Having your children succeed at school is the hope of most parents. There are many factors that contribute to a child’s success at school. The support of parents is probably the number one factor in predicting a child’s educational success. Read below to learn about tips to help your child succeed at school:
Create a Conducive Homework Environment
Make sure that your child has a quiet workspace that is well-lit, comfortable, and has few distractions. Your child’s workspace should be equipped with school supplies. Tell your child that you are available in the event they do not understand the assignment or if they have any other questions about their homework. Review your child’s completed work to ensure they understand the work.
Monitor Your Child’s Progress
One of the most important tips to help your child succeed at school is to keep a close eye on your child’s academic progress. Don’t wait until the end of the term to learn about how well they are doing as this may be too late. Ask to see test and essay results to determine if there are any learning difficulties. Make sure to attend any parent-teacher meetings or school nights. If you find out early on that your child is having difficulty in a particular subject, you can hire a tutor who will greatly assist with your child’s learning.
Take The Pressure Off with Leisure Activities
While you want to make sure your child is learning, it’s important for your child to enjoy enough time for breaks and vacations in order to rejuvenate for the coming year. Schedule fun outings for your children during school breaks to provide relief from stressful school work. Balancing school work with sports activities is also a great way to reduce the pressure of school work, as long as you don’t sign your child up for too many sports activities, which would defeat the purpose. And certainly not least, sports activities have been shown to improve a student’s academic performance.
Set Up a Registered Education Savings Plan
Setting up a registered education savings plan (RESP) could be one of the smartest decisions you can make for your child. This kind of savings plan is simply an investment account that is meant to help you start saving for your child’s future education. Just like with any type of savings plan, the earlier you start saving, the more you will be able to accumulate.
RESPs are regulated accounts that are specifically for post-secondary education for a child. They provide parents with a tax advantage, which can make the savings a bit more advantageous. The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) provides Canadians with a tax break if they are saving for their child, which is the beauty of the investment. You can typically save thousands, if not tens of thousands, by setting up an RESP. This will prevent you from having to come up with a large sum for your child’s education at the last minute.
Just like with any investment, it’s wise to speak to a financial advisor that can help you create the RESP. Factors such as who is eligible to set up an RESP, how much can be invested initially, what the contribution limit is, what the withdrawal rules are, and how an RRSP or TFSA can compare are the topics that the financial advisors at Wealthsimple can discuss with clients.
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