According to researchers Esther Ho Sui-Chu and J. Douglas Willms (1996) effective parental involvement doesn't have to be time consuming or a huge volunteer commitment. In fact, their results suggest that the best way for parents to boost academic achievement is to simply talk about school-related activities at home.
This is good news for busy families everywhere. Every parent, regardless of his or her situation, can ask about assignments, extra-curricular activities, homework and course selections. The key is to make discussions routine.
Other routines can help students succeed too.
Make space. Set up a place solely for school work. It can be a card table or a desk in the child’s room. This space should be free from distractions such as TV and video games to reinforce the idea that work time is important.
Make time. A homework and chore chart will help middle school children learn the time management skills they’ll need for the rest of their lives. Allow the child to help set times for completing tasks plus a regular time when homework will be done each day. Write it on a calendar and post it.
Make suggestions. Ask your child daily about what he or she intends to do to complete assignments. Use questions to coach her while allowing her to make her own plans. Also ask her about how she thinks she performed on tasks, helping her to identify her own strengths and weaknesses and get used to self-evaluation.