How to Help Your Child with Homework
When the teacher announces a homework assignment, most kids cringe and squirm in their seats. After all, they don’t want the burden. They’d much rather not even think about schoolwork from the time they leave the schoolhouse until they have to return the next day. It’s your job to see that the homework is completed--on time and accurately--without actually doing it yourself. Here are a few tips on how to help your child with homework.
Be Accessible
One of the most important aspects of helping your child with their homework is to be accessible to them. Set aside a time when you can be available to assist them with things they’re having trouble understanding. Consider it a bonding time, a few minutes out of the day when you and your child put everything else aside and study together. The child needs to be confident that you’ll not only be willing to help, but that you encourage them to come to you when they don’t understand something. Above all, don’t simply do the work yourself--help them work out the problems themselves.
Building Confidence
Your job as a parent helping your child with their homework is not to actually do it yourself, rather it is to build their confidence so the child will be able to absorb the information they’re studying. Think of the old adage, ‘give a man a fish and he can eat for a day, teach him to fish and he can eat for a lifetime.’ The same principal applies to helping your child with their homework. If you do it yourself, the assignment is done, but the child learns nothing. If you help them understand the problem and work it out, they will actually be learning and will be able to do it themselves next time.
You Are a Guide
Organization is a key to success in virtually any endeavor. It’s a lesson your child will need to learn sooner or later, so you may as well help your child understand that now by organizing their homework time. Choose a place in the house that will be designated as homework central. It can be the kitchen or dining room table or a desk in the child's room. When homework time rolls around, your child should be encouraged to be ready and have everything they’ll need to complete their homework assignment, including any resources and material, such as pencils and paper, a dictionary, thesaurus, etc. You should make sure there are no distractions, such as a television or radio playing, and make sure the child’s cell phone or iPod are turned off. Remember, you aren’t going to do the work for them; you’re helping them learn how to do the work themselves.
Encourage Good Study Habits
By having your child organize their workplace and get ready for study time, you’re helping them understand the value of being prepared. The next step is to encourage good study habits. By eliminating distractions, you show them the importance of concentrating on their homework instead of doing a question here and there during a commercial. If they need help understanding something, you should try and find a way to make them comprehend the concept instead of simply answering the question. Once they’ve worked out the problem for themselves, they’ll be more likely to retain the information.
Be Interested
At the end of a long, hard day you probably want to do nothing more strenuous than flipping channels on the TV or sitting down to read a good book. The last thing you want to do is help your child with their homework. However, being a good parent, that’s exactly what you need to do. So, you suck it up and drag yourself over to help--with a scowl on your face and impatience written all over you. That’s exactly what you shouldn’t do. Instead, you should approach homework time with the intention of actually helping the child, not merely getting it over with. You need to show the child that you’re interested in their education, and that you’re willing to help. Remember, the object is to prepare your child for their future, and helping them grasp concepts that are foreign to them is what homework is all about.
Guest post from Taylor Harris.
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