How Much Should You Help Your Kids With Homework?

As school approaches you and your kids are probably expecting waves of increasingly difficult homework. Depending on the age of your child, it can be overwhelming. When you see your children struggling, it can be difficult to back off, the rescue force is strong. Parenting intervention in homework varies from family to family, scaling from no help to doing the homework themselves. Kids also vary on how much help they need, subject, learning disabilities, and age can all influence how much assistance they need. If you are unsure how much to help your child with homework, let us help you find a way to be the most helpful to your child.

Organizational Skills

One of the best things that you can do for your children is to help them learn to be organized and make priorities. Asking them to show you what homework is due each day, helping them find the right materials, and giving a lot of instruction on what to do when, will not help them learn to be self-sufficient. Start early by demonstrating how you organize your days. Explain your reasoning about why you start with certain errands or chores and end with others. Perhaps you start with the shortest, easiest and finish with the more complicated or vice versa.

Help your child create a homework routine, which is maintained regularly. It is helpful to create a place that is conducive to learning. Make sure there is no TV, reduced distractions, and ample light. You can also set a routine for time. For example, after school, have a snack, then work on homework.

You can also give organizational advice, offering a single place to keep all homework-related equipment. It is important to offer advice and reasoning, but not spend a lot of time enforcing. As you enforce strict rules and performance expectations, kids get more apprehensive and lose confidence and interest regarding homework.

Encourage Internal Motivation

You can fight, demand, bribe, and plead for homework to be finished, but the most effective way to increase your child’s desire for education is to help them find internal motivation. There are a number of effective methods to do this. You have probably read about new studies that show praising innate intelligence can backfire, and it is better to praise effort. When your child makes a lot of effort, even if he doesn’t get the grade hoped for, it is important to praise the effort. It is also important to let your child fail sometimes, it will help him

Other ways to build motivation are to talk about and demonstrate how completing homework and learning can affect their life and lead to success. When your child is struggling or becoming disinterested, show her what working hard can do for her. Tell stories of how you or someone you know struggled and worked through, going on to get a good job, become president, change the world, etc.

How Much Should you Help your Child with Homework?

As the school year starts, your student looks forward to learning, hard work, and lots of homework. Help your student get a great start with confidence and organization.

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