Summer offers parents a unique opportunity to provide educational growth or setbacks. In my research, most parents have never even heard that there is a summer reading loss unless they heard it from their child's teacher or school administration. I hope to end that by sharing it, talking about it, providing resources, tips, tools, and workshops for parents to feel encouraged and empowered.
I truly believe that God gave PARENTS the prime responsibility of educating their children. You are the disciplinarian, the person responsible for teaching them kindness, self-control, and life skills, the one person to whom they look to - from day one - for guidance. That does not change - even if you send your children to public school!
The first post on this topic I shared that admitting this responsibility was given by God was the first step to becoming your child's greatest educational asset. The next question to answer is how?
Be willing to learn from others.
You know your child best, no one can argue that, but there are experts in the field of education who have experience with implementing best practices while providing individualized instruction. Find those people and learn from them. Ask them questions and implement strategies that will work best for your situation and your unique learner. It is a mistake to go through life thinking that you are the smartest person in the room. If there is anything that I've learned as a teacher it is that there is always someone who is better than me at classroom management, who knows more about the content than I do, who has more experience, more expertise, more strategies up their sleeve... and when I go into a classroom with the intention of learning - rather than judging - I'm always amazed the difference it makes to my own teaching.
Part of being a teacher is also being in a constant state of learning. Teaching is learning.
Good teachers are diagnostic teachers who know the content so well, and their students so well, that they are adaptive, creative, and implement best strategies based on what they know about the concept and what they know about who they're teaching. To know something or someone at that level requires study, observation, and patience - which is the essence of learning.
So don't be afraid to learn from others, but also study the content and your child too. Don't be afraid to learn from them and dive deeper into a concept because the world is endlessly vast, because it's Creator is endlessly wise and all-knowing.
All in all, it is important to recognize two things:
It is your God-given job to ensure your child knows about God and HIS creation, word, and works.
It is vitally important to be in a constant state of learning yourself. Learn from others, learn the content, know your student(s).
Those two things in and of themself will make you an awesome educator!
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