How to Make the Most of Parent-Teacher Conferences

It’s important to know how to get the most out of your child’s Parent-Teacher Conference before sitting down with the teacher. Posts on the Kaplan Tutoring blog this week will focus on how to get the most out of your child’s next Parent-Teacher Conference.

Here’s our first tip of the week:

Check in with your child before Parent-Teacher Conferences to find out how things are going.

Ask your child how school is going this year. This is a big question, and we all know that many kids are great at giving shoulder-shrug answers (“okay” or “I dunno”). Here are some questions you can ask to get the answers you’re looking for:

• How much time is homework taking to finish every night? Is there enough time for homework between school and after-school activities? Have you been turning in all of your homework assignments?
• How are you staying organized and tracking assignments? Do you like the new homework planner? Are you using it? Is it working for you?
• Does the material you’re learning in school feel too easy or too hard? Is there anything you’ve learned that you’re still confused about?
• Have you made any new friends in your class? Who do you sit with at lunch? Is anyone being mean to you or the other kids at school?
• What big projects are coming up this semester? (Ask about books, essay or stories, science projects, art projects and any other subjects that your child is taking.)
• (If your child is at a new school this year:) What do you think of the new school? Do you know your way around? What fun things are you learning about the school that you didn’t know before?

What do you want to know about how school is going so far this year? What questions have you asked your child that really got to the bottom of what you wanted to know?