By Daniel Sherwin, Founder dadsolo.com

Whether you’re a single father or a married dad looking to be more actively involved in your kids’ daily lives, start by getting more involved in their education. Kids learn so much from their fathers, and they often idolize them. When fathers make education a priority, their kids follow suit.

Read to Your Children More Often

One study shows that kids greatly benefit from their fathers reading them bedtime stories because dads prompt more “imaginative discussions.” Fathers also play a key part in their kids’ language development because of the way in which they read to them. Reading to your children just 20 minutes a day positively affects their education, and your kids are never too young or too old for you to start reading to them.

One way that dads can share a love of reading with their kids is to share their favorite childhood books with your kids. Head to a public library for a special afternoon of book choosing, or surprise your kids with a basket of books that were yours when you were young. Once you run out of your favorites, choose from the 100 best read-aloud books from Scholastic.

Choose a Home in a Highly Ranked School Zone

While you have a significant impact on your child’s education at home, you can further that impact by making sure your kids have access to top-performing schools. Ensuring your kids get the best possible education does not have to be as expensive as you may think. Housing prices in highly ranked public school systems are higher than those in districts with lower scores, but there are “several neighborhoods left where homes are relatively affordable in highly ranked schools zones,” according to Redfin.

If you aren’t sure where to begin finding a home, contact a buyer’s agent. These real estate professionals specifically assist and represent home buyers and understand the importance of finding an affordable home in a highly ranked school zone that suits your family’s needs. Realtors also are expert negotiators who are more likely to help you get the best price for a home, even if you are interested in a property that has a listing price out of your price range.

Help Your Kids with Their Homework

Even if you have nightmares from your homework days, make it a point to help your kids with theirs. Start by creating a homework-friendly environment at home. It would be a wonderful learning and bonding opportunity for you to build a desk for your kids, but you also can make a homework space by providing a quiet, well-lit location that is stocked with all the necessary school supplies and limits distractions.

Then, help your kids establish a homework routine and make your expectations clear: they should complete their homework at the same time each day, turn off their electronics and the television while working and studying, etc.

Guide younger kids through their assignments as needed and provide encouragement, support, and praise to all your children. The more positive you are about their assignments and effort, the better. They will recognize they have an interested parent at home and a supportive teacher at school making their educational experience a positive one.

Be Actively Involved in Your Kid’s School

The more involved you are in your kid’s school, the more they will see that you value their education. Drop off or pick up your child after school. Volunteer as much as possible: set up for a school fair, work at a book fair, or help at a car wash or bake sale.

Attend parent-teacher conferences and communicate with your child’s teacher via email when you have concerns or questions. Attend PTA meetings and other school events. Your kids will see that you invest time in their school, and they will appreciate your involvement and learn from it.

By becoming more actively involved in your kids’ education, you impress upon them the importance of it. Fathers can begin by reading to your children more often and helping with homework. You also can choose a home in a highly ranked school zone and become more involved in their school.

Parent Involvement In Schools

Teachers if increasing parent involvement in your school is an area of interest for you, we hope you will consider our online course titled “Engaging Parents In Support of Student Learning, Grades K-12“.

Our main focus in this course is to help in providing strategies for you and your school to become more focused on engaging parents not just involving them in pre-determined tasks.

This course will provide participants with a variety of strategies and resources designed to increase parent engagement at the school and classroom level. The course provides an opportunity for participants to analyze how the school environment welcomes parents, including considering the current effectiveness of activities designed to bring parents into the school environment, potential barriers to parent involvement, and ways to strengthen the current opportunities and minimize or eliminate the barriers that keep parents from being involved in the educational process.