Where to Begin: How Schools Can Empower Parents to Support Learning at Home

Every school wants to build strong home–school partnerships. We all understand the research: when parents feel confident supporting learning at home, children settle more quickly, build stronger skills, and feel more secure in their learning journey. But even when the intention is clear, the starting point can feel less obvious.

How do we genuinely empower parents, not overwhelm them?

How do we make home learning meaningful, achievable, and rooted in real family life?

In Mouse Club’s experience, the answer often begins with a simple shift: ask parents what they think would help.

Because, despite all the challenges of modern life, one thing is universal: all parents want the very best for their children. The barriers are rarely about motivation. More often, they sit within the emotional and material realities of families’ lives: juggling long shifts, caring for relatives, financial pressure, housing instability, mental health, or simply the everyday exhaustion that comes with raising young children.

When schools recognise this and respond with curiosity rather than assumptions, home learning stops being a task to deliver to families and becomes something designed with them.
Understanding the Realities of Family Life
It’s easy for schools to unintentionally overestimate what families can do. A “simple” home activity may feel overwhelming to a parent who’s:

• Working full-time
• Navigating a child with additional needs
• Coping with their own literacy or language challenges
• Experiencing loneliness, stress, or trauma
• Unsure of what “counts” as learning

Instead of assuming what families need, schools get far better results by asking. A 5-minute conversation can reveal more than a detailed action plan.

Parents may say things like:

“I want to help, but by the time we get home there’s only time for tea, bath and bed!”

“I’m not confident with reading. I don’t understand phonics.”

“Weekends are our only family time. School work makes it stressful.”

“We can’t afford craft materials”

This insight is gold. It creates the foundation for support that is realistic, respectful, and genuinely helpful.

Start With Curiosity: What Schools Can Ask

The first step is opening the door. You don’t need a formal parent survey, although those can help, because simple, human conversations are often the most powerful.

Try questions like:

• “What helps your child learn at home?”
• “What gets in the way?”
• “What would make learning at home easier for your family?”
• “When do you feel you have the most time together?”
• “How would you like us to support you?”
  

The language matters. When parents feel that their voices genuinely shape the approach, they are far more likely to engage.

Co-Creating Support That Works

The goal isn’t to hand parents a list of tasks; it’s to build confidence.

A strengths-based approach shifts the narrative. Instead of “here’s what you need to do,” try:

• “Here’s what you’re already doing, and here’s how it builds learning.”
• “Here are some ideas families have told us work well.”
• “Let’s explore this together and see what feels manageable.”
  

Parents already support learning in countless natural ways: chatting on the walk to school, cooking together, playing games, noticing numbers in the environment, sharing books, or simply spending time talking and listening. Highlighting this helps families feel more capable and more connected to school.

The Mouse Club Way: Model, Mentor, Coach

At Mouse Club, everything is co-designed with families and educators. Our approach is intentionally simple, inclusive, and skills-based.

Model the activity

Staff demonstrate simple, playful home learning ideas, nothing overwhelming, nothing expensive, and no pressure to “get it right.” Parents see exactly how each activity works and how it supports their child’s learning.

Mentor families as they try it

Parents then have the chance to do the activity alongside their child. Staff offer gentle support, encouragement, reassurance, and practical ideas to help parents feel confident and successful in the moment.

Coach through ongoing support

This final step deepens the relationship. Staff continues to check in with parents after the session, asking how things are going at home, celebrating successes, offering small tips, and helping families build the activity into their everyday routines. Coaching is consistent, positive, and focused on building long-term confidence and connection.

Time and again, this approach transforms what parents believe about themselves. They realise they can support learning, even when life feels chaotic. They discover that home learning doesn’t require expensive resources; it requires connection, conversation, and confidence.

And for schools, the benefits are immediate: children arrive more settled, parents feel more included, and the relationship between home and school becomes warmer, stronger, and more collaborative.

Starting Today: Your First Step

If you want to strengthen home learning in your school or setting, the first step is beautifully simple:

Ask parents what would help, and listen to what they say.

Their answers will guide everything that follows.

And if you’d like ready-made, research-informed tools to support this process, Mouse Club offers:

• a Parent Membership full of simple home learning activities
• a School Membership packed with resources, session plans, templates, family engagement tools, and staff guidance
• practical resources to help you build a thriving, confident, and connected school community

When schools and families work together, children flourish; and that partnership starts with one meaningful conversation.