When you're a noncustodial parent, sometimes it's hard to stay in the loop with your kids' day-to-day lives. After all, when your kid comes home with a backpack full of papers, it's not going to your house. What do you do to keep the lines of communication open between your household and the schools?
Our household has had luck with a few different things:
- Stay in touch with the school. At the beginning of the year, introduce yourself to your child(ren)'s teacher(s). Let them know who you are and how best to reach you.
- Request that the office send you duplicates of any information sent to the custodial home. Yes, this one doesn't necessarily appeal to my tree-hugging side, but you can request what type of information you would like to receive. Notification of standardized testing? Progress reports? Report cards? Usually, these are the things you'll want. Notification that your child's class brought in the most GM Box Tops? Maybe not. It's up to you.
- Be willing to provide Self-Addressed Stamped Envelopes, if that's what it takes. In my stepson's earlier years, we provided the schools with SASEs to ensure communication. Lately, we haven't had to. However, if you want the information, you should at least make the offer to provide the SASE – the schools may well tell you that it's not necessary.
These steps go towards keeping the lines of communication open with your home and the school. Email can be your friend, and if your child(ren)'s school has a parent website, check with the powers-that-be about getting access to your child's online report.
What things have worked for you to stay involved in your child's schooling when you're not the custodial home?
Photo courtesy of: Conspirator
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Great post! I cross-posted on my blog for noncustodial parents: http://ncp-community.blogspot.com/2009/03/noncustodial-parents-stay-in-touch-with.html