Helping children to be active learners
Parental involvement is crucial to children’s interest in active learning. As one parent we interviewed declared, “It’s the parent and teacher working together who nourish the whole child.” Not surprisingly, the connection that children perceive between themselves and their parents promotes their evolution as independent learners. Our videos explore this connection and encourage parents to take an active role in the developmental process of education.
A little goes a long way. For example, captioning a child’s pictures, reading a recipe together or playing games with the magnetized letters on a refrigerator door all promote the process of learning to read and write. Observing your child’s “pretend play” and then asking her to describe, for example, her building-block castle or even diving in and collaborating on a new construction will go a long way towards reinforcing the valuable benefits of imaginative thought.
Above all, we encourage you to show appreciation for your children’s ideas and opinions by encouraging them to articulate what they are thinking. Raising questions and then listening is the key. For children, a parent’s interest is the ultimate sign of importance. If YOU think what they say and do matters, they will too.
Our videos value children — what they say, how they learn and how they grow. And we know that you do, as well — because by visiting our site you are exploring ways to help your children make education a part of who they are.
In offering approaches that individualize education so that learning is ongoing in the home as well as the school, we are proposing a partnership between parents and teachers. Promoting that partnership in order to help children become active, confident learners is at the center of The Learning Child Series
Click here to see a clip for parents »
