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Course: Resources > Unit 3
Lesson 2: Helping your child- How to motivate students who are distance learning during COVID
- Create accounts for you and your children
- Encouraging your child
- Ways to support learners when you don’t know the content
- Start tutoring with Khan Academy
- Stories from parents using KA to tutor
- Find relevant content
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Encouraging your child
7 tips for helping your child succeed with Khan Academy
Parents and mentors are key in supporting their children's learning on Khan Academy. Here are seven great tips for helping your child succeed:
1. Monitor your child's progress
Use your coach reports and parent emails to find out how much time your child is spending on Khan Academy, what they’re practicing, and where they are struggling.
2. Celebrate successes and learn from challenges
Congratulate your child when they earn badges or master skills. Remind your child to look at the hints or watch the companion video when they get stuck on a problem.
3. Set goals and milestones
Work with your child to set a big goal and smaller milestones for what they will accomplish each day, week, or month. These smaller milestones can provide transparency, reduce anxiety, and motivate students to achieve the larger goal.
Once you've set these goals, check in with your child about them regularly. One popular option is for students to keep a journal with their milestones and any scratchwork. There's something exciting about crossing off goals on a list!
4. Reward your children for meeting their goals
Rewards can vary greatly from family to family. Here are a few examples we’ve seen parents give their children in the past:
- Choosing the next topic to learn
- Getting out of one chore for the week
- Create a game or piece of art using the Khan Academy computer programming platform
- Staying up 15 minutes later than usual
- Going to the park
5. Set an example
Show your child what lifelong learning looks like by working through a course on your own, something you never covered in school or something you just want to review. Even better, choose a topic to learn with your child, like computer programming. Either way, you can model positive learning behaviors like taking notes and listening actively during videos.
6. Engage your child’s teachers
Explain how you’re using Khan Academy. Encourage the teacher to get involved by creating an account so that your child can add them as a coach!
7. Make Khan Academy a family activity
Compete with your child to see who can earn the most mastery points, or encourage your children to compete with each other.
Watch a video with the entire family and discuss it during dinner.
One parent even wrote us this note about using Khan Academy in lieu of bedtime stories!
My father, who was a math teacher, would give me and my siblings math problems instead of bedtime stories. It is a great memory I have of growing up, and now as a father of two children, I hope to instill in them that same passion for learning that my father gave me… I watched your “Basic Addition” video with my daughter Lily, who is 3 ½ years old. It was a neat memory for us and I just wanted to say thank you for the impact you’ve made in our lives and in the lives of children and people across the world. I wish you continued success and look forward to what is in store for Khan Academy.P.S. On the other end of the age spectrum, I also have my 92 year old grandmother watching the Khan Academy videos that I share on Facebook as I watch one per day. Got the whole family covered!
- Andrew O., a father in Portland
Want to join the conversation?
how can i improve the reading methods, as my kid is not showing any progress?(7 votes)
As a 7th grader, reading can be quite boring especially if the book does not connect with you. For example I personally like reading fiction or biographies. Try and determine what type of material your child likes to read and hopefully as they read the book, they can also learn new words and gain a deeper understanding (if any) of the book. The most important thing is to find methods that can help your child with reading and make reading interesting. For example I learn visually so a hands on activity helps me learn. Also progress will definitely come slowly because certain subjects can be difficult to a child, so be patient with him or her. Hope this helps. :)(11 votes)
- How to add another child(6 votes)
create an account for them then for the vertify email part you put your email/gmail and they will be connected to you after you check your email/gmail and clicking yes(2 votes)
- Is this helpful for a home schooled child?(4 votes)
- I home school my daughter (9th grade) and we use Kahn Academy for some subjects(0 votes)
- I'm new here what is the best way to introduce my children to Khan Academy?
Thank You!(3 votes) 
My fourth-grader is interested in chemistry and was hoping to find some science courses that are geared toward her age. I'm only seeing higher-level science. Am I looking in the wrong place?(2 votes)- Honestly if your child is starting chemistry, then it helps to build a solid base. I didn’t learn the basics of chemistry on Khan Academy but there are some videos that could help. I would try some other websites and videos to learn chemistry but Khan Academy is also a great choice once the basics are down.(2 votes)
- My daughter is going into 11 grade, but very much behind in Math, where do I start her at? Is there a quiz or something that would help determine where she should be at?(1 vote)
- That's actually a great idea. You could also open each grade level and have her take the final exam for each section then see where she is not doing so good.(3 votes)
- If my child needs help with work can we always depend on you guys?(2 votes)
- Khan Academy has videos and if you get a question wrong they explain it so yes you can depend on them(2 votes)
- This is more of a statement, but you do know that kids from schools, aka mine, are in middle school and use there email AND are looking at all of this? You should really make a kid type of login and approval thing.(2 votes)
well when you log in there is one, but its kinda your mistake if you put in their email. go to their settings and your parent dashboard and change their email.ok(1 vote)
how to login in child account(2 votes)- how does a child earn a badge? my child really wants to earn one but I don't know what he needs to finish to earn one.(2 votes)
