Benefits of Reading and Writing with Your Child

Children in a  lot of cultures  are taught at a very young age to start learning.  Parents of these children take the effort in a child’s formative years to have their child learn as much as possible in order to get a head start in life.  Prior to this, there were no conclusive studies to support the idea of early learning at home and student success.

Recently, at The University of Washington in a long term study was done of children that read and write at home.  The reading and writing was done at home for either fun or assignments.  The study indicated that at home literacy activities have already been associated with higher test scores and tools for lifetime success.  The study also revealed that this also  translated to achievement outside the classroom later in life.

People who were good students tend to become better employees by being punctual and doing their best work.   All the skills that you acquired to be a good student i.e. at home reading and writing activities, also made you a good employee.  If you ensure that your child is engaged in academics from grades one through third, they will grow up to become great employees.

Data collected by Virginia Beringer, UW emeritus professor of education, conducted a five year longitudinal study of academic performance in grades one through seven.  A questionnaire was sent home to parents asking how they helped their children with their reading and writing.  The study was published in the Journal of Educational and Psychological Consultation, where  two groups of students in public elementary school were followed from first to fifth grade and the other group from third to seventh grade.  They were followed for their activities they did at home and a questionnaire was filled out regularly by their parents.

About 85 percent of these students were white or Asian American and nearly three-fourths of the students’ parents had a bachelor’s or advanced degree.  The study indicated for a collaborative effort between parents and teachers further enhanced the learning experience at home for these students.  The take away here is that it doesn’t matter what the socioeconomic status of the family is, a parent’s involvement in the academic success of their child could lead to a lifetime of success and that there are great benefits to doing reading and writing activities outside the school environment.

How can teachers play a part in all this? Teachers can start by asking parents about how they support their child’s learning at home.  They can then assist and advise parents so as to bolster learning.  Teachers can also advise parents as to when to help their child and when to hold back so their child can become independent and start the process for themselves.

For further information or to read the study visit the site below: