Secrets of Grade-A Parents 成为A等父母的秘密

Secrets of Grade-A Parents

成为A等父母的秘密

（注：原英文来源于网络，小米老师翻译）

Helping your child get ahead at school starts at home

帮助孩子在学校取得进步从家开始

  [A] When Carey Graham started Grade One, he got a very special teacher. “She recognized my passion for learning.” says the now 20-year-old. “Every morning we’d sit down with workbooks and do writing and math exercises. And any time during the day, she could always be counted on to read to me. She always encouraged me to learn all I could about everything.” This extraordinary teacher was his mom, Jeanne Lambert, who homeschooled Graham until high school. He’s now in his second year in the University of Toronto’s Peace and Conflict Studies program, having received a provincial “Aiming for the Top” scholarship. Graham is considering a law degree or a master’s in political science down the road. He attributes his academic success to the foundation laid by his parents.

当格拉汉姆·卡雷开始上一年级时，他得到了一位非常特殊的老师。“她认识到我对学习的热情。”这位20岁的女孩说。“每天早上我们都会坐下来拿作业本，做写作和数学练习。白天的任何时候，她都可以给我读书。她总是鼓励我尽可能地学习一切。”这位非凡的老师是他的母亲珍妮·兰伯特，她在家里为格拉汉姆上高中。他现在是多伦多大学和平与冲突研究项目的二年级学生，获得了省级“争取顶尖”奖学金。格拉汉姆正在考虑将来攻读法律学位或政治学硕士学位。他把学业上的成功归功于父母奠定的基础。

  [B] “You can’t be a parent without being a teacher,” says Bruce Arai, a professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario. “Perhaps the most important teaching in a child’s life is done by his parents, not by some professional with certificates,” he says. Homeschooling isn’t about sitting your kids down in the kitchen and teaching them in the formal sense, says Aral, but about “making sure the resources and opportunities for learning are available to them.” And that, any parent can do. Here, then, are some methods that parents who would never consider homeschooling can pick up from those who do.

安大略省滑铁卢威尔弗里德·劳里尔大学社会学和人类学系教授布鲁斯·阿拉伊说：“如果你不成为老师，你就不能当父母。”。他说：“也许孩子一生中最重要的教育是由他的父母完成的，而不是由一些有证书的专业人士完成的。”。阿拉尔说，在家上学不是让你的孩子坐在厨房里，从形式上教他们，而是“确保他们有学习的资源和机会。”这一点，任何父母都可以做到。那么，这里有一些方法，那些从不考虑在家上学的家长可以从那些考虑在家上学的家长那里学到。

  Lesson 1 Think Outside the Classroom

   第1课在课堂外思考

  [C] When homeschooler Kerri Paqueue, a mother of six, was building a house in Lansdowne, she saw it as a learning opportunity. “They learned math as we measured about soil as we dug the foundation, about water while we did the plumbing, and about electricity when we did the electrical work. My children make the subjects come alive as much I do.” says Paquette. Her kids, aged three to13, continue to view the world as their classroom. They study food and plant growth through their organic garden. They learn about cows by talking to the neighboring farmers. And they learn math, measuring and science while helping Paquette cook. “The other day my nine-year-old, Maddison, started learning a new educational computer program. The section on fractions was all new, but she knew it from when we bake.” Every activity, says Paquette, can include a lesson.

当六个孩子的母亲克里·帕奎伊（KerriPaqueue）在兰斯敦（Lansdowne）盖房子时，她把这看作是一个学习的机会。“他们在我们挖地基时测量土壤时学习数学，在我们做水管时测量水，在我们做电气工作时测量电。我的孩子让这些科目像我一样多的充满活力。”帕奎特说。她的孩子们，从3岁到13岁，继续把世界视为他们的课堂。他们通过有机花园研究食物和植物生长。他们通过与附近的农民交谈来了解奶牛。他们在帮助帕奎特做饭的同时学习数学、测量和科学。“前几天，我九岁的女儿麦迪逊开始学习一个新的教育计算机程序。分数部分是全新的，但她从我们烘焙时就知道了。”帕奎特说，每项活动都可以包括一节课。

  Lesson 2 Eliminate Learning Limits

   第2课消除学习限制

  [D] A teacher with a class of 25 students can’t continue a unit on, say, the body just because one child is still keen—but you can. “We don’t have a time flame that restricts our investigations, and we don’t have a dally schedule,” says Linda Clement, who homeschools her two daughters in Victoria. When her 14-year-old showed an interest in the human body, the curious student read dozens of relevant books and surfed web sites. Janet’s curiosity took her in all sorts of directions: a dictionary of poisons and antidotes, an encyclopedia of medicine, books about human personality and much more. The benefit to your child goes beyond a thorough knowledge of a subject. Studying deeply a topic builds independent research skills and a love of learning. “If my children are interested in a subject,” says Clement, “we can go as far into the subject, answering as many questions as they have for as long as is necessary. This freedom encourages their investigations.”

一个班有25名学生的老师不能仅仅因为一个孩子对身体感兴趣就继续一个单元，但你可以。琳达·克莱门特（Linda Clement）在维多利亚州为她的两个女儿在家上学，她说：“我们没有时间限制我们的调查，我们也没有每日时间表。”。当她14岁的女儿对人体表现出兴趣时，这个好奇的学生阅读了数十本相关书籍并浏览了网站。珍妮特的好奇心把她带到了各种各样的地方：一本毒药和解药字典，一本医学百科全书，关于人类个性的书籍等等。对你孩子的好处不仅仅是对一门学科的透彻了解。深入研究一个主题可以培养独立的研究技能和学习兴趣。克莱门特说：“如果我的孩子对某个主题感兴趣，我们可以深入研究这个主题，在必要的时候回答他们的问题。这种自由鼓励他们进行调查。”

  Lesson 3 Teach Your Kids Their Way

   第3课 教给你的孩子用他们的方式学习

  [E] Some children are visual learners (they absorb best when they see something), some are auditory (they need to hear it), some are kinesthetic (they need hands-on experience)and some are a combination. Uncovering how your child learns best will increase your effectiveness in helping him or her with schoolwork. Unsure of your child’s learning style? Ask his teacher.

有些孩子是视觉学习者（他们看到东西时吸收能力最强），有些是听觉学习者（他们需要听到），有些是动觉学习者（他们需要亲身体验），有些是组合学习者。揭示你的孩子是如何学得最好的，这将提高你帮助他或她完成学业的效率。不确定你孩子的学习风格？问他的老师。

  [F] The way Melissa Cowl’s six children, aged three to 15, pick up on math highlights the great differences in learning styles. “Our ten-year-old, Matthew, needs everything in black and whim: Tell him what to do and how to do it, and it’s done,” says the mother. “He had a math text that was too colorful, with a layout that was difficult to follow. I switched to a text that was more step-by-step, more concrete. Now he does math tests with no trouble.” “Our eight-year-old, Ryan, however, is very hands-on. For math, he uses a variety of colorful pens to figure out things like addition and fractions. He needs to see it and feel it. Not one of my kids learns the same way as the others.”

梅丽莎·考尔（MelissaCowl）的六个孩子（年龄从3岁到15岁）学习数学的方式突显了学习风格的巨大差异。“我们十岁的孩子，马修，需要所有的黑色和突发奇想：告诉他做什么，怎么做，一切都完成了，”母亲说。“他有一篇数学课文，内容太丰富，设计很难理解。我换成了一篇更循序渐进、更具体的课文。现在他做数学测试很容易。”“然而，我们八岁的Ryan很会动手。在数学方面，他用各种颜色的钢笔来计算加法和分数。他需要看到和感受。我的孩子没有一个像其他孩子一样学习。”

