Using Personal Experience To Ignite Interest In Your Child’s Studies

Each new school year is a fresh start.  

I remember how it used to feel, starting a brand new notebook for each subject, free of doodles or errors.  Just a stack of pristine paper pages waiting for all the brilliant ideas that would surely find their way from head to paper.  

But, I think by the second week of September I was already daydreaming about snow days.

Perhaps you've noticed that your child's level of interest and focus is somewhat lackluster as we start October. Perhaps you are noticing an academic attitude of boredom, or even hostility.  

It's easy to forget that we too questioned the relevance of algebra to our lives; that it was uncool to try for good pronunciation in our language classes; that a history book was an outrageous 10 extra pounds in one's backpack.

The best teachers understand that true learning is an interactive process.  The best parents understand this too.  As a parent, there are ways to help your child take their classroom learning a step further.

Helping your child start a blog, preferably one that is password protected and only open to family members or friends, is a wonderful way to encourage creative writing, photography, the use of graphs / charts, all around a topic he or she is passionate about.  

Using cooking is a fun way to build confidence in working with fractions, and also to examine how chemistry is not only relevant, but fascinating and useful.

It is perhaps through personal relationships that we learn and grow the most. Hosting an International Student is an amazing way to expose your son or daughter to another point of view, language, and culture.  The 45 minutes of Spanish class each day take on a great deal of meaning when your child can rush home and share what she learned with your student from Ecuador.

Hands on, interactive, experiential learning starts in the home.  This old Chinese proverb says it so well: "Tell me and I'll forget.  Show me and I may remember. Involve me and I will understand."  

Sheila Dobbyn runs her own Host Family Placement Services company for International Students.  She is currently looking for families and individuals to host students attending the A.C.E Language Institute at the University of Rhode Island.  Students range in age from 18-25.  Hosts provide a private room, meals and English conversation practice, and receive $800 a month.

For more information, please contact Sheila at (401) 536-3092 or SheilaDobbyn@gmail.com.

Sheila's husband, Roger Mark, is a private tutor who works with students ages 5 to 18+ on a variety of subject matters.  He can be reached at RogerMarkJr@yahoo.com.