How to Help Your Foster Child in School
How can Iyou help your foster child in school? Did you know that statistically foster children do not do well in school? Is that because of their background or because they are in the system? Or, perhaps because of the moves in foster care (the average is seven) the child doesn't get stability in an educational setting either.
If you want to help your foster child in school, you could make an impact on their life by giving them a love for learning that will go beyond your home. Earlier, I wrote a post on this subject regarding academics in foster children. Check that out here: https://impressingminds.com/how-can-i-help-my-foster-child-academically/
Ways to help your foster child in school would include the following:
First, communicate with the teacher regularly, preferably with email unless she says otherwise.
Attend all meetings related to your child. If you can't get away, phone in or videoconference.
Study with them and quiz them on materials that they are learning in a fun, game-like manner.
Help them organize their spaces - bookbag, desk at home, etc. So they know where their learning materials are and what is due. Remember the trapper keepers? They did a great job of this organization.
Give them plenty of sleep and a well-balanced diet.
Help them set their own goals to achieve. Help them learn to monitor these goals. Utilize an academic planner and go over this each day for a month. Let them begin to do thier planning after that.
Simultaneously, determine what learning style the child has - physical, oral, visual, logical, aural (hearning). Utilize this information to help the foster child with anything for which they are struggling in school. If they are a visual learner, find a video on the topic in science the child finds difficult. Watch two or three of these videos. Talk about the information and clarify anything that is not solidified in the child's mind.
Lastly, to help Your foster child with school, give study space, study schedule and concentration time for studying.
More tips to consider:
Additionally, assist them in developing a healthy mindset, one that says, "I can do this even when it's difficult!"
Don't forget physical exercise. Often they do not get enough in a school setting.
Go to the library to choose books of interest to the child. Open the door to what is available in a library. Talk to the librarian and see what study resources they have, books on the right level of the child, and online resouces to read books on Kindle or Hoopla or other book reading apps.
Read with the child each night - at bedtime or as a part of the bedtime routine.
In addition, let them build with Legos and Lincoln logs. K'Nex or basic blocks are great too.
Show them active listening skills by setting the example. Eye contact, head nodding, and asking clarification questions when they are explaining anything to you.
Finally, help Your foster child in school with online study skills at educational websites. Some may cost a bit each month, but the return on investment may be extrodinary. Search, "study sites for students in X grade". I would use a grade or two lower than the grade the child is in becaue these foster children are often behind in their education.
Don't forget that creating a connection with the child is the key to penetrating a block in education at times. If a child thinks he can't do school well, he is right. Therefore, it is our job to change this thinking error and assist them with the tools to accomplish this statistic against children in our area. Don't focus on statistics and bias, focus on the child.
Choose the best options to implement
Honestly, to help your foster chilld in school, you certainly don't have to implement all of these strategies to be effective, but if you choose a few each month to add, you could change the trajectory of the child's future path.
What is your favorite suggestion from the list? Let me know in the comments.
Sincerely Love you, Kriten