As our last two posts were about homework, I thought it would be helpful to share some useful hacks that can help improve your child's completion of homework, especially in reading and writing.
Top Reading Hacks To Improve Your Child's Literacy Skills
- Read Alone
I do encourage group reading where necessary, but if it is for study or homework, it is not essential.
If they need to complete comprehension homework, the best way to be able to retain the information is when they are in a quiet space with no background noise or other distractions.
Make sure your child is on their own, so they can concentrate on the task at hand.
- Read In Print Where Possible
In recent studies, it is proven that reading in print develops your comprehension and retention skills.
So if you can, especially for homework. Try to get your child to read in print where possible. Even having a bookshelf full of books exposed to your child daily, can encourage them psychologically to read a book, because they are always exposed to books.
-Highlight and Underline
I have 'highlighted' this point before, but it is very important when we are reading, we must highlight key information.
Whether it is parts that we do not understand, underlining keywords, words we need to find the meaning of, or key terminology from a subject.
-Read Aloud or Mouth Along
This may be annoying when you see others whispering or reading aloud when they are checking an email or essay, but studies show reading aloud increases concentration and focus.
So, encourage your child to do this when reading an extract, book, or a written essay.
- Re-read For Understanding
Sometimes your child might think they are on a time limit when they read and they never think to re-read for clarity.
Encourage them to do so and remind them that they should try to understand before they move on to the next task.
-Take Notes
Not only can they underline and highlight key parts in their book or extract. But it is also important to add notes so they get clarity in why they have highlighted that example in the first place.
For example, if it is to find a meaning of a word, underline and write the definition of the word next to the underlined example.
- Avoid Reading In Bed
It's good to feel relaxed when your child is reading but you don't want them to be so relaxed that they end up falling asleep and miss on good some valuable study time.
So make sure they are seated next to a sturdy table, so even if they are tired, they are more likely to stay awake.
Top Writing Hacks That Can Improve Your Child's Literacy Skills
- Use The Thesaurus
Don't feel you are dumbing your child down by using an electronic thesaurus when they want to find more ambitious synonyms.
As long as they jot it down into a word bank and reuse it for another occasion, that is a great way to increase their vocabulary.
- Get Grammarly
When they have completed a written essay, Grammarly is a great way for your child to quickly check their basic Grammar and see if their delivery is suitable.
You can get the free version where it would check the basic grammar, or you can pay for the more detailed check which includes punctuation, tense, word choice, and other grammar features.
- Monitor Punctuation
Double-check if their commas and full stops are in the right place because they can get a different tone depending on how it is structured in the sentence, and if it is even accurate at all!
- Use Metaphors
Metaphors can help expand your reader's imagination by making your writing less literal and more figurative.
For example,
Literal - I went to an enchanted forest
Figurative - I entered into an enchanted evergreen paradise
- Use Amazing Adjectives but not too many
Yes, it is great to use ambitious adjectives, but sometimes, it is also good to keep it simple where necessary.
Especially when you are trying to explain the narration in certain parts of the story. When you want to make it more descriptive that's where adjectives can come in handy.
But everything in moderation.
- Learn to distinguish, 'Me', 'Myself' and 'I'.
You must try not to mix these up.
For example,
Use “I” as the subject: I bought you a gift.
Use “me” as an object: You bought me a gift.
Use “myself” as a reflective pronoun when “I” is both the subject and object: I bought myself a gift.
- Learn to distinguish, past, present, and future tense
Depending on the creative writing story, it is great for your child to decide the tense of the story and this should be established in the planning stage.
So To Conclude:
Top Reading Hacks To Improve Your Child's Literacy Skills
- Read Alone
- Read In Print Where Possible
-Highlight and Underline
-Read Aloud Or Mouth Along
- Re-read For Understanding
-Take Notes
- Avoid Reading In Bed
Top Writing Hacks That Can Improve Your Child's Literacy Skills
- Use The Thesaurus
- Get Grammarly
- Monitor Punctuation
- Use Metaphors
- Use Amazing Adjectives but not too many
- Learn to distinguish, 'Me', 'Myself' and 'I'.
- Learn to distinguish, past, present, and future tense
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