How Should Parents Help With Homework

Most children do not like to do homework. That is a fact. Did you liked it when you were a kid? I know I didn’t. Kids are just too playful to just sit and study. Bribery, ultimatums and punishment won’t do anything if you want to make your kid pick up that pencil and start doing homework. You are probably asking yourself should parents help with homework? If your child is struggling with homework, you just have to make them motivated.

Should Parents Help With Homework?

Few years ago, a large study was published of how parental involvement affects academic achievement, Keith Robinson, a sociology professor at the University of Texas at Austin, and Angel L. Harris, a sociology professor at Duke, found that it doesn’t. The researchers tracked 63 different measures of parental participation in kids’ school lives, from helping them with homework, to volunteering at their schools. They published their results in The Broken Compass: Parental Involvement With Children’s Education.

Study showed that parents don’t really mean a lot when it comes to academic achievement. The study even showed how once kids enter middle school, parental help with homework can actually bring test scores down. So, don’t help them with their homework, just use these few tips to motivate your kids to write homework.

By doing homework, kids learn how to:

• follow directions independently
• manage their time time better
• complete work by doing the best they can.

 How Should Parents Help With Homework?

First of all, you need to establish a study routine. Set the time for homework and stick to that schedule. Don’t decide about learning time by yourself. Let your children decide what time is best for them. That way they won’t feel like you are pressuring them. Kids just love rituals.

Invite your child to also choose where will he or she do their homework. If they prefer the kitchen table, let them learn there. Older kids might prefer to learn in their rooms, so be sure to check them from time to time so you know they are really doing their homework.

Help your kids. But, don’t insist on helping them. Help only if your child asks for it. They have to feel like they are in charge. When your kids are about to give up because they don’t know what to do next, encourage him or her by helping them just a little.

Offer support and guidance and help them interpret assignment instructions. Don’t tell them the answer, rather ask them what parts they don’t understand or what they think the answer is. You will help them a little, but they will have to figure out the answers themselves.

At the end of their work time, check each piece of homework to be sure it is completed.

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Don’t use rewards. Bribery will not get you anywhere. Replace money or toys with encouraging verbal rewards. Make positive comments about the behavior you want to encourage. Praise good work!

Help them organize. We are not born with great organization skills. They have to be learned. You can help your children by teaching them to use some kind of personal planner to help them get organized. Encourage them to keep a daily homework notebook, which can help you both to know exactly what assignments they have and when is the due date.

Work together. If you brought some work home from the office, do it same time your kid is doing the homework. It will show them that there are assignments for everyone later in life too. Do not turn on the television, even if your favorite tv show is on. If the television or the computer are on, little or no work will get done.

Only thing you can add is some music, because it can help your kid to focus more effectively. As you watch your child work, compliment him on something that he does well. He will try to do even better next time!

Doing homework will help your kids develop a sense of responsibility, pride when a job is well done and a work ethic. That’s why homework is important and you as a parent have to do your part to make your children motivated! What to do you to think – should parents help with homework?