How to help children do better in school

• Children who eat a healthy diet and get regular exercise can concentrate better during the school day. It is important that your child eats a balanced diet with plenty of fruits and vegetables, and has opportunities to exercise every day through a sports team, fun activity, or playtime outside.
• Put specific times on your calendar each week when you will spend time with your children. During that time, focus your love and attention on your child.
• Use car time to talk with your children. There's no phone or television to interfere. No one can get up and leave. And children know they really have your ear.
• Look for things to do together as a family. Get everyone involved in choosing how to spend your time together.
• Try relaxing your family's bedtime rules once a week on the weekends. Let your children know that they can stay up as late as they want, as long as they are reading in bed. 
• Help your child start a home library; paperback books are fine. Encourage your child to swap books with friends. Check used book stores. Give books as gifts.  Want your children to be good readers? Let them see you read.
• Help children make a "book" about themselves, with their own illustrations and wording. "A book about me" is a great way to help your child see themselves as "somebody."
• Constantly look for ways to tell your children what you like about them, and that you love them. There is no age limit on this. "When I do something well, no one ever remembers. When I do something wrong, no one ever forgets." Those words were written by a high school dropout. 
• Let children overhear you praising them to others.
• For better discipline, speak quietly. If you speak in a normal tone of voice, even when you're angry, you'll help your child see how to handle anger appropriately. And if you don't scream at your kids, they're less likely to scream at each other or at you. 
• Try looking over children's study materials and making up a sample quiz as they study for upcoming tests. 
• Understand that a report card is just one small measure of your child. A child with poor grades still has plenty of strengths. Positive action: find something to praise. Focus on how to improve. 
• Be aware that your attitudes about school affect your child. If you hated math, be careful not to prejudice your child.
• In addition to the three R's, children need the four A's: Attention, Appreciation, Affection, and Acceptance. 
• Encourage children to read biographies about successful people. As children learn about the traits that made others successful, they are often motivated to adopt those same success patterns in their own lives. 
• Praise children constantly. 
• Ask  children to collect things. Whether they collect rocks, shells, leaves, or bugs is not important. By collecting, children are learning new ways to make sense of their world. 
• Talk about geography in terms children can understand: go through your house and talk about where things came from. A calculator may have come from Taiwan. Talk about where the wheat for your bread came from.
• Try playing "Beat the clock" with your child during homework time. Look over the assignment and figure out about how long it should take to complete it. Allow a little extra time and set a timer for that many minutes. No prizes are needed. There is great satisfaction in getting the work done on time.

Here are tips to make homework time easier for you and your child:

• Have a regular place for your child to do homework. Use a desk or table in a quiet room. Be sure there's plenty of light.
• Find a regular time for homework. You may want to make a rule: "No television until homework is finished."
• During homework time, turn off the TV.
• Help your children plan how they will use their time.
• Set a good example. While your child is doing homework, spend some time reading or working yourself. Then when homework is done, you can both talk about how much you've accomplished.
• Look over your child's homework every day. Start at an early age and keep it up as long as you can. Praise good work. Your interest will encourage good work.

Help your child learn at home by sharing activities together, singing, talking, and telling stories. Visit educational places such as museums, the zoo, the park, or a historical monument. Find out what your child's interests are, and look for activities and books that are connected to that interest.

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