(Photo : Sean Gallup / Staff) Seven Tips for Homework Success
The summer vacation is almost over. Parents are anxiously awaiting the beginning of the school year. Children are also excited about a new school year, except for HOMEWORK. The issue of homework is the biggest source of friction and haggling between children and their parents, but it doesn't have to be that way. With a little planning, parents can help take the anxiety out of homework hour and enable children to achieve some developmental goals at the same time.
Before we move to the tips for parents, let's take a step back. Why do kids have homework anyway? Homework helps children review, reinforce, practice concepts and skills they have learned in school. It also helps children develop focus on a variety of learning strategies to make future learning more effective. Homework can help develop self-discipline, concentration and time-management as well as build self-reliance skills. Parents need to be in communication with teachers as to the types of assignments given and the purpose of each assignment. Parents need to encourage and enable children to complete homework to the best of their ability and use learning in their daily lives. They should make sure that the assignments are thoughtful, neat, complete and timely. Parents should not be doing the homework for children, nor should they allow homework to become a major disruptive element in family life.
Parents of children with learning difficulties need to be aware of the modifications their child should be receiving. They need to be in contact with teachers to determine when the child cannot complete assignments due to the learning disability as opposed to when the child does not want to do the work. Children need to know what their parents' expectations are for academic achievement in general and when it relates to homework, specifically.
Here are several steps that all parents can take to ease the homework burden on children and families.
