REVISE, REVISE, REVISE!
Give your child a most important gift: The chance to revise their reading, writing, and Mathematics skills.
Do not take for granted that the reading, writing, and Mathematics skills your child learnt yesterday, a few minutes ago, or last week, are remembered.
Always revise reading, writing, and Mathematics ideas and skills until your child can recall and use them effortlessly and automatically – then coach the next new reading, writing, and Mathematics idea or skill.
Don’t be surprised if you end up re-teaching a reading, writing, or mathematics skill or fact that you thought they knew. Think about this.
Your child may forget reading, writing, and mathematics skills and ideas you teach them because…
- You have not yet found the right way to explain a mathematics, writing or reading idea or skill so they understand and remember it, or
- The child believes they cannot remember a mathematics skill or reading or spelling word, so easily forgets, or most importantly,
- Another more basic mathematics, reading, or writing skill or idea needs to be taught before they can understand the one being taught.
Here are some useful tips to help you when coaching your child reading, writing, and Mathematics skills.
- Stay patient with your child. Prompting them is often enough for them to remember what you have already taught them, if not, re-teach the reading, writing, and Mathematics idea or skill again until they can remember.
- Believe that if your child does not understand a reading, writing, or Mathematics idea or skill, it is because you have not coached it well enough yet. Explain this to your child so they stop blaming themselves for not remembering the reading, writing, and Mathematics skills being taught.
- As you revise old reading, writing, and Mathematics skills mention how it takes time and practice to create new reading, writing, and Mathematics memory pathways.
- Use the senses when coaching. The more interactively they learn new reading, writing, and Mathematics skills, the easier and quicker they create long-lasting new memories.
Your child can….
- Hear your explanations and also tell you what they know about that reading, writing, and Mathematics skill or idea.
- See how to do the reading, writing, and Mathematics skill.
- Do something to understand the reading, writing, and Mathematics skill better. Especially if you are teaching basic mathematics skills, or phonics skills, make sure that your child can move equipment around, or play a game.
- Teach someone else the new reading, writing, and Mathematics skills or ideas. Students who become a reading tutor for another child of slightly lower skill level can improve their reading more than the student they are tutoring.
- Deeply believe that your child will remember the new reading, writing, and Mathematics skills over time.
- Re-teach any reading, writing, and Mathematics information they are not remembering, calmly and in a matter-of-fact manner.
- Tell them that forgetting is something we all do when learning new reading, writing, and Mathematics skills.
- Look to yourself and your coaching strategies. Do not blame the child. Ask yourself, “What can I do to make the coaching easier for my child?”
You can be the best learning resource for your child – you just have to learn how.
Good luck and get in contact with me if you have any questions.