How Involved Are You With Your Child’s Education?

Just curious. Like, what do you do to get involved with your child’s education, and how do you help them?
How seriously do you take it? (I think this question is mainly for American’s but everyones welcome to answer…) I’m just wondering because it seems like most American’s don’t take their children’s education very seriously these days.
P.S. I am American.

A:                   very involved in elementary school and backed off in middle school , I still check his homework and talk to his teachers but I let him be responsible for his work and projects being done on time, first year he had horrible grades and I thought I was wrong but this year all A’s and B’s,and he is so proud of himself,I am too.

A:                I’m going to be a mom and I’ll interfere if the child asks me for help. Otherwise their education is their business. Same as my 4yo friend’s daughter (we live together and I get a parenting role) – if she asks me I help her, if not, I don’t mess with her work

A:               In the beginning I volunteered with the PTA & the classroom. But as they got older the PTA became too much for me to do along with work and the kids other activities. So I kept up with volunteering in the classroom until they stopped wanting/needing me. Now, sometimes, I will pick them up from school to have lunch with them. For my 4th grader I can have lunch in school with her and she does not get embaressed. My 5th grader is in his first year of middle school and simply does not want me there.
I always felt that being at their school not only helped me take a glimpse of their life outside of the home but they always loved having me there. I didn’t interfere with them, as I had my own assignment from the teacher but it gave me the opportunity to peak into how they interacted with the other kids and how well they actally did thier work, as well as see how the teacher was with the kids (which came in handy one year).
The other thing I have always done to be involved with their education was make sure the teachers were aware that they could contact me.
The point is because my kids know that I am involved and I am in contact with their teachers I feel it encourages them to do their best more than if I was not involved.
I’m always available to “help” (not “do”) with their homework.
Yes, I take my kids education very seriously. But, there are a lot of things I simply do not agree with the public school system in general and some specific things with how they handle things in school. So, at times when an issue arises that I do not agree with then I will step in and do what is necessary. If I could home school I would. But, at this point that option is not doable for me. Fortunately, my children are doing very well in school. I’m a little concerned about my daughter next year in middle school. At that time, if the need arises I will be able to homeschool her. I just cannot right now. For my son, I’ll give him the choice. He thrives in school where he can see his friend, etc. and he takes his grades very seriously. I think being in sports helps to motivate him (and her) as well. He knows if he doesn’t do his best in school he will not be allowed to play sports.
Even though, I feel education is important I also feel that there are some things worth missing school over. For example, the recent inauguration. My daughter in elementary school had the opportunity to watch in school. My son in middle school he did not for that particular class. So, I pulled him out for about an hour so he could watch it at home. Then I took him back to school. Another example, one of their favorite authors (The author of Eragon) was coming to a bookstore about 2 hours away from us. I took them out of school for the whole day so we could be there. If I feel it’s important enough they will miss school. School and education is not your whole life.
It’s also not just about education, there is social issues as well. Parents need to know who their kids are hanging out with in school as well as out of school. I keep a close eye on that as well especially, since I am entering middle school years.
I feel that parents, need to keep a close eye on their education as well as their social life. We need to be involved in their life period

A:                  My son is 5, therefore in year one. I sit every night with him to help him with his reading, spellings etc. I also do him simple sums to help with his maths. He also has a laptop to help him to gain computer skills which are required at school. I am in the UK BTW

A:                 We make sure to sit down every night for homework.
And when she has spelling tests and maths tests, we do are best to make sure we know all of them. Her school also has days where they ask two parents, one from two children, to come in and be a helper to the teacher.

A:               Very involved.
PTA, volunteering, and enrichment.
Up until recently, I have never had to sit down and do homework with them, but my 6th grade daughter was diagnosed last year with Stargardt’s disease, and her vision has deteriorated very rapidly, she is way beyond legally blind. Although she never asks for assistance, I read her assignments out loud to her every evening, or convert assignments to 60 font so she can actually see them. I quiz her on what I’ve read to her, so that we both know that I am not doing her work for her. She, besides being in the visually impaired program at school (with hardcore Braille and independent living skills daily) is also in G.A.T.E. classes, so you can imagine how long we are doing homework every evening.
With my son, 4th grade, he is in the G.A.T.E program as well… I participate in his education by keeping in regular contact with his teacher. Oh, I recently helped him, by emailing a survey about Sasquatch to all my friends for his science project. But he will have to go through them himself, and count the statistics.
I take my children’s educations very seriously, but what’s nice is that they do as well!
~EDIT~ wow, is there an angry teen who thinks that parents shouldn’t be involved in their children’s “business” who is giving all the thumb’s downs?

