Success Happy

how to teach my son to love school and to live a successful life?

i have a 3 year old son will be 4 in april i think about my childhood and i can recall hating school thus landing me in prison for 12 years it was there it gave me a passion for education. Is he still to young to understand ...could someone give me some advice on what things i could possibly begin practicing in order that my son be successful one day and not an ex con like his ol man. please help

Public Comments

1. Make school seem like a positive thing up until he reaches the age where he can understand that school is hard and then you will be able to share your childhood recolection of school. For now ask him what he wants to do in life he may want to be a builder and then you can encourage him to do stuff. Put fun into homework, reward him for doing good make sure hes happy
2. I hated school and I didn't go to prison. Don't raise your son with the idea of preventing him from going bad. That's like assuming he's bad already. He'll pick up on it. Maybe you should talk to a counselor so you can prevent yourself from hurting him without meaning to.
3. Show him that you have a love of learning. Read books to him. Take him to the public library on a regular basis and let him pick out books and stay for the children's reading program. Take him to a museum. Keep books, newspapers, and magazines around the house. Show him that the Internet can be used not only for games, but to look up the answers to questions he may have. Let him see you reading. Show him how things he will learn in school will help him, such as letting him see you use arithmetic to figure out your taxes. Take an adult education class from time to time. Enroll both of you at a community rec center activity. Explain your dream of going back to school to get your degree. Take him on a tour of the local elementary school. Take him on a tour of area colleges.
4. What you do right now is help him develop a love of learning. Take him to the library often (at least once a week, more is best!) not only to check out books, or DVDs, but for the programs offered there. Encourage him to choose some non-fiction, which is easy at this age, they love dinosaurs, or trucks, trains, etc. READ to him all the time! Buy him books, even if all you can afford are used ones from the thrift store. Give him lots of school supplies to "play" with. Paper, pencils, markers, rulers, calculators, etc. Show him how to write his name (capitals letter is fine). Put refrigerator magic letters out, on the refrigerator yes, but he can use them on the back of a cookie sheet too. If he wants (don't push!) give him the sounds they make. Spell his name. Count things with him, not as a lesson, but just in everyday life. Like, "Boy, there are a lot of clean socks here! I wonder how many there are?" Then you can match them up too. Get some learning CDs like the preschool Jump Start ones. http://www.jumpstart.com/ They are very inexpensive. We had them from toddler up to middle school! Encourage his curiosity. Let him ask questions, answer them. If you don't know the answer, let him see you look it up. I don't think it is necessary for him to go to preschool, you can provide all that and more. He will see learning can be fun! He won't be going into school unprepared for what they will be doing. Now, if school isn't fun for him, change that. You can always home school if it is best for him. He should keep his curiosity. When he is in school, let him still learn about things he loves, not just the school topics. This is a great age to instill a love of learning in! They soak it up so quickly. Just don't make it a chore, or lessons, but part of fun and daily life.
5. Right now, do educational things with him. Take him to the library regularly for story times and to check out books. Take him to museums and zoos, if you can afford it. Or go on nature walks and point out what you see--getting him to notice things around him and wonder about them is the beginning of education. Color pictures with him, or at least talk about the colors of different things. Talk with him a lot, about a variety of things. Encourage questions from him--and if you don't know the answers, look them up. More than that, though, you have to set an example. Kids look up to their parents. If dad reads books, the child will want to do it, too. If dad reads stories to him sometimes, he'll cherish the idea of stories and books, rather than dread them. If dad looks at his school work (once he's in school) and goes to parent conferences, the child will know school is important. Speak with respect about his teachers and school--even if you have to go to the school and deal with a problem, don't let him think you are against his teachers or school, or he'll copy that attitude. Teach him from your example only when he's old enough. If he starts to question school, or seems to be following the wrong path, stop and tell him about your past, telling him that you made huge mistakes that you've learned from--make sure he doesn't see your prison life as something to copy, but sees the new you as the man to be like. Keep an eye on your son once he's in school. If you see that your son starts to hate school, find out why and do something about it--stop that cycle from repeating itself by going to the school and pushing to get him into a different class, or get him into a different school, or even homeschool if needed. Parents who keep an eye on their kids, not baling them out of trouble, but making sure that they are getting what they need, make a huge difference. Good luck.
6. Do things-- go to theater (age appropriate productions of course). Go to museums. Go to cultural festivals. Go to the library. When you meet someone who does something unique, ask them to show you & your son. Watch educational programming occasionally, but keep tv off rest of the day. Very Little TV-- tv makes kids lazy about learning because they'd rather be watching than doing. Read books to him... act them out together. Sing songs, recite poems, play games. Go for walks on nature preserves & trails, bring field guides, when you see something interesting stop and look it up. Let him take a picture of it or draw it in a notebook. Play pretend with him... go on imaginary trips, open imaginary stores, etc. Kids are natural scientists and explorers... just foster that, don't squash it out of him with too much tv/video games or by forcing him to do "educational" things (that is what people consider activities that look more like the kind of work in a school).