Special Tips for Learning Specific Subjects

 

Reading

• Read to your child often, not just from children's books but from "regular" books and magazines as well. Encourage them to read too!
• Write messages on a large board.
• Acquaint your child with the public library. Show how it works and how much fun it can be!

Math

• Play a lot of number games like Bingo, Dominoes, and other board games. They're a fun way to help your chid learn numbers.
• Give your child practical experience using mathematics at home. Ask for help when you're baking. Talk about pints or quarts of milk. Refer to sizes of all kinds of things around the house. In other words, make math a living, practical experience-something that can be part of everyday life.

Science

• Make sure you teach your child all rules of safety in the handling of electrical and chemical material.
• Subscribe to a child's scientific magazine.
• Encourage your child to be a collector. Set aside a space for the collection even if it's just a drawer or a shoe box in which to collect stamps, leaves, shells, rocks, etc.
• Work with your child on special home projects-like making a bird house or preparing a vegetable garden.

Creative Arts

•  Let your child make up some songs. A toy drum can be a good way to begin to learn the rudiments of rhythm and tone.
• Keep ample supply of paper, crayons, water colors, and wood scraps on hand. Provide a place to to use these things.
• Post the best work on a bulletin board. Show it off. Be proud of it!
• Ask your child to make up stories and to tell them to you. Perhaps suggest that they be illustrated and "published" as gifts to grandparents and friends.

Social Studies

• It's really helpful for children to have lots of social studies research material like maps, a dictionary, an atlas, and an almanac.
• Map puzzles are great for "learning while you play." The different configurations help children learn the shapes of states, countries and continents.
• Take your child to the airport, courthouse, museums, and newspaper. The more they see, the more they learn.
• On trips, make sure your child has notebook and pencil for jotting down things they see and learn.

This is not a list of all the possible tips, but this should give you some food for thought, some ideas that can get you thinking about ways to help your child learn.