Handbook for Home Visits

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Handbook for Home Visits

• Waterloo Community School District

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Purpose of Home Visits

• To support student academic achievement through
  the development of partnerships with parents and
  families
• To provide an opportunity to interact with
  students and their families in their home setting
  in order to better understand the students
  strengths, needs and home environment

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Purpose of Home Visits

• To establish communication and rapport with
  families
• To allow teachers to learn from the families of
  their students
• To allow families to learn from the teacher of
  their students

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Goals of Home Visits

• Learn more about your students and his or her
  home life
• Interact in a relaxed, non-threatening
  environment
• Gain useful information that will help with
  motivation, behavior and achievement
• Foster parent involvement in their own childs
  learning

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Benefits of Home Visits

• Open communication
• Builds trusting relationships
• Support for student learning from home
• Meaningful, personal connection to students
  family
• Valuable insights about students

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Research on Home Visits

• Home Visits Promote Early Learning
• Families talk more, read more and have more
  positive interactions with their children.
• Families engage in more educational activities at
  home and in their communities.
• Children show improved early literacy,
  language, problem solving, social awareness and
  competence, and basic skills.
• Children have higher scores on achievement and
  standardized tests.
• School attendance improves.

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Research on Home Visits

• Home Visits Have Lasting Impact
• Home visiting has been associated with
  long-term improvements in childrens reading and
  language skills.
• Children demonstrate better school performance
  and improved standardized test performance in
  elementary school.
• Participation in home visiting is associated
  with higher rates of high school graduation.
• (See Home Visiting-A proven Strategy for Helping
  Families Thrive and Ensuring School Success
  www.healthyfamiliesamerica.org for full citation
  of references)

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Dos for Home Visits

• Do
• Schedule visit well in advance at a time
  convenient to family members
• Plan to make visits brief, but let families lead
  on how long to stay
• Consider safety issues (let someone know where
  you are, carry a cell phone, be aware of your
  surroundings)

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Dos for Home Visits

• Do
• Offer to meet at alternate location if parent
  does not want to meet in their home (restaurant,
  park etc.)
• Dress comfortably and casually
• Accept the familys hospitality

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Dos for Home Visits

• Do
• Share with families about yourself and your
  interests
• Be aware of the variety of cultures your students
  represent
• Acknowledge parents as their childs first
  teacher
• Listen and observe as well as ask questions

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Dos for Home Visits

• Do
• Have a brief but flexible agenda
• Focus on the family. Get them involved in the
  conversation
• Remember that home visits are not a time to focus
  on problems at school but rather to establish a
  partnership

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Dos for Home Visits

• Do
• Consider questions that will guide discussion
• What are your childs interests/activities?
• What are your childs strengths?
• How does your child handle stress?
• What do you think your child needs to work on
  most?
• How does your child interact with others?

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Dos for Home Visits

• Questions continued
• What have you discovered about how your child
  learns best?
• What does your child already know a lot about?
• What are your goals for your child this year?

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Dos for Home Visits

• Questions continued
• Who are your childs friends?
• What, if anything, makes your child nervous?
• Are there any health concerns that I need to know
  about?
• What else will I need to know to work best with
  your child?

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Dos for Home Visits

• Do
• Ask for feedback about the effectiveness of the
  visit
• Ask about the best way to communicate with the
  family
• Respect the privacy of the family
• Call or send a thank you note to the family

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Goal Setting Sheet

• Childs Name___________ Date____
• Teachers Name__________
• Goals for 2005-06 School Year
• 1.
• 2.
• 3.

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Home Visit Log Sheetfor ____________
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Resources

• A search with the key words home visits and
  education resulted in a wealth of resource
  material. Attached are selected references that
  may be helpful.

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• The more you know about a childs family, the
  better you can meet the childs needs, and the
  best way to learn about the family is to be there
  with them.
• Gayle (primary teacher)