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Homework plays a very important part in your child's learning and is given to him or her for a reason. While it is not compulsory, most teachers will give students homework in one form or another.
Homework is given for two main reasons at primary school level -
- to reinforce the teaching and learning that has been taking place in the classroom, and
- to help students develop special skills such as independent research.
You can help in several ways:
Timing is of the essence!
The first thing to remember is that no one is receptive to learning if they have an empty belly and are tired after a day at school, so choose your homework time wisely. Choose a time when you can concentrate on helping them, when they’ve had a little wind-down time, and when others are able to give them space.
It can really help to set a homework routine. For example, after school you may give them 20 minutes to unwind, get changed out of a uniform if they have one, have a snack – possibly the remainder of their lunch, and watch a little telly. It might be after all of this that you choose to tackle any reading or homework that needs to be done.
If there is no homework on any given day, don’t break the routine, but instead play a quick word or number game. Maybe you could bake some bikkies with an educational twist – they have to read the recipe (to whatever extent they are capable) and then have to write down how it went or draw a picture. Everything can have an educational value if you look hard enough.
Remember that routine is important for children and if they know what to expect they’ll be a lot happier.
What should you do?
Homework is set to help your child to learn and they will only learn if they are the ones ‘doing’. They won’t learn by watching ‘you doing’, but by practice themselves. This means you have to be careful with how much you help.
Help your child problem solve by explaining to them how to do the task. If that still doesn’t help show them the steps they need to take. Let them go through the homework task next doing the steps themselves. If they get stuck, then make up a ‘mock’ task that is similar to what they are trying to do. Work through this one together.
Give clues. Try not to give away the answer or else the task won’t be valuable to them. Keep the clues simple!
Reassure them that they can do this, they’ve figured things out in the past. Encourage them to go back to where they got stuck and try again.
Homework can be testing – for both your child and you. Frustration can set in and tempers can flair but this isn’t helpful to anyone. If it does though, put everything down, take a break, get a drink and both go back to it when you're feeling better. Don’t leave the homework and not complete it, as nobody wins when this happens!
Useful Websites
www.nzmaths.co.nz/families/index.aspx
NZ Maths is a Ministry of Education website providing a large range of activities to help parents to improve their children's "numerical knowledge".
www.rainforestmaths.com
An excellent free, interactive maths website, for children from pre-school through to Year 6, that provides a wide range of practical numerical activities.
Article Helping with Homework written by Kylie Valentine