Secret of Academic Success
By Sun Kyu Bae |
Published August 11, 2009 |
Articles |
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The secret of academic success? There's more to it than just parental involvement in academics.
But How About Now?
Fast forward to now and not much has changed.
Young children see how their parents behave and they naturally attempt to fit into the mold, not judging whether that behavior is good or bad, but rather, just being happy and content when they are fitting into the behavior of their parents.
Now do you think your kids would be happy and successful if all we ever did as parents was to focus our energies into the academics of our children and only the academics of our children? You would then quickly see deterioration in family finances and other commitments, which I'm sure would lead to some sort of disaster. So instead of committing your energy only into the academic success of your child, what's key is to step back and understand that your commitment to your entire family's success is really what sets your child's academic success apart from the rest.
Take it from me (because I've experienced it myself when I entered 6th grade), families that have values focused on meeting family goals (not just financial goals or goals focused only on a particular member of the family, but real goals that benefit the entire family) have children that seem to understand at some point in their young lives that mom and dad actively decided to take another approach that made them different from other kids down the street (just like when my parents moved to the U.S. in hopes to secure a better life).
And it may not seem apparent at first, but as these homeschool students mature, they start to realize their parents actively chose this different path for them and took on the commensurate sacrifices. Since the hard work and effort into meeting these family goals do not go unnoticed by homeschool students, they become aware that they too have a role to fulfill (which their parents are depending on). And this desire to fulfill their role becomes the self motivation required to fuel a successful academic career.
So we owe it to ourselves, as parents, to ensure that we are committing to the highest principles of family achievement, whatever form that may take on for you. But no matter what family success means to you, I think that you'll find that your child's academic success is a part of that larger equation, and that all parts must be fulfilled to maximize chances of academic success.
A tall order, you say? Of course it is. But we're the parents now and tall order or not, we have our role to fulfill, just like our own parents did.
In the end, as long as you find your good presence influencing your child's academic success, whether it's in a public or homeschool environment, I believe that is one of the most important things (but not an easy thing) in helping to achieve academic success for your child.
See you next time.
- Sun
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