Education

Home School How-To: How Do I Make Sure My Child Is Actually Learning?

Newsy did some homework and asked the experts: How do I make sure my students are actually learning and retaining knowledge during this time at home?

Home School How-To: How Do I Make Sure My Child Is Actually Learning?
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You may be one of the millions of parents who now finds themselves playing the role of substitute teacher. So Newsy did some homework and asked the experts: How do I make sure my students are actually learning and retaining knowledge during this time at home?

“Asking questions all the time," said Diego Román, assistant professor at The University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Education. "'Tell me, for instance, tell me what you have learned today, tell me how is that different from yesterday,’ and the No. 1 question is, ‘How are you going to apply what you learned today?’”

“Having those conversations just like you normally would at the dinner table," said Michigan fourth grade teacher Kim Huls. "When you say, ‘Hey, what did you learn today?' that helps to hold the child accountable, but then also it helps for you to understand, as the parent, if they actually are understanding what's expected of them, or if they're just kind of getting through the work.”

“It’s going to be review," said Jennifer Jessie, a tutor in Virginia. "You just never know if a kid truly grasps a concept until you review it again, going back through and hitting those things that you know your child is good at, and then reinforcing the thing that they might be a little bit weaker at at the time, allows them to feel a little bit more confident."