  Lesson 4 Let Them See You Learn

   第4课让他们看到你在学习

  [G] One of the best parts of homeschooling is that you can continue your own education—and your kids can see you doing it and pick up on your love of learning the same principle can be applied by any parent. “Learning never ends,” says Julia Goforth, a homeschooling mother of four. “We try new things all the time, whether I’m reading something new or we’re all tasting foods we’d never normally eat.” Reversing the roles also has benefits, giving kids a sense of pride in their own newfound knowledge. “Today my 12-year-old daughter, Denise, explained to me how she figured out a math problem. She’d wound up with the right answer, but I didn’t understand how she managed it,” says homeschooler Gina Rozon of La Ronge. Sask. “Our kids are teaching us all the time.”

在家上学最好的部分之一是，你可以继续自己的教育，你的孩子可以看到你这样做，学习你的爱好，同样的原则可以适用于任何家长。“学习永无止境，”四个孩子的母亲茱莉亚·戈福斯说。“我们一直在尝试新事物，无论我是在读新的东西，还是在品尝我们平时从未吃过的食物。”角色互换也有好处，让孩子们对自己新发现的知识感到自豪。“今天，我12岁的女儿丹尼斯向我解释了她是如何算出一道数学题的。她最终得到了正确的答案，但我不明白她是如何做到的，”拉荣格的家庭学校学生吉娜·罗森说。萨斯克。“我们的孩子一直在教我们。”

  [H] Learning doesn’t always go smoothly, for kids and adults alike, which is why it’s important for children to see their parents struggle with something new. “My children watched me turn my life around by trying new things.” says Goforth. “I went from being a fearful, stay-at-home mom to an adventurous artist’s model and public speaker. Learning to belly dance and play the violin is on my to-do list this year.”

对于孩子和成年人来说，学习并不总是一帆风顺的，这就是为什么孩子们看到父母为新事物而挣扎是很重要的。“我的孩子们看着我通过尝试新事物来改变我的生活。”高福思说。“我从一个可怕的全职妈妈变成了一个有冒险精神的艺术家模特和演说家。学习肚皮舞和拉小提琴是我今年的任务。”

  Lesson 5 “Own” Your Children’s Education

   第5课“拥有”孩子的教育

  [I] “Helping them isn’t about showing your kids how to do the work. It’s about being genuinely interested and having regular conversations about what they’re learning,” says J. Gary Knowles, a professor at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. Rozon has many suggestions for how to get more involved. “Get to know the teacher. Discuss ways to design the assignments to your child’s learning style. Spend time in the classroom. Ask for outlines of unit studies so you can find additional materials at the library or through videos. Read your child’s textbooks: If you work a few pages ahead, you’ll be able to help them with problems they encounter.” Reading is another must, says Rozon. “Even after your children can read themselves, hearing somebody else read aloud is important. We nearly always bring a book wherever we go; we read for at least a half hour before bedtime.” The more engaged a parent is, the more the child benefits, adds Bruce Arai. “The evidence is clear: Parental involvement is one of the most important factors in school success. The hours children spend in class are but one element of their education.”

安大略省教育研究所教授J.Gary Knowles说：“帮助他们并不是告诉你的孩子如何做这项工作，而是真正感兴趣，并定期就他们所学的内容进行对话。”。对于如何更多地参与进来，罗森有很多建议。“了解老师。讨论根据孩子的学习风格设计作业的方法。花时间在课堂上。询问单元学习的大纲，以便你可以在图书馆或通过视频找到其他材料。阅读孩子的教科书：如果你提前几页，你将能够帮助他们解决他们遇到的问题。”罗森说，阅读是另一种必须。“即使在你的孩子能够自己阅读之后，听别人大声朗读也很重要。我们几乎总是带着一本书去任何地方；我们在睡前至少阅读半个小时。”布鲁斯·阿拉伊补充道，父母越投入，孩子受益就越多。“证据很清楚：家长的参与是学校成功的最重要因素之一。孩子在课堂上花费的时间只是他们教育的一个要素。”

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