“Mom, Can You Help Me With My Homework? ” 5 Tips For Doing It Right

Homework is part of the routine of many of the children of the planet. In most educational plans it has been assumed that from certain ages, for an effective assimilation of knowledge, the individual work of the student with the subject is necessary. In core courses, homework serves to create a routine, as well as to help children who are further behind. When they get older, it is when they begin to fulfill specifically the mission that we have enunciated at the beginning.

In the early grades, children usually have a single teacher for all or most subjects. This teacher is in complete control and knows what tasks he sends home and can estimate, more or less, the time they require. When they get older the matter becomes more complicated, since they have almost one teacher per subject, so that what one commands is usually ignored by the other. This is perhaps the first problem that homework can present, that there are many due to a lack of communication between teachers.

Most of them tend to think that it is better for them to remain than not to be lacking, that is why we say that of many, or that the knowledge will be more established the greater the practice. Two laws that can be valid if we contemplate them in the abstract, but that present problems when we consider them in a related and comprehensive way: we are talking about there being more subjects, more extracurricular classes or an added difficulty for students that does not have a good foundation.

Homework yes, homework no

In recent months, a debate about homework has been recovered, at least interesting. Several parents have made public several testimonies in which they related how their children had to face a great amount of work at home every day. Something that greatly conditioned their schedules and that turned parents into second teachers, since the tasks did not always allude to part of the material they had seen in class or that they had assimilated.

If we analyze educational systems around the world we will realize that we have tastes for all colors. Perhaps China is one of the most pro-duty countries, compared to Finland or Korea that would be at the other extreme. We are talking about totally different cultures, although it never ceases to surprise us that two countries like China or Finland, leaders in education, are at such different poles.

In our culture, something very curious happens. An axiom on which he would not have reflected if he had not seen how a father broke with this kind of unwritten law. What happens is that most parents give top priority to school assignments. Before going to see relatives, visit museums, attend talks, there are homework. In an afternoon the first may be missing, but never the second. I leave it to the reader to reflect on this, as it is not the subject of this article.

How to help them with homework?

Just as most children have homework, most parents also tend to be aware of the completion of homework. Attention that diminishes as the child grows and continually demonstrates that it is a responsibility that he himself has been able to assume.

In this “be aware” there are moments in which parents realize that their children need help or it is the little ones who request it. Thus, the question arises, how can we help them without good intention ending up impairing their learning? We come up with 5 guidelines that can help us understand the answer.

In the first place, the premise is not to carry the burden of the task ourselves. In other words, we are helpers: the people who give clues, who encourage, who provide sources, who do a similar problem, but not the people who do homework. Thus, it is not advisable to sit with them. It is much better to give intermittent help and never from the beginning. Think that if we do it from the beginning we are telling the child that we think that he alone cannot.

The second guideline has to do with avoiding another of the temptations many parents fall into: homework is not corrected at home. If we do, we will not let the child learn to perform this equally important task in class. Nor are we going to allow the teacher to get an idea of ​​the level that the child has and neither will he be able to adapt the level of the homework that he sends him.

The third guideline has to do with providing a space for the child to be calm and in which there are not too many distractions. It is also positive to assign a schedule, both to begin and to end and always after the child has eaten or had a snack and rested for a while. In this sense, the afternoon always has to be more than a time covered with homework.

Already in the last years of primary school, it would be good for the child to manage an agenda. In it you will put the exams, the homework, the important dates and why not, everything that makes you excited. Seeing how he is accomplishing everything for him will be a very positive reinforcement and you will have a very good excuse to recognize his effort.

The removal of the pattern has to do with the organization of duties. Try not to start or finish with the task that costs the most. It is best to introduce it in the middle of two others that are easier or that the child likes more. That way, you won’t be discouraged by the rest, nor will you deal with it when you’re already tired.

Before we talked about not correcting homework, what is recommended is to check that this correction has occurred and that the child has understood the errors. In addition, reviewing the way to correct them will teach us more about the procedures that the teacher intends to implement, for example, to solve problems.

If we do it well, not only will we not harm the autonomy of our children with homework, but we will help to redouble their value. It will also be an opportunity to share time together and for the child to feel that we care, regardless of giving him guidelines or the most direct expressions of affection.