Family

Homework – a helping hand

By Emma Hilton, writer at Life Coach Directory

Published on September 7th, 2010

With most children starting or having started back at school after the summer holidays it is a good idea for parents to start having a think and a plan about how they can help their children through the next stage of their lives.

Whether they are starting at primary, junior or secondary school they may be surprised at the homework they start to receive which will be a step up from what they were doing before.

Helping your child out with their homework is a great start. They may not be used to the heavier workload and a helping hand will not only help you to bond but will also reinforce the importance of what is learned at school.

Be aware that you are only helping and this does not mean providing all the answers. A teacher will clearly be able to spot the work of the child and the work of an adult.

As mentioned above the help you give will be dependent on the level of education. For example whilst your child is in reception they are unlikely to receive any homework and if they do it will probably be reading. Reading is the key to progression in all other subjects so ensure you help them to practice on a daily basis.

Junior school on the other hand will be completely different, with the level of homework increasing in preparation for senior school. This homework will cover many areas that you yourself might not have looked at since school so try swotting up a little on the subjects they need the most help with.

Another great tip is to ensure your child has a quiet area in which they can study and set aside a specific amount of time which is allocated to homework. Ensure that there are multiple research tools available, for example don’t just rely on the internet, try the encyclopaedia, the atlas, books etc as different mediums add variety and excitement.

Senior school is different again and a large amount of senior schools will try to ensure their pupils organise their homework and time (with schedules and planners to be signed of each week etc). Once this planner has been received it is a great idea to take it and compile a more detailed schedule for after school which details time for homework and time for activities and seeing friends etc. It will be reassuring for them to know they do have time for everything.

Extra tips:

Whatever level of school, breaks are extremely important. For every half an hour of study time a break of 10 minutes is recommended.

Try to enthuse you child by taking them to relevant places of interest etc. Record things on T.V that may be relevant, cut out articles which could be used and encourage them to do this too.

Always encourage multiple mediums of research. The library is a fantastic place to go to work and research and will tear your child away from the internet.

View the original article here.