What suggestions can you give a teacher to conduct a
positive and purposed home visit?
Go to their home with a positive and accepting attitude.
Find something complementary to say about the home, cooking, yard, or something
else that is honest and helps put the family at ease. Many of the families feel
stressed at the idea of a teacher or anyone else in their home. Bring their
child’s portfolio or samples of their work and art. For each concern you have
to discuss with the family have at least two positive things to mention as
well. Don’t shy away from the hard topics but emphasis them in a positive way,
show the families that you are there to support their child and advocate for
them. Prove to them that you are an ally.
What has been your best home visit?
I think my best “home visit” was actually one that occurred in
my classroom. It was my favorite because they brought the whole family so I got
to talk with my student, both parents, two siblings, and a visiting grandparent.
It was a joyful visit and made my student proud to show off his family.
What has been your worst home visit?
I wouldn’t say that I’ve had a “worst” home visit because
they were all productive and gave useful insights. I pulled up to a home and
could see and smell their neighbors smoking marijuana on their own porch. The
family knew it was an issue and couldn’t let their child play outside because of
it. A portion of the home visit was spent on helping the family report the
issue.
Also, I do not recommend giving families your cell phone
number unless you have known them some time and have built a relationship. I
gave my number to a mother as a way to comfort her but it ended up getting
abused when she had a series of mental health incidents. Instead, I would
advise teachers to emphasis the use of their business email but let them know
that you check it every day. You may still want to use your cell, but you will
probably be added to their Snapchat/Facebook and end up seeing things you may
not want to have seen as their child’s teacher (also vice versa).
What suggestions you have for teachers to avoid problems
when visiting parents?
Don’t mandate that the visit MUST be in their home. Let
families know that it is the preferred choice but that you are also willing to
meet at a library, McDonald’s, or other neutral area. If neither is possible,
allow the “home visit” to happen at the school but do it in a less formal
setting, sit on a couch and have toys out for students to play with. Be
flexible with times as much as your school will allow; many families have
difficult work schedules. Take notes! Also, have a book or list of community
resources that you can reference or give to families. Many families are more
likely to open up about financial or emotional hardships when in the comfort of
their own home. At the very minimum I recommend having information for the Department
of Human Resources, WIC, local Area Education Association, local food pantries,
abuse shelters, low cost clinics, women’s health clinics, ELL services,
literacy services, rehab facilities, and non-emergency police numbers. Make
sure that this information is in their home language.
Do you include the child in the home visit? If you do,
what activities you do with the child?
I always include children in home visits and conferences. I’m
a big believer in student portfolios and children love to show off their work
to their families. When talking with families about concerns and celebrations I
like to include the child and ask them their thoughts about how things can
improve or what they liked best about a project.
What information do you collect on home visits?
What information do you collect on home visits?
- How are you feeling about your child’s education so far?
- Do you have any concerns about me, the classroom, or your child’s development?
- What are you proud of about your child?
- What time does your child go to sleep and wake up in the morning? Do they wake during the night at all? We usually talk about how a preschooler needs ten hours of sleep at night in addition to their two hour nap during the day.
- How does your child eat at home? Then we compare that to their eating habits at school and discuss healthy eating and how to introduce new foods.
- How much time does your child have with electronics? We also usually talk about appropriate time limits and limiting media to those rated G and PG.
If there are concerns about the home environment I try to
address them as tactfully as possible but also try to evaluate if it is my own
culture influencing my opinions. Sometimes things that may be a concern to the
teacher are normal for that family and you have to decide if you are being
biased. For example, I had a student whose family was devout in their religious
practices and would attend church for three hours several nights a week,
meaning that the child did not get to sleep until 10pm on those nights. Was it
my place to judge that family? No. However, I did emphasis getting the child to
bed early on other nights and made sure that he was the last one woken up after
our daily nap.
