Homework Help Tips For Parents
Of course, helping with homework shouldn't mean spending hours hunched over a desk. Parents can be supportive by demonstrating study and organization skills, explaining a tricky problem, or just encouraging kids to take a break. And who knows? Parents might even learn a thing or two!
homework help tips for parents
To help you get there, we asked teachers and parents to share their strategies for solving the most common homework struggles. These 10 tips will bring harmony back into your homework routine, whether your child is a kindergartner or 5th grader, perfectionist or procrastinator.
Step 1. Find a location in the house where homework will be done. The right location will depend on your child and the culture of your family. Some children do best at a desk in their bedroom. It is a quiet location, away from the hubbub of family noise. Other children become too distracted by the things they keep in their bedroom and do better at a place removed from those distractions, like the dining room table. Some children need to work by themselves. Others need to have parents nearby to help keep them on task and to answer questions when problems arise. Ask your child where the best place is to work. Both you and your child need to discuss pros and cons of different settings to arrive at a mutually agreed upon location.
Step 2. Set up a homework center. Once you and your child have identified a location, fix it up as a home office/homework center. Make sure there is a clear workspace large enough to set out all the materials necessary for completing assignments. Outfit the homework center with the kinds of supplies your child is most likely to need, such as pencils, pens, colored markers, rulers, scissors, a dictionary and thesaurus, graph paper, construction paper, glue and cellophane tape, lined paper, a calculator, spell checker, and, depending on the age and needs of your child, a computer or laptop. If the homework center is a place that will be used for other things (such as the dining room table), then your child can keep the supplies in a portable crate or bin. If possible, the homework center should include a bulletin board that can hold a monthly calendar on which your child can keep track of longterm assignments. Allowing children some leeway in decorating the homework center can help them feel at home there, but you should be careful that it does not become too cluttered with distracting materials.
Step 4. Establish a daily homework schedule. In general, at least into middle school, the homework session should begin with your sitting down with your child and drawing up a homework schedule. You should review all the assignments and make sure your child understands them and has all the necessary materials. Ask your child to estimate how long it will take to complete each assignment. Then ask when each assignment will get started. If your child needs help with any assignment, then this should be determined at the beginning so that the start times can take into account parent availability. A Daily Homework Planner is included at the end of this handout and contains a place for identifying when breaks may be taken and what rewards may be earned.
Many children who are not motivated by the enjoyment of doing homework are motivated by the high grade they hope to earn as a result of doing a quality job. Thus, the grade is an incentive, motivating the child to do homework with care and in a timely manner. For children who are not motivated by grades, parents will need to look for other rewards to help them get through their nightly chores. Incentive systems fall into two categories: simple and elaborate.
Building in choice. This can be an effective strategy for parents to use with children who resist homework. Choice can be incorporated into both the order in which the child agrees to complete assignments and the schedule they will follow to get the work done. Building in choice not only helps motivate children but can also reduce power struggles between parents and children.
Reading Rockets is a national multimedia project that offers a wealth of research-based reading strategies, lessons, and activities designed to help young children learn how to read and read better. Our reading resources assist parents, teachers, and other educators in helping struggling readers build fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension skills.Copyright 2023 WETA Public Broadcasting
Homework can be a source of frustration and difficulty particularly for students with ADHD. As a parent, you can help lessen that frustration by creating an organized and comfortable space within your home for your child to do homework. This might be a kitchen table, desk, or even a floor mat. The best space is one where your child can be near you or another adult but yet have minimal distractions.
There are lots of ways to make it easier for your child to get homework done each night, even if you are unable to be there during homework time. These tips offer a variety of ideas and also describe steps you can take if your child has difficulty with homework during the school year.
Getting kids to do their homework can be a battle of wills, and many parents can attest to the frustrations that come with helping children complete assignments. But education experts say there is plenty of homework help available for both parents and students.
While some educators and researchers have questioned the value of homework and its ability to improve academic outcomes, it is still a part of life in most schools, and experts say it helps teach children executive function skills, such as planning and completing assigned tasks.
Educators say teachers are the first people struggling students and their parents should go to for help. Teachers often have office hours or dedicated time during the school day for students to drop by to ask questions.
There are a plethora of online resources purporting to help kids with their homework and practice skills they are learning in school, and many are free or offer low subscription rates. But determining which apps will be most helpful can be daunting.
Common Sense, a nonprofit that independently reviews online media and content for children, has information on educational apps that can help parents determine what kinds of online homework might be the most beneficial. Teachers are often a good source to ask about what online sites or apps might be most helpful for the curriculum they are teaching.
The best homework to solidify STEM teaching and learning is to apply what your children learn outside of the classroom. It takes the intentional involvement of all stakeholders to nurture a STEMtastic student. Through teaching and learning from educators, parents, community partners and businesses both in and out of the classroom, PGCPS students will be prepared to solve the problems of the 21st and 22nd Century.
With the competitive, not to mention stressful, academic environment today, more and more kids are experiencing difficulty keeping up with the demands of the school. Experts say that one of the primary reasons why students, especially the younger ones, get tired or bored is that they are given lots of assignments without knowing where to get help with their homework.
2. Be more engaging. Kids love activities that are interactive. If you provide homework help, make sure that your focus is one hundred percent on the topic so your child will be more attentive. Remember, if your child sees that you are not really into what you are doing, he or she will also think of other things. When your child is distracted, it will be more difficult for him or her to absorb any information or learn.
We suggest that, as the school year begins, you take some time to think about how your child typically deals with homework. Identify one or two ways in which your student struggles, and one or two ways in which you might help him or her focus on their strengths and take steps to overcome challenges.
Work in short bursts. Kids get overwhelmed with long worksheets and multiple assignments. Break homework into timed chunks. After a busy day at school, parents can typically expect their youngsters to focus on a task for one minute for each year of their age. That means a 6-year-old should be given a two- or three-minute break every six minutes.
Parental involvement with homework impacts students in a positive way. One of the most important reasons for parental involvement is that it helps alleviate stress and anxiety if the students are facing challenges with specific skills or topics. Parents have experience and expertise with a variety of subject matter and life experiences to help increase relevance. Parents help their children understand content and make it more meaningful, while also helping them understand things more clearly.
A few other great examples of how to involve parents in homework are conducting experiments, assignments, or project-based learning activities that parents play an active role in. Interviewing parents is a fantastic way to be directly involved in homework and allows the project to be enjoyable. Parents are honored to be interviewed, and these activities create a bond between parents and children. Students will remember these assignments for the rest of their lives.
Parents helping students with homework has a multitude of benefits. Parental involvement and engagement have lifelong benefits and creates a pathway for success. Parents provide autonomy and support, while modeling successful homework study habits.
Homework can have many benefits for young children. It can improve remembering and understanding of schoolwork. Homework can help students develop study skills that will be of value even after they leave school. It can teach them that learning takes place anywhere, not just in the classroom. Homework can benefit children in more general ways as well. It can foster positive character traits such as independence and responsibility. Homework can teach children how to manage time. Homework, if not properly assigned and monitored, can also have negative effects on children. Educators and parents worry that students will grow bored if they are required to spend too much time on schoolwork. Homework can prevent children from taking part in leisure-time and community activities that also teach important life skills. Homework can lead to undesirable character traits if it promotes cheating, either through the copying of assignments or help with homework that goes beyond tutoring.