As a parent, no doubt, you want your child to acquire a good education, but you also want them to love learning. Unfortunately, this can be challenging because learning requires a great deal of effort and discipline. So, what can you do to lay the best foundation for your kid when it comes to their education? Here are some great tips to encourage your child to love learning.

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TIP #1 to Encourage Your Child to Love Learning:

Develop a Reading Culture

One of the best ways to help your child to love learning is to encourage them to read. Reading enhances a person’s ability to grasp new concepts in a wide variety of subjects. Moreover, reading makes your kid a better communicator. A child who reads finds it easier to spell out words, and they know why understanding phonics is important. They are also unlikely to have significant problems in keeping up with the rest of the class.

You can encourage your child to read by having plenty of reading material at home. Storybooks, novels, magazines, and newspapers are all great when inculcating a reading culture. Additionally, consider creating a family reading routine, where everybody spends at least twenty minutes reading a book every day. This will impress on your child the importance of reading. With time, they will become better learners as well.

Keep in mind that if your child doesn’t love reading, but loves you to read out loud to them, there is nothing wrong with your 20 minutes a day spent reading classics to them. This encourages the love of great literature which often springboards into questions about history, geography, morality, politics, and culture!

TIP #2:

Let Your Child Take Control of Their Learning

Learning can be challenging, which makes it easy for someone to give up on it. A key reason why a child may hate learning is feeling as if every aspect of the process is under someone else’s control. Feeling ignored when it comes to education often fosters a negative attitude towards it, and this is the last thing you want your kid to have.

Rather than raise a child who is frustrated with learning, why not let them take the lead in their education? For instance, let them choose whichever project they want to work on, and then help them do their best. You could also allow them to choose an extracurricular activity they like and support them as much as you can.

You can also teach a positive attitude towards learning in your child by focusing on their interests. If your kid loves cars, find a lot of age-appropriate material on how cars work. Buy him car toys and take him to any car events in your local area. Ask him questions about cars too to know his depth of understanding of the subject. By so doing, your child will love reading in general, and he will ultimately become a better learner.

A pitfall that many parents encounter when it comes to encouraging their kids to learn is focusing on performance rather than learning. If a child comes home with a math test, do not start by asking them what grade they got. Pay more attention to what they learned at school that day, and they will learn to prioritize learning over the results of a test.

Everyone has different learning styles. Some kids learn best by listening, others by doing, and others by seeing. Some learn through a variety of styles. As a parent, take some time to understand your child’s learning style. This will help you know how best to assist them in their studies and to improve their learning.

TIP #3:

Encourage Open Communication

Another way to foster the love of learning in your child is to encourage open communication. A child who feels that their ideas are appreciated and respected is less likely to shy away from speaking their mind, thus giving you and the teacher a chance to shape their thoughts and promote learning.

When your child makes a suggestion, or brings a concern to you, lend them a listening ear. Validate their feelings, thoughts, and ideas, even when you disagree with them. This will give them a boost in confidence that is invaluable in creating an avid learner.

TIP #4:

Make Learning Fun

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Think about all the things you love to do. Do you love them because it feels like work? Or do you love it because it is fun and exciting for you? If you want your kid to be enthusiastic about learning, purpose to make it fun. You can do this by engaging your kids in learning games. They are excellent for encouraging learning because kids want to get high scores or extra points, and nothing can beat this kind of motivation.

Moreover, games foster team spirit, which is an important life skill. You can also introduce new words and concepts through games, and kids are more likely to remember them.

Additional ideas in keeping your kids engaged in learning include using movies to help teach concepts, going on field trips, travel, baking, cooking, and plenty of hands on activities.

TIP #5 in Helping Your Children to Love Learning:

Get Involved in Your Child’s Learning

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There is hardly a better way to impress on your kids the importance of education than getting involved in their learning. If you are consistently enquiring about their days in school or helping them with their homework, they will soon start treating learning as a priority and consequently get better at it.

You can also show a keen interest in your kid’s education by interacting with their teachers and volunteering for various school events. If you notice your child struggling with a particular subject, raise the issue with the concerned teacher. A change in your child’s behavior also warrants a conversation with the teacher.

It would be best if you also prioritized any parental responsibilities at school. Attend parent-teacher conferences as much as possible. If kids need parental help with a school project, be sure to help. Doing this impresses on your kid that you value their education.

Consider also helping your kid stay organized. Arrange their supplies for them, and keep a planner to help them remember their assignments. Being organized helps your child feel less overwhelmed with schoolwork. This, in turn, makes it easier for them to focus on learning rather than worrying about where they put their pencil or book.

It would help if you also celebrated each of your kid’s achievements. Try to use positive reinforcement as a tool in helping your children become better learners. Remember, kids learn best when they feel confident in their abilities and skills.

TIP #6:

Consider Homeschooling Your Child

Traditional schooling is not an ideal learning environment for every child. If you are concerned that your child is hating learning in their present circumstances, consider homeschooling. Yes, you can work and homeschool. Yes, you can homeschool in difficult circumstances. Additionally, my own children have thrived and learned with different learning styles, different circumstances, and they continue to love to learn all the days of their lives!

Conclusion

As a parent, you play a crucial role in enabling your kids to become great learners. As overwhelming as that may sound, it is not that difficult. The critical thing is to inspire your kids to love learning, and you will have sparked their interest in education. Lucky for you, you have numerous tools at your disposal to help you with the task. Why not start with the steps explained in this post? Rest assured, they will go a long way in helping you inspire your child to learn.