Think about your own school days. Remember "Homework"? For parents and families, "Homework" can be a battleground or an opportunity to be involved in your child’s education.
Why Is There Homework?
- To complete work begun in class,
- To reinforce a skill being learned,
- To extend a skill learned in school,
- To encourage independent reading,
- To create a project,
- To do research, test ideas, and report back,
- To develop self-discipline, and
- To practice organizational skills.
Meaningful Homework Helps
- Students learn better,
- Students develop confidence in their own abilities, and
- Families become involved in their children’s education and show their children that they think getting an education is important.
How Much Time Should Be Spent On Homework Each Day?
Of course, it varies from child to child, but one rule of thumb is 10 minutes of homework per grade level. Thus, a child in third grade might spend 30 minutes a day on homework. What does not vary is the fact that if parents/families monitor homework and encourage their children to do their best, student achievement improves across the grades, especially in high school.
How Can Parents/Families Help?
- Set rules about homework
- When it will be done each day,
- Where it will be done, and
- What happens if it is not done, i.e., no TV until homework is done.
- State your expectations clearly.
- All homework assignments be brought home,
- All homework be done during the agreed upon homework time,
- Your child do his or her best work, and
- Your child work on his or her own.
- Make sure it’s the best time for both you and your child BEFORE helping to go over homework, review for a test or listen to a report.
- Be sure you are both clear about the purpose of an assignment.
- When an assignment is long, help your child divide the task and set up a schedule by which to have each part accomplished.
- Try to ask questions which have more than one answer and which require more than yes or no answers.
- Have your child enlarge on his or her answers and support them with facts from the story, the problem, or the textbook.
- When an answer or the work is wrong, say so and then work with your child to correct it not the child.
- Give your child time to think; don’t be too quick to help.
- PRAISE whenever you can. Let your child enjoy the satisfaction of a job well done.
For more ways to help with homework, check with your child’s teacher.
These are just some of the strategies for learning children are being taught. Check out "Using Strategies to Help Learn" for additional strategies.
For more information on how your child is doing in school and how you can help, contact your child’s teacher.