When school is “on vacation,” there’s no homework, no schoolwork, no learning … right?

That shouldn’t be true at home. Everyday there is learning at home, no matter what your age.

Learning can be as simple as learning to say thank you on a regular basis up to doing the work you should have been doing in your geometry class. It includes reading with your preschooler or your primary grade child which is worthwhile to do every day. Learning at home means helping with the animals to make sure they are fed and clean.

Learning at home includes counting the jelly beans to help your child learn the numbers that everyone needs to know. It is going for a ride in the car and pointing out important places to look at or streets you should know. It is even watching television shows that might teach you or your child something. Learning is everywhere.

Positive interaction key

The best thing about learning is that it really can be fun. One of the most important things to teach your child about learning is the fact that it can be fun. Get excited when your child has the correct answer or when she does the correct thing. Help her become involved in figuring out what to learn.

Could she make a new recipe? If she tries something new that she has just learned, make a big deal out of it. Talk about it at dinner or to Grandma over the phone.

Encourage her to do it but let her know you are pleased with her new skill. Your response to her new learning efforts is the key to whether she will want to learn the next thing.

Learning at home includes learning to answer the telephone correctly. It isn’t only being polite on the phone, it also is learning the essential information you need to convey to your parents.

This is one more lifelong lesson. Actually, many of life’s lessons are simple things like phone manners. It is being polite at dinner, waiting for everyone to sit down to eat before you begin, waiting for everyone to be done before you ask to leave. Even asking politely to pass the gravy is a lesson in the making.

Cleaning up

Cleaning is an essential life skill that is learned at home. Cleaning her room should be a task she learns from others in her home. It is one that you may need to spend considerable time teaching, but in the long run it is worthwhile.

Learning how to make a bed isn’t easy. Teach her, help her, reinforce what she is doing, praise her and sit back and be proud of her. I was impressed when I read that the President’s children make their beds each morning. That is impressive.

There are a number of tasks children should learn to do no matter what background they come from. This is learning to be responsible. This is learning that almost always takes place at home.

Learning how to treat others is also a home lesson. When you hear your child speaking rudely to someone else, there is a lesson to be taught. When your child is sending inappropriate messages on the computer or posting something he shouldn’t on Facebook, there is a need for some learning to take place. When your child is rude or mean to his sister or brother, that is another lesson waiting. Being nice is learned at home.

Being helpful is learned at home. Being responsible is learned at home.

Actually, many of the lessons in life that need to be learned are learned at home. As a parent you are in a special role to help teach your child many lessons in life. You really are their first and most important teacher.

The “At Home Lessons” are everyday things we all need to learn throughout life. They are the basis for how we live our lives. They also are the basis for many lessons we learn at school. Some would say that these lessons are the basis for living a responsible life.

Your help is very much needed.

Cynthia Martin is the founder of the First Teacher program and director of Parenting Matters Foundation, which publishes newsletters for parents, care-givers and grandparents. Reach Martin at pmf@olypen.com or at 681-2250.