It is true of vegetation and people. In the home a child draws her or his first conclusions about self-worth, value, appreciation, ability, competence, and importance to others. It is from parents that a child first learns to be accountable and to act responsibly toward others. The home environment nurtures the seed of school success when the family demonstrates the value of effort over result and praises process more than product. In such an environment, children learn that their best effort is praiseworthy and acceptable apart from the results which may fall short of the desired goal.
Parents establish the foundation on which teachers build.
Providing these roots could seem overwhelming to parents. To support parents in their efforts to establish a home environment that nurtures school success within their children, Today s Catholic Teacher offers the Parent Partnership Handbook. The Handbook consists of removable and reproducible pages suitable for distribution to parents. Last year s pages featured a parent s guide for self-esteem development. The focus this year will be a parent s guide for fostering school success.