A:                Very involved. We homeschool, so DH and I are the primary teachers for both of our children. (And I am a certified teacher, so don’t even think that I might not be qualified).

A:                    I don’t entirely agree with you on that when it comes to where I live. Most parents in our area care deeply about their children’s education. Perhaps it’s different in your part of the country, though.
My son is 4, and I have taken his education very seriously since before he was born. That’s when education begins, after all. Now, one may think that means I sat him down at 2 months old and made him do drills with flash cards – quite the contrary. Rather, I provided a nurturing, enriching environment from the start. My husband and I read often, didn’t rely on electronic babysitters, and stayed engaged with our son.
Now that he’s 4 and attending preschool for three half days per week, I volunteer at his school at least twice per week. It not only gives me an opportunity to give back to those who are helping us educate our son, but it helps me to stay involved in what he’s learning. At home, we reinforce the skills he learns at preschool as well as build on them. We work on reading skills, math (mostly addition and subtraction, graphing, money, and telling time), geography and history, music, art, and science. For example, my son’s class is currently learning about dinosaurs and volcanoes. We’re in the process of building a working volcano at home. My son is having quite a bit of fun with it while learning at the same time. We also often let him take the lead when it comes to what he wants to learn. For instance, he found a book about the presidents last year, and wanted to learn about them. He now can name and identify most of the US presidents. In short, we keep him interested and enthusiastic about learning while also expecting him to work to his full potential.
Parents need to remember that a child’s education is not confined to the hours of 8 – 3, Monday through Friday. Furthermore, education begins well before a child starts preschool or kindergarten. Parents are a child’s first and foremost educators, and cannot rely on a stranger to teach their children everything they need to know.

A:                    I don’t think all parents, at least not my parents. My parents didn’t go to college so they started me on learning things pretty much when I was born so that I could go to college. They’d sit me down and we’d read, do homework, and study every night even though they both worked long shifts that’s what they did for me and now I’m at college doing quite well. I thank them for it everyday because without them, no way would I be here right now. And when I have kids, I’ll be doing the same thing.

A:                     Very seriously, and very involved.
It is our foremost financial consideration and my first priority as far as time

A:                  My daughter is only in Kindergarten but I have always sat down with her to do her homework and read her words- she is learning to read. I thought that if I started at the very beginning that she would see that school is important.
So, I take her education very seriously.

A:                we are very involved, both of my kids are ahead of the peers.
We incorporate learning into alot of things even if they think were just playing a fun game.
what I see is certain people NOT taking an intrest in their childs education in certain areas of the country in poorer areas and it’s sad cause those kids need the education to pull themselves up !

A:                  we volunteer in the kindergarten classroom (the older kids’ teachers don’t take volunteers); chaperone the occasional field trip; run a weekly math morning before school for fourth graders (next year we’ll run it for two different grades); help run math nights that meet once a year per grade; and volunteer for various pta things
we also read to our children every night and make sure they read to themselves; talk about current events, math, science, etc; play lots of games that encourage various thinking skills; encourage journal- and letter-writing; supervise to make sure homework is completed and understood; and keep in touch with teachers to see how the year is progressing.

A:                My husband and I are very involved.
We have one in 10th, one in 5th and the youngest in 3rd. Every morning as we are preparing and eating breakfast we quiz the youngest two on their spelling words for the week and have them help prepare meals reading the directions to help them with that. I keep in constant contact with their teachers over homework, class performance, upcoming activities, tests etc. When they get home at 3:15 we sit down then and get all of the homework done as well as before bed read together. I volunteer in their classes at least once a week and make sure we attend the Math/AR nights at school with them. We also make sure that during the week they all get a good nights sleep and a good breakfast before heading out.
We do not expect them to be perfect but we expect them to do their best. If we are not willing to set aside a couple of hours of our day to help them then it is unfair to expect them to care when they see you don’t. Here all of the parents are ready to blame the teachers for their child doing poorly when in fact the teachers can only do so much the rest is up to the parent and child.

A:                  I currently cyber-school my children because I feel that the local public school was not doing them justice. Our second eldest was being socially isolated and bullied to the point that he was intentionally failing to relieve himself of these delinquents (he went from straight A’s to D’s and F’s in a matter of a month). The school district had also held back our youngest (slammed him in pre-first (this class was recently added to our school, it’s in between kindergarten and first) because kindergarten was not stimulating enough to hold his attention, what they were teaching him there he had previously learned), when he took the placement test for Agora (their cyber-school) he was placed in his appropriate grade.

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