Support Resources for Parents

Understanding your strengths and finding the right support approach for your family

What Are Your Resources?

Every parent brings different strengths, time availability, and resources to support their child's online learning. Understanding what you can offer—and where you might need backup—helps you better plan how to support your child's education.

You play an essential role in your child's success in online school. Online schools offer extensive support for parents, including orientations that help you navigate the learning platform, dedicated technology support, and parent communities where families can share experiences and advice. Schools also communicate regularly through meetings, newsletters, blogs, and social media to keep parents informed and engaged.

Online schools support parents indirectly by reducing the need for constant parental involvement. Office hours, one-on-one tutoring, and live instructional sessions give students timely access to help when questions arise. Some schools also supply physical course materials, easing the logistical burden on families. Enrichment opportunities such as field trips and after-school clubs can address students' social and academic needs.

In addition, parents should consider the resources available within their own communities. Other caregivers often help share the responsibility of supporting online learning. Families can also take advantage of a wide range of digital learning tools outside the school curriculum to reinforce challenging concepts or provide additional practice.

Planning Your Support Role

If you're not quite sure how to help your online student, the HOPE survey is a great place to start. It helps you think about what your child already does well, how the school is supporting them, and where you feel most comfortable stepping in. Once you have a clearer picture, you can make a plan for supporting your student and know where to turn if you need extra help along the way. This can also guide you in choosing an online school that matches the level of involvement you want in your child's education.

Take the HOPE Survey

Supporting Student Engagement

Remember, supporting your child's learning goes beyond helping with homework. Research shows that academic success depends on students engaging in learning emotionally, behaviorally, and intellectually. Even if writing, math, or science were never your strengths, you still play an important role in your child's success. The sections below offer practical ideas for how parents can support learning by engaging students' hearts, hands, and minds.

To support emotionally engaged learning, a parent can . . .

Show interest in what your child is learning and celebrate their efforts.
Encourage curiosity and a positive attitude toward challenges.
Help your child manage frustration, stress, or anxiety when tasks are difficult.
Listen to your child's feelings about school and learning without judgment.
Create a learning environment that feels safe, supportive, and motivating.
Connect learning to future goals or personal growth.
Help your child build positive relationships with teachers.

To support physically engaged learning, a parent can . . .

Make time in your schedule to help your student, especially when they are new to online learning.
Make sure your child is oriented about how to use the LMS to access content and turn in assignments.
Help your child manage time by setting timers or offering check-ins.
Monitor coursework, assignments, and deadlines.
Establish routines and organize schedules for classes, breaks, and homework.
Set up a comfortable physical space that is conducive to learning.
Provide access to necessary technology and tools, like a computer, headphones, internet, and any required software or supplies.

To support intellectually engaged learning, a parent can . . .

Encourage thinking and problem-solving by asking questions and prompting your child to explain their reasoning.
Reinforce learning by connecting lessons to real-life examples.
Individualize content by adapting tasks to your child's interests and strengths.
Assist with assignments when needed, guiding rather than doing the work.
Encourage curiosity and exploration beyond the lesson, supporting deeper understanding and critical thinking.
Find content outside the courses to support your child's learning.

Parent Voices

Hear from parents about their experiences supporting their students in online learning.

"She catastrophizes really bad. So I need to talk her off the ledge and give her some perspective."

— Parent of Online Learner

"There are times where they will get sidetracked and go on Youtube and they have to be redirected to close that tab and go back to class."

— Parent of Online Learner

"He loves to be with people. So I was like, if you focus, I will sit beside you while your teacher's reading this story, and she'll read to both of us. He loves it when I do it with him."

— Parent of Online Learner

"He does not understand fractions at all. They're a very difficult concept for him, and so I went and watched the recording myself to see how his teacher had taught that to him. And then, I also showed him another way to solve them using the multiplication chart."

— Parent of Online Learner

"If he gets frustrated with math, I'll just usually say, okay, well write the question out. Look at the pieces. Look at what you need to do. Really think through what your teacher said. And then, if he needs help, I encourage him to ask her, because a lot of the ways that they do it are different than the way I learned it a lot of years ago."

— Parent of Online Learner

"There's a parent portal. I can go in under my password. I can see if something's not done."

— Parent of Online Learner