Ten Ways You Can Help Your Child Succeed At The River Academy

1.See yourself as their first teacher.
We are commanded to train our children to thinkwith a Christian world viewall day long (Deut. 6:4-5). The River Academy was foundedon the principle that while all parents are given the responsibilityof education, many parents do not have all the resourcesto provide such an education. The River Academy seeks to assistparents in fulfilling their responsibilities through delegation.However, delegation is not the same as abdication-shirkingyour responsibility by handing your job over to someoneelse. Don't just send your children to The River Academy;let them have a sense that you are directing their stepseducationally.Debrief at dinner, dialog during driving, demonstrate yourdevotion by actively listening to your children.

2.Discipline your children according to God's Word.
The River Academy strives to create an orderly and warmenvironment because the children are trained to display kindnessto others and self-control in their conduct. While many parentsare attracted to this type of an environment, there is atemptation for some families to seek out a school which willprovide the type of discipline and training that they areunable or unwilling to provide themselves. This will inevitablylead to difficulties in the school-family relationship becausethe child is not trained consistently. God's Word,the Bible, provides all the encouragement, wisdom and practicalunderstanding we need as parents to adequately train ourchildren for life. If you feel that this is an area in whichyou may need to improve (and who doesn't), we encourageyou to seek wisdom from the scriptures, in addition to readingan excellent book about biblically training children calledShepherding a Child's Heart, by Tedd Tripp. For parentsof older children, an excellent book about shepherdingyoung adults into adulthood is Age of Opportunity,by Paul Tripp. 

3.Become a lifelong learner.
Let your children seeyou learning, reading, and discovering. Your children willassume the view of education that they see in you. Ifyouthinkof education as something that happens at school, thenthey will begin to think in this way as well. But ifyou thinkof education as a lifelong pursuit of wisdom and knowledgeand understanding, then they will begin to pursue thisas well.

4.Read to your children.
This canhardly be emphasized enough. This one task can help yourchild improvehisself-control, imagination, creativity, vocabulary, writingskills, andauditory processing. Fostering a love of books will leadto your child becoming a lifelong reader, thus a lifelonglearner. By ages three and four most children are capableof learning to sit through short novels such as TheChronicles of Narnia, The Little House on thePrairie, The Adventuresof Homer Price, etc. If you would like to learn moreabout what to read to your child, Honey for a Child'sHeart is an excellent resource and is also availablein our schooloffice.

5. Communicate with the school.
Communication is theweakest link in any organization whether it's family,church, or school. Communicating our appreciation, concern,fear,and disappointment should be a natural and regularlyoccurring event in the classroom, hallway, or on thephone. Doing thiswithin the parameters of scripture will enable us tobring glory to God and build up others instead of tearingthemdown. An excellent book on communicating with othersis The Peacemaker by Ken Sande.

6.Develop friendships.
The River Academy is not just a school, it's a family. We rejoicein the good in each others' lives.We mourn with those who mourn. If you want more out ofyour school than an educational environment, then takethe firststep to develop relationships. Serve brunch and inviteother parents. Have a Bible study to parallel what yourchildrenare learning in their Bible class. Develop a readingcircle and read books that are on our high school readinglist,or start a parent-child reading circle and read booksthat are on their level. Be creative.

7.Establish priorities for home life.
The first schoolyour child willexperience is home. At home your child will learn how toplay, work, worship, relax, eat, and interact with others.While these activities do not involve grades and exams,they are measured inthe daily application of faith to life. It is crucialto theChristian life to understand how to perform these activitiesin a way that celebrates and brings glory to the Lord. "Whateveryou do, whether you eat or drink, do it all to the gloryof God" (I Cor. 10:31). Childhood flies by in aninstant. In our culture, there are so many choices andactivitiesavailable, there is a great temptation to fill the dayrunning from one activity to the next. The children whoare the mostsuccessful at The River Academy or anywhere else come from homesthat have made family time a priority by limiting extracurricularactivities. Godly home life is not something that canbe appreciated in rare tropical storms of spiritual teaching.If we are to be effective, it will be accomplished bykeepingthe relative spiritual humidity very high.

8. Establish consistent sleep habits.
Sports and activityschedules, with the additional responsibilities of homeworkcan lead to children staying up far later than theirbodies are intended to. Sleep is very important to thehealthydevelopment of children. Parents who want their childrento be successfulwould be wise to carefully select extracurricular activitiesand make sure that sleep is a priority.

9. Get involved.
The River Academy would not function withoutthe help of parents who volunteer their time and skillsto assistour teachers and staff. Parents have helped start andmaintain our library, clean our classrooms, put upbulletin boards,assist students who need individual reading time, evengrade papers. Teachers need the help of the parentsin their classrooms.Parents who volunteer their time in their children'sschool feel more connected to what is going on, more appreciativeof the overall goals, and better able to positively affecttheir child's education. Ask your child'steacher how you can help.

10. Develop and maintain good homework habits.
Many parentsare thrilled when they learn of our homework policy.We believe that family time is important to our successasa school.To assist families, we have made it a policy that onlyhomework that is essential to the child's mastery of a skillor concept should be assigned. This should not be interpretedto mean that we are "light" on homework or thathomework is optional. We expect and require that assignedwork be completed in a timely manner as determined by theteacher. And some students may need to do more homework thanothers because they work at a slower pace in class. Withthis in mind, parents may benefit from the following suggestions:Students do their best work when in a consistent environmentwith good lighting and proper seating. A personal study areathat is free of distractions works well. Parents should keepin mind that homework is designed to increase independence.If a child is unable to do his work independently, this maybe an indication that there is a deficit in his skills whichshould be discussed with his teacher. Or it may mean thathe is having difficulty transferring his skills from oneenvironment to the other. The best course of action is torelax and attempt to change directions given and vocabularyto make it more consistent with the teacher's if possible.Share your concerns with your child's teacher the nextday. Parents do well to encourage their child to be independent,even if that means making mistakes. Ordinary children doingtheir work heartily and making their mistakes with integritywhile receiving ordinary grades brings as much honor to Godas an exceptional student receiving straight A's.Above all, relax and enjoy your child, let him becomewhat Godhas made him to be, and enjoy the incredible adventureyou are beginning!

(Article excerpted and modified by The River Academy from a fellow ACCS school -  Logos School)