5 Ways to Help a Child with Homework

As a teacher, I have had many parents over the years ask me how they can help their children with homework. It is not always easy for kids to do their homework and the support of their parents is imperative for children to be successful in completing their homework in an efficient and effective manner.

Although parents should not be doing their child's homework for them, a parent should be available for support and offer lots of positive encouragement.

Here you will find 5 ways on how to help your child with homework:

Encourage Organization

I have noticed that organization skills are a huge issue for many kids, there are children who have no idea on how to get organized. Being disorganized not only affects the performance in the classroom but it also extends into homework time. Encouraging and showing your child how to be organized really helps in successful homework completion and will also help in the classroom.

Designate a Quiet Spot

It is really important that your child has a quiet place in the home where he or she can complete their homework. Kids can easily be distracted and making sure that your child is able to concentrate and focus on their homework will help your child in getting that homework done and getting it done well.

Make It a Priority

Making sure that you show your child that homework is a priority by not allowing anything else to interfere with the homework such as: a telephone, TV, visitors etc. will let your child know that the homework needs to be completed before other things are to grab your child's attention.

Take Breaks

Some children do need breaks when doing their homework, figure out what time limit works best for your child and be sure to schedule in break a ways for your child from the homework even if it is for a few minutes or so.

Make Contact with the Teacher

Having open communication with the teacher is really important so that if there are any questions or concerns about the homework, there is a level of comfort with contacting the teacher as well as the teacher contacting the parent. Also, when the child knows that the parent and teacher are in contact with each other, there is less of a chance that the child will attempt to give two different stories if there is an urge to do so.

Sources:

http://www2.ed.gov/parents/academic/help/homework/index.html

http://pediatrics.about.com/cs/parentingadvice/a/homework_help.htmhttp://school.familyeducation.com/homework/activity/34550.html