Dr. Patricia Porter will show parents how to foster their children's academic abilities in a series of lectures at the Brighouse Library on Monday, May 5 from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Porter, a learning skills assessment specialist and teacher with 35 years of experience in the U.K. and Canada, said it comes down developing what she calls foundational skills that can be grouped into three Ss - show, share, and say.
"Show is being a model for your kid," said Porter. So, if you want your child to read, the child should see you reading. It's that simple."
Porter also encourages parents to dispense with three-word sentences to help develop their offspring's thought processes. Replace "do your homework" with "it's getting late so you should start your homework now so it's completed well before bedtime," she said.
Finally, porter suggests "self-talk," a process where a parent talks out loud about what they are doing.
"It could be about washing the dishes and which ones should be done first," Porter said, adding if the child hears that running commentary, they will learn how to think in that manner. For more information, call 604-231-6413, or go to yourlibrary.ca/whatson.
