Helping With Homework: Education Starts at Home

Each school year, millions of parents find themselves struggling when it comes to helping with homework.

The truth of the matter is – despite the complications that come with these assignments – homework is a unique opportunity for kids to learn and for families to take an active role in the educational success of their child.

President George W. Bush recognized the need for at-home education. He has expressed the fact that for a child to become well-educated, parents and other adults that take a part in a child’s schooling have the responsibility of ensuring that a child’s education starts at home.

This is the fundamental element to all academic success. In order to truly understand how to help your child with their school work, you must first understand why a teacher sends certain assignments home. This is the first step to helping your child.

Why Are Assignments Sent Home for Completion?

Assignments that are sent home with your child serve many purposes. The most common are as follows:

1. It provides the child with the unique opportunity to review what has been taught within the classroom.
2. It helps prepare the child for lessons that will be covered in the future.
3. It helps teach a child how to properly use resources to discover answers and facts. Examples of these resources include public libraries, web sites, and other forms of media.
4. It helps a student explore the topics that they have been presented with in the classroom in more detail.
5. It aids in the integration of the learning process by pushing the child to apply numerous skills to certain tasks – such as completing a project for science class.

Helping With Homework: Completing Assignments and Learning

As a parent, there are many steps to take while helping with homework. The following lists many of these steps:

1. First, you should set a designated time each day for completing assignments. A schedule is critical when it comes to learning.
2. The child should also have a special place that is designated – specifically – for the completion of assignments and studying. This area should be free of all distractions.
3. Your child should have full access to all of the possible supplies, materials, and resources that they may need in order to complete their assignments. Examples include proper lighting, textbooks, pencils, paper, markers, rulers, and online teaching websites that aid in reinforcing skills and concepts.
4. As a parent, you should show a high level of enthusiasm and motivation when it comes to assignments. If you are excited and motivated, your child will be excited and motivated.
5. You should help to make the assignments interesting. Draw in your child’s attention and associate the materials to things, situations, events, experiences, and people in your child’s life that they are interested or are attracted.
6. If you find that your child is struggling, you should opt to enlist the assistance of an educational coach/academic tutor. These individuals specialize in determining how your child learns and works to create a plan that will train the brain for success.