How to Teach Kids to Stay in School

Students who remain in school and complete high school and beyond are given expectations that there is no other choice but to finish school. This is similar to the theory that if the word divorce is never uttered or allowed to enter your realm of thought you force your marriage to work through the problems and stay together.

It is important that the family embraces education and values the school and the teachers. Homework is important, schoolwork is important, and education is important. We instill these values into our kids by our modeling, our words, and our actions.

Show your child that homework is expected to be done before other events such as sports, extra curricular activities, or playing. By modeling that this is expecting and verbalizing these thoughts to your kids you are showing them what is a priority.

There are easy discussion that you can start even with toddler. Our toddler knows the high school where he will graduate, when we pass by the building we point it out and say that is where you will go to high school or someday you will graduate from that school. In his mind even from a young age high school is not optional it is requirement and something he will do.

We visit colleges and talk about where we went to college. We also have an awesome friend that visits many campuses every year and frequently send the boys t shirts from those colleges. It gets us talking about college and the expectation that they will go. whether or not they actually go to college will eventually be a discussion but right now I want them reaching for the stars and not for bags at the local big box store.

We also attend some of the college sporting events. We do have a sporting rule in our house that we never boo for college teams. We are Blackhawk fans so booing of Detroit is acceptable but we never boo the other team in college games. My husband created this rule and it is one of my favorites. We talk about why kids in college play sports, we talk about scholarships, playing a game at a higher level, and also that most of the guy (and girls) are student athletes and they are also working hard to get an education.

Our kids know high school student s in our area that are involved in sports, activities, and academics in the local high school. Whether it is their babysitter, the lifeguards from the pool, or the kids who mows the lawn make sure our kids have positive older role models. These kids are always willing to share the fun things they do at their school with our younger ones. it gets our kids excited about attending high school someday.

When you are getting to the age where the kids may or may not make it to school if they aren't supervised it is time to make sure you continue to take them to school. Make sure they make it into the building, onto the school bus, and into class. Make sure there are consequences for missing school. Make sure these consequence fit the crime and are an actual punishment. The Breakfast Club has almost the right idea with the Saturday detention. My younger sister served many Saturday detention in her life for being late to school unfortunately at some point she just got used to going and it became the normal thing to do.

Being actively engaged in your child's school and communicating with their teachers will keep you aware of how they are doing and keep them on the correct path. It shows and models that you care about school and how they are doing in school. Be involved in their progress, homework, and activities. This doesn't mean you need to volunteer and be in the school all the time. This does means know what is going on, don't miss conferences or concerts. Be aware of deadlines. Some school have great webpages, Facebook pages, twitter accounts, email chains, find way to keep the lines of communication open. I always send the teacher a friendly nice to meet you email at the beginning of the year. they now have my email address in their computer and can feel free to email me good or bad anytime.

Don't give up on your kids, keep in mind that even when they struggle they need guidance and support to lead them through. If they need additional academic support find a way to make it happen. If they need emotional support, help them. Make sure that your child sees the good in their accomplishment and not just their failures. Keep a positive attitude and work with them, seek out the resources to help them, contact the school, and don't be afraid to say that you need help. it takes a village to raise kids, as a teacher I see the struggle of students daily and most teacher are willing to go the extra mile to help out if you just ask.