Basically, the support of parents toward their children’s education involves two main points; they are moral support and material support
Moral support
Moral support is fulfilling of psychological needs includes affection, love, exemplary, guidance, direction, encouragement and instilling self-confidence (Widayati2005:21). By the attention of the parents in the form of compliance psychological needs are expected to give the spirit of children's learning in order to achieve their goals or achievement. Parental supervision of children's learning at home can be done in various ways such as always remind their children about their task that must be completed at home, monitor their child’s activity at home during both learning activity and his social activity, and also pay attention to the reading books that owned by his son. For children, parents are the model that should be emulated and imitated. As a model, parents should provide the best example for the children in the family. Parent attitudes and behaviors should reflect the noble spirit. Therefore, Islam teaches to all parents that they have to always teach something fine to their child. The Prophet said; “teach the kindness to your children and bring them up with good manners”, narrated by Abdurrazaq Ibn Mansur (Abdullah Nasikh Ulwani 1999; 186). So the Hadith mentioned above explained that educating children is the duty of parents and the parents as the first educators should give model or good example to their children that reflect the noble character and noble manners.
Elizabeth in Uno (2005) divided family composition into three. They are family. They are authoritarian family, democrat family and liberal family. In family that is authoritarian, the child’s development is determined solely by the parents. Personal nature of authoritarian child is introvert, lonely, setback maturity, hesitant in all actions and slow initiative. In democrat family, children’s personal attitude more flexible can control him; appreciate to other works appreciatory, accept criticism openly. They are also active in their life, stable in emotional and have a sense of responsibility. In liberal family, the children do their action freely. The properties of these families are usually aggressive, uncooperative with others, difficult adaptation, less stable emotionally and have always been suspicious nature (Ahmad 1991:112)
Parenting differences from each family will have an impact on the nature or behavior of children in each family. This parenting result is from the attention that has shown to the child, as example in learning at school. So although there are diversity of family form or composition in society, but awareness of the responsibility of educating and foster children continually need to be developed at each parents certainly with the provision of modern educational theories fit with the time. If this can be done by any parents so the next generation have to have the strong mental deal with changes in society.
The educational responsibilities that need to be aware of and nurtured by both parents of the child are maintaining and rising. This responsibility is a natural impulse to be implemented for children can live sustainably, protect and ensure their health both physically and mental disorders of various diseases or environmental danger that endanger him, educated with a variety of knowledge and skills useful for life, joyous the child to live in the world and the hereafter with give religious education in accordance with the provisions of God as Moslem live final destination (Ikhsan, 1996:64).
After the responsibility of parents towards their children come true, certainly has its own function or purpose can be presumably useful for the children in community life. According to Hasbullah (2001:33) function in existing educational family includes as the first experience of childhood, ensuring child’s emotional life, instilling basic moral education, providing basic social education, laying the foundations of religious education for children.
Therefore, after parents succeeded in giving guidance and supervision of children in the informal education, the duty of parents to be carried further is to provide in the form of material support to their children as a supporter in fulfill learning needs and encourage their children in learning activities school in the context to achieve a learning achievement.
Material Support
Material support is fulfilling physical needs of learning includes cost of education, learning facilities, books and learning equipment and place of learning (Slameto, 2010). Material support is the support of the fulfillment of physical needs for the purposes of study, includes:
a. Cost of education
Cost of education is defined as the amount of money earned and spent on various education purposes. In achieving the learning objectives, the cost should be prioritized and prepared as possible. The budget costs include school fees, transportation costs, the cost of purchasing equipment, and live cost.
b. Learning facilities
Learning facility is something that is needed by every child in learning activities. According to Liem Nio Hwie in Kartono Kartono, learning facilities means are stationery, text books, and a place to learn. Today students also need modern equipments such as the need of computer and Internet networks. Adequate facilities will support the children’s satisfactory academic achievement.
c. The availability of a place to learn
Study has a significant role to determine academic achievement. Each student should have a qualified learning place for study. Thus, a comfortable room, clean and tidy can increase the concentration of children in learning.
According to Slameto (2010), it’s necessary to learn in effective physical environment properly and regularly. The physical environment is closely related to the provision of learning facilities for children, for example, room is clean, space bright enough and not dark, having of sufficient equipments such as stationery, books and other subjects.
To fulfill the physical needs are certainly related to family social economic status or income within the family themselves (Slameto: 2010). Soekirno in Widayati (2005), states that the income position as community workers will receive salary or wages, the owners of capital equipment will receive interest, landowners and other fixed assets to receive rents, and owners of entrepreneurial skill will receive the benefit. So that includes income here is all good income that form of money or goods received as fringe benefits or cons of achievement. Family with high income would be easily fulfill the cost of the educational needs of children that includes school fee, school equipments, transportation, learning tool at home, uniform, extra-curricular fee and the child’s allowance is no exception and conversely. Families with low income will have difficulty in fulfill needs of children. Therefore, students whose parents have high income, all their needs related with learning activities will soon fulfilled, so that the learning needs can support of achieving good achievement.
In addition, according to Aliah and Purwakania (2006) there is other kind of parents’ support beside moral and material support namely spiritual support. According to Webster's dictionary (1963), the word "spirit" comes from the noun of Latin "spiritus" means breathe and verbs. Seeing of the original derivational word, he says that life is to breathe, and have a breather means to have spirit. Spirituality means having more ties to the spiritual or psychological nature, and carry out religious worship activity. Spiritual Support is fulfilling of spiritual needs related to the relationship between god and human being. Parents’ support in spiritual can be formed of praying, fasting and reciting the holly Qur’an. In this case, parents prepare the mental spiritual and worship closer to the God almighty, because besides moral and material support there are others power and authority of God which also determine either the success or failure of our children.