Get Involved

Counseling

Oak Valley Counseling Department

GETTING INVOLVED

Parental Involvement at home and school is a huge predictor of student success. These are some ways that you can get involved in your child's academic career at home and at school.

Ten Things You Can Do At Oak Valley

1.  Focus on the value of learning. Take some time each day to ask what your child learned in school. Ask how your child gets along with other students and how he or she feels about school. Learning is about life, not just school. Tell your child what you learned in the course of the day.
2. Focus on creating a positive learning environment at home. Make regular times and provide a quite, well-lit place for homework.
3. Set up a school bulletin board at home. Display the school calendar and other flyers from the school. Attend school events as a family.
4. Listen when your child talks about school. If your child is happy at with his or her classroom and school activities write or call the teacher to say thank you. If your child is bored, frustrated, or lonely communicate with the teacher or Counselor to see what can be done.
5. Help your child with homework. Just because they are in middle school does not mean that they no longer need parent assistance.
6. Take advantage of school meetings. Make these meetings a priority. Much information can be gained.
7. Volunteer at school. This will help you better understand how to support your child at home. It also connects the people that are most important in your child's life; you and their teachers.
8. Attend school activities. Your presence at your child's activities shows him or her that they are important to you.
9. Join or create a social learning club. Help teach other parents how they can encourage their child's social and emotional development. Or learn strategies from other parents.
10. Communicate with Oak Valley Staff. This is essential to supporting you child's education.

Ten Things You Can Do At Home

1. Focus on strengths. Talk to your child first about what they have done well. Then talk about what can be improved. PRAISE them.
2. Follow up with consequences for misbehavior. Decide on consequences that are fair and, and then carry them out. Empty threats will not change the behavior.
3.  Ask children how they feel. When you ask your child about his or her feelings, the message is that feelings matter and you care.
4. Find ways to stay calm when you are angry. It's normal to get angry or irritated sometimes (you child will too). Learn to recognize "trigger situations" and do something about them before you lose control. Try taking deep breaths for a few moments. Consider having a "quiet area" where people can go when they are upset. Or you can just stop talking and leave the room for a while. Sit down as a family and talk about what everyone can do to stay calm.
5. Avoid humiliating or mocking your child. This can make children feel bad about themselves. It can lead to a lack of self-confidence and, in turn, problems with schoolwork, illness, and trouble getting along with friends. Unfair criticism and sarcasm also hurts the bond of trust between children and parents. Be mindful of how you speak to your children. Give them the room to make mistakes as they learn new skills.
6. Be willing to apologize. Parents need to be able to apologize if what they said was not what they meant. By doing this you are being a good role model. You're teaching that it's possible to work through problems with respect for the other person.
7. Give children choices and respect their wishes. When children have a chance to make choices, they learn how to solve problems. Children's ideas and feelings matter too!
8. Ask questions that help children solve problems on their own. Don't solve their problems for them. Ask questions such as "What do you think you can do in this situation?" or "If you choose that solutions what will be the consequences of that choice?"
9. Read books together or play games together. This is a way to share an enjoyable activity together.
10. Encourage sharing and helping. This teaches children that what they do can make a difference in the lives of others.