different points in your family's personal history.

 Helping your children learn history.   (2015).  U. S. Department of Education.  Retrieved from http://www2.ed.gov/parents/academic/help/history/history.pdf

Parents and teachers need to work together as a team!

23. Attend parent meetings and make sure that your child knows that you support his or her teacher as disciplinarian in the classroom. 

Bieber, Kristin.  (2014, October 14).  Tips on how to make the most of parent-teacher conferences.  Momaha.  Omaha World Herald.  Retrieved form

http://www.omaha.com/momaha/tips-on-how-to-make-the-most-out-of-parent/article_fb023eaa-5bd1-11e5-b0cd-8fc14eff9e17.html

Parent-teacher conferences.  (2015). The Nemours Foundation.  Retrieved from http://kidshealth.org/parent/positive/learning/parent-teacher-conferences.html

24. Practice and teach good manners, emphasizing please, thank you and may I. Don’t swear or lose your temper in front of the kids, and talk about anger management with them.

Smita, Chatterjee. (2010, March 31).  Raising kids: Modeling good manners.  Loving .Your. Child.  Retrieved from http://www.lovingyourchild.com/2010/03/raising-kids-good-manners/

10 basic manners for kids. (2015).  Advice with Dr. Dave and Dr. Dee.  Retrieved from http://www.drdaveanddee.com/manners1.html

25. Emphasize the attitude that “this too shall pass” when preteens and teens obsess over popularity; however, don’t disregard their angst about being popular and fitting in because this can affect their academic success.  

Buckley, Kim. (2013, April 11).  Social concerns of teens can affect academic success.  NewsNetNebraska.  Retrieved from http://www.newsnetnebraska.org/2013/04/11/social-concerns-of-teens-can-affect-academic-success/

Coping with cliques.  (2015). Teens Health.  The Nemours Foundation.  Retrieved from http://teenshealth.org/teen/your_mind/friends/cliques.html

26. Watch out for signs that your child is being bullied. It’s hard to concentrate on school work when beset with emotional problems.

St. George, Donna. (2011, September 5).  Bullying linked to lower school achievement.  Education.  Washington Post.  Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/bullying-linked-to-lower-school-achievement/2011/09/01/gIQArmQw4J_story.html

Wolport, Stuart. (2010, August 19).  Victims of bullying suffer academically as well. UCLA psychologists report.  UCLA  Newsroom.  Retrieved from http://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/victims-of-bullying-suffer-academically-168220

27. Talk about immediate and long-term educational goals with your children.

How to help your children set and reach goals: A guide with illustrations and examples.  (2012, July 21).  TheBookMom.  HubPages. Retrieved from   http://thebookmom.hubpages.com/hub/How-To-Help-Your-Kids-Set-and-Reach-Goals-A-Guide-With-Illustrations-and-Examples

Wolf, Jennifer.  (2015.  Help  your child set learning goals for the school year.  Aboutparenting.  Retrieved from http://singleparents.about.com/od/yourchildseducation/qt/settinggoals.htm

Dance takes self-discipline.

28. Sign both boys and girls up for dance lessons: The discipline of dance may point the way to academic success.

Dwyer, Liz. (2015).  Does dancing boost student achievement.  Good.  Retrieved from http://magazine.good.is/articles/does-dancing-boost-student-achievement

Using dancers’ discipline as leaping off point for academics.   (2014, May 21).  PBS New Hour.  Retrieved from

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/using-dancers-discipline-leaping-point-academics/

29. Understand that both child abuse and parental neglect negatively affect academic performance. 

Teachers are required by law to report possible signs of child abuse and neglect.  However, neighbors and acquaintances need to recognize the signs of child abuse and neglect and report it since child abuse can cause lasting, life-long damage. 

Child abuse and neglect – symptoms.  (2015).  Health  & Parenting.  WebMD.  Retrieved from http://www.webmd.com/parenting/tc/child-maltreatment-symptoms

How child abuse affects academic achievement.  (2015, April 13).  CASA Child Advocates of Montgomery County [Texas].  Retrieved from http://blog.casaspeaks4kids.com/how-child-abuse-affects-academic-achievement

Kendall-Tackett, K. A. and Eckerode, J. (1996, March).  The effects of neglect on academic achievement and disciplinary problems: A developmental perspective.  Child Abuse & Neglect.  [Abstract only].  Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8734546

30. Help your child with his or her organizational skills, starting in elementary school.

Five key skills for academic success. (2015).  Great Kids.  Great Schools.  Retrieved from http://www.greatschools.org/gk/articles/five-skills-for-academic-success/

Ford, Christopher.  (2013, June 25).  Organization as the key to academic success.  The New Yorker.  Retrieved from https://thenewyorkerblog.wordpress.com/2013/06/25/organization-as-the-key-to-academic-success/