The 4 Essential Components of Family Literacy

1. Parent and Child Together (PACT) Time - Children benefit from support and quality time spent with their parents. These are both key factors in promoting success for children in the family while creating a relationship. Through this time the parents will notice the child's interest through playful activities. The main goal is to create a sense of security for the children to learn at home so everyone can work as a unit. These play sessions with their parent are meant to be child centered and will allow the children and parents to interact completely, the parents will begin to understand their child's learning behaviors and the parents will be able to push those behaviors in a positive way. Parents will also have a chance to learn and strengthen their skills as a parents to demonstrate good behavior. The amount of time spent playing, reading, teaching and getting to know the child in different ways will building confidence for the parent.

2. Children's Education - Parents should be involved in their child's education. This component will help develop involvement for the parents and certain skills through curriculum for the child. The child's social, emotional, physical, and cognitive skills will evolve through activity, interaction, and support from their peers as well as adults. Children will get to know their surrounding and become more self assured in their environment including different materials. The children will also be allowed to work in groups as well with their parents and teachers. Exploration through activity will help the children expand their skill in many ways. The child can be assessed through observation to gain knowledge on how he or she is progressing or where the child is slowly developing. Children need support to become successful in their education which will hopefully lead to success in the future.

3. Parent Time - This component focuses on the parents and how they could gain information on how to become a well rounded parent regarding their child's education and in a general sense. Different resources, programs, and networking in their community could be beneficial to all parents growth. Observing how the teacher is with the children is a way to build knowledge on how the parent can help their child's education. Parents are just as important as children in a family, many parents forget to take care of themselves and get so absorbed in taking care of their children. Although making your child a priority is not wrong there still needs to be a sense of motivation to continue to work on different aspects of ones personal goals so their children can follow. Parent Time is something that involves different parents insights and gives the opportunity to give and receive different views on different subjects through out the community. Through all the positive info from others parents can find learning engaging and will build confidence and become a better parent for their children.

4. Adult Education - This component extends basic education skills into adulthood, including critical and creative thinking, problem solving, and interpersonal skills. These skills will be very beneficial to all adults in their personal life as well as their career. For example, the adult education teacher will be collaborating with his or her students as peers. The student will then feel more comfortable learning from an individual that might have gone through some of the same experiences while using this to teach students through different methods. This can lead to the students feeling more confident in speaking about future goals while creating a bond with their teacher and other students in the class. This component is also useful for non adult students because it demonstrates an effective way to deal with personal and family problem solving. The parents will have a better understanding of how to reach their children which will lead to more connections between the family. The parents can then use the skills they have learned to teach their children what they will need in their adult life to be successful. For example responsibility, team work, time management are all going to be used in the work force when these children become adults. Becoming a great role model for children is essential when trying to build a strong family unit.