School at Home: Parents, Do You Know Your Child is Learning?

On a recent phone call with Patrice Bain, the teacher and author of Powerful Teaching, she explained how the research that evolved into her first book took place in her classroom. Powerful Teaching, is one of the only education books based on research performed in an actual classroom. On our call, one thing Patrice said struck me. She told me the story of when she was first approached by the researcher and author, Mark McDaniel (one of my favorite books, and a must read, is Make It Stick, The Science of Successful Learning), about conducting a study in her classroom. She said she agreed to the project immediately because, "I knew my students were learning in my classroom and I wanted to know why."

Like Patrice, I am a veteran schoolteacher. I take great pride in knowing that my students are learning and not just getting through their school work. Now that we are no longer in classrooms I want parents to be just as confident as Patrice and I, to be certain that your child is learning while engaged in school at home.

As I suggested in a recent post, doing school at home can quickly devolve into getting through a daily to do list. Although it's human nature and feels good to accomplish something and cross an item off our list, what is most important is to gain any insight into or evidence of a child's learning (or what might be confusing them). Your child may be getting through the schoolwork assigned to them but how can you assess whether or not they are learning?

There are many ways Organized Binder can help your child succeed while engaged in school at home. Our Table of Contents can curate the school work that is piling up into coherent unit packets - helping ground your child and reduce the stress of a messy learning environment (or dining room table). Organized Binder also provides goal setting with daily action items to help your child actually reach their goals, creating a daily and weekly plan, building a toolkit, among many more tools.

Above all we can help you know if your student is learning. With Organized Binder your child will spend a few minutes before and after their school day writing to you about what they are learning. This is called Retrieval Practice and it is what empowered Patrice Bain's students to be successful learners - and it can do the same for your child. This simple daily task provides a beginning and concluding rhythm to the school day and provides you with critical insight to your child's learning process.

INVEST IN YOUR CHILD'S LEARNING PROCESS:

To bring the structure to help your child thrive while doing school at home and to be confident that your student is learning invest in Organized Binder today!