While conversation is good, parents can really step up the game of instilling a love of learning in their children by providing concrete experiences. Parents, in particular, have more time and resources to do this than regular classroom teachers do. “Start wherever possible with a direct experience as opposed to having kids just read about something or hear a lecture about it,” Connolly says. If your child is learning about the forest and has never seen one up close, consider taking a weekend trip to a nearby wooded area to explore the flora and fauna. Turn an otherwise mundane trip to the grocery store into a real-life application of what your child happens to be learning in math class. For example: Have her guesstimate what five apples will weigh before placing them on the scale.
