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In Defense Of Modesty
The Virgin Birth
Being A Conservatie Christian
My church, your church – which church
Time-Out
Being a Liberal Christian
The Biggest Myth About Money
A Slice Of Friendship
Getting Past Conflict
A Teen`s Ten Commandments To Parents
Homework - Opportunity Or Nightmare |
| School has started, and homework is now an opportunity for your child, a nightmare for you, or a mixture of the two. No matter how great the opportunity, pitfalls abound. The trick is to learn coping strategies. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if many years from now, you would hear your offspring tell you, “I appreciated the help you gave me with my homework. While I was doing my school work, I also learned how much you care for me.” There are strategies that you can use to help this to happen. Firstly, be aware of your child’s teacher’s expectations. Routines may be as simple as writing one’s name at the top right and corner of the assignment and the subject and page number at the center of the top line. During the middle grades, instructors often expect students to maintain an up-to-date assignment book to be taken home along with incomplete daily work. Parents and teachers can use this as a tool for communication. Monitoring of this assignment book by teachers and parents makes this a powerful tool in developing the student’s accountability. Decide on a relatively consistent time and place where your child can complete homework. Starting right after dinner works in many families. A suitable location will have good lighting, be quiet and be accessible to parents. Necessary school supplies and reference materials need to be close at hand. When your child has no homework on a given night, continue to enforce a minimal homework period. Personal reading, a math game or reviewing skills can be substituted at such times. Monitor your child’s homework. Rather giving an explanation of how to complete a task, ask him to explain how to do the problem in order to understand where your child is at with his problem solving. You then have the opportunity to share a process or insight that can direct efforts. Never take directions for granted: Have your child highlight important words. After beginning the assignment, it is helpful to review your child’s accuracy to be assured that he is on track. It can be helpful to provide examples for your child to follow; for example, in dealing with “borrowing” in math, you could provide a sample of various circumstances where “borrowing” occurs, namely borrowing across zeros or borrowing within a number of borrowing operations in the same problem. Be realistic about providing help to your child. One will quickly find that, for example, Mom works better with Johnny or Sally than Dad. Then again, Dad may be the one to provide help with math and science and Mom with reading, English and literature. Don’t drawn into the trap of becoming a remedial teacher for your child. Parents may be successful providing homework assistance; however, teaching skills to a student who has fallen behind is a matter of remediation. When parents attempt to intervene in such cases, problems are likely to develop, ultimately undermining parent/child relationships. Find a tutor if needed. Numerous tutoring agencies advertise their services in most areas. An alternative is to engage a former or retired teacher who has demonstrated success in teaching children with your child’s needs. Occasionally, parents may have questions that appear particularly perplexing regarding their child’s learning profile. In such cases, having your child evaluated by a school psychologist is frequently helpful. Maintain a supportive relationship. Support facilitates bushel baskets of success in comparison to parental reactivity. Begin by documenting your child’s progress and highlighting successes. For example, if your child is having difficulties borrowing with two and three digit problems, once this concept has been accomplished and retained, show your child examples of where he was originally and clarify the progress he has made. And, by all means, celebrate this success by offering something that motivates your child, such as a special privilege or an ice cream treat. Of course, the most effective reinforcement is your social approval - “Johnny, you should be proud of yourself now that you have learned to borrow, and I am proud of you because I can see the progress you have made.” School is one of the first childhood challenges to provide a child with an opportunity to assess their own success or failure. Homework is the lightening rod which forces this assessment, and the response can either limit or enrich a child’s future successes. Therefore, it is critically important that parents embrace their God-given role as facilitators in their child’s best interest. Jim Pagels, Ph.D. is a psychologist with Lutheran Special Education Ministries in Detroit, Michigan.
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