"Why?"

This is the question we parents are always trying to answer.

It's good that children ask questions: that's the best way to learn. All children have two wonderful resources for learning - imagination and curiosity.

As a parent, you can awaken your children to the joy of learning by encouraging their imagination and curiosity.

Helping Your Child Learn to Read is one in a series of steps intended to help you make the most of your child's natural curiosity. Teaching and learning are not mysteries that can only happen in school. They also happen when parents and children do simple things together.

For instance, you and your child can:

• sort the socks on laundry day - sorting is a major function in math and science
• cook a meal together - cooking involves not only math and science but good health as well
• tell and read each other stories, storytelling is the basis for reading and writing (and a story about the past is also history)
• or play a game of hopscotch together playing physical games will help your child learn to count and start on a road to lifelong fitness

By doing things together, you will show that learning is fun and important. You will be encouraging your child to study, learn, and stay in school.