How to Help Your Child With Homework
Read the instructions given by the teacher., Ask your child to explain the assignment to you., Look at sample problems or writings together., Focus on the quality of the effort made., Suggest a short break when they get stuck., Don’t keep trying to...
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Read the instructions given by the teacher.
In order to make sure you are helping effectively, you need to familiarize yourself with the assignment.
Read the instructions carefully.
If you need further explanation, reading the corresponding lesson in the textbook will be helpful too.
Make sure to read the material given to your child, not look up explanations on the internet first.
You may end up finding a different method or explanation than the teacher is using, and this can cause unnecessary confusion for your child. -
Step 2: Ask your child to explain the assignment to you.
After reading the instructions yourself, ask your child to explain them to you in their own words.
This will help ensure that your child knows what they are being asked to do and what is expected of them by the teacher.
Ask questions to clarify instructions if you think it is necessary.
Their answers will help you decide how much help they need.
If they do not clearly understand, go over the lesson in the textbook with them.
Ask them to read a section and then explain it in their own words. , If their book offers some sample questions or essays, read over them with your child and make sure they understand both how the instructor got to the answer given and/or why the answer or sample essay is complete. , When going over a problem or assignment with your child, praise them for things they did well, especially if it indicates an improvement over past assignments.
For writing assignments, you might say “Good job with indenting paragraphs,” or “This is a great start.
What do you think happens next?”Do not get angry if they continue having trouble with a problem or assignment.
Punishing them for not understanding will likely cause them to stop asking for help.
Do not give away answers, but explain how to find them.
Ask the teacher if you need assistance, or find a reputable tutor. , If they are having trouble with a task, a break may help them refocus.
Take 10 minutes to do something fun or active before trying to re-approach the issue or problem. , If they are having trouble getting a particular idea down, repeating yourself isn’t going to help.
Automatically showing them a different method of doing it might be confusing if the teacher has been teaching them with another method.If the problem relates to your child’s learning style, you can try to reframe the information from a different perspective, but make sure the teacher knows you did so and specifically why your child had trouble with the assignment as given.
For older elementary or middle school students, allow them to ask their teacher for help instead of doing it for them.
The more agency kids have in their learning, the more they actually learn., Don’t just check their answers and say to do the problem again.
Go over each issue/problem individually with them if the assignment is particularly hard.
If your child is just having trouble with one or two questions, focus on those, and refer to others they did well as examples.Only go over in detail those assignments or problems your child has particular trouble with.
Don’t read over every assignment they get for the rest of the year, or they will not learn as much and/or will become too dependent on you. -
Step 3: Look at sample problems or writings together.
-
Step 4: Focus on the quality of the effort made.
-
Step 5: Suggest a short break when they get stuck.
-
Step 6: Don’t keep trying to re-teach difficult concepts the same way.
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Step 7: Go over the assignment or problem with them at the end.
Detailed Guide
In order to make sure you are helping effectively, you need to familiarize yourself with the assignment.
Read the instructions carefully.
If you need further explanation, reading the corresponding lesson in the textbook will be helpful too.
Make sure to read the material given to your child, not look up explanations on the internet first.
You may end up finding a different method or explanation than the teacher is using, and this can cause unnecessary confusion for your child.
After reading the instructions yourself, ask your child to explain them to you in their own words.
This will help ensure that your child knows what they are being asked to do and what is expected of them by the teacher.
Ask questions to clarify instructions if you think it is necessary.
Their answers will help you decide how much help they need.
If they do not clearly understand, go over the lesson in the textbook with them.
Ask them to read a section and then explain it in their own words. , If their book offers some sample questions or essays, read over them with your child and make sure they understand both how the instructor got to the answer given and/or why the answer or sample essay is complete. , When going over a problem or assignment with your child, praise them for things they did well, especially if it indicates an improvement over past assignments.
For writing assignments, you might say “Good job with indenting paragraphs,” or “This is a great start.
What do you think happens next?”Do not get angry if they continue having trouble with a problem or assignment.
Punishing them for not understanding will likely cause them to stop asking for help.
Do not give away answers, but explain how to find them.
Ask the teacher if you need assistance, or find a reputable tutor. , If they are having trouble with a task, a break may help them refocus.
Take 10 minutes to do something fun or active before trying to re-approach the issue or problem. , If they are having trouble getting a particular idea down, repeating yourself isn’t going to help.
Automatically showing them a different method of doing it might be confusing if the teacher has been teaching them with another method.If the problem relates to your child’s learning style, you can try to reframe the information from a different perspective, but make sure the teacher knows you did so and specifically why your child had trouble with the assignment as given.
For older elementary or middle school students, allow them to ask their teacher for help instead of doing it for them.
The more agency kids have in their learning, the more they actually learn., Don’t just check their answers and say to do the problem again.
Go over each issue/problem individually with them if the assignment is particularly hard.
If your child is just having trouble with one or two questions, focus on those, and refer to others they did well as examples.Only go over in detail those assignments or problems your child has particular trouble with.
Don’t read over every assignment they get for the rest of the year, or they will not learn as much and/or will become too dependent on you.
About the Author
Michael Simmons
Specializes in breaking down complex home improvement topics into simple steps.
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