Your child is stuck on his homework and you want to give a few points, it is very easy to end up doing the homework for him. You might need to know how to help with homework. Though your help might get the work finished quickly and correctly, you have not helped him at all. You need to help him to develop the skills to face his homework and encourage him to be a good learner and self-motivator.
Many times helping with homework becomes taking over the homework from lack of planning, being tired, rushing and other situations that makes doing the homework for the child seem like the better option. Below are some tips culled from education.com that helps to equip your child to build a healthy attitude to completing homework and studying skills. If you ever wondered how to help with homework then read on.
Create a Study Space
Figure out what makes a productive workspace for your child. Help him focus by limiting distractions during his study time and making sure that all the materials he needs, such as erasers, rulers, and a pencil sharpener, are within reach. This reduces distractions from getting up to find pencils or sharpeners.
Help Your Child Get Organised
Help him keep track of his assignments with a checklist or a homework planner. You can start by showing your child an example to start with, then let him do it on his own. Make sure he has an organised folder or binder so that he won’t lose all those loose papers.
Work on Time Management
Have your child make a daily schedule for himself that he can use to practice estimating the amount of time it will take to do certain activities. Adjust the schedule together based on how long things actually took, and show him how he can use it to plan ahead. To avoid procrastinating when long-term projects come around, help your child apply the same strategy and divide the project into smaller, more manageable tasks.
Set a Routine
Is it easier for your child to do his homework right when he gets home or after he’s had some time to rest? You may have to experiment to see what schedule will help your child be most productive, but once you find the sweet spot, stick to it. Setting a routine will help him get into study mode quickly and easily.
Give Guidance Don’t Give Answers
Give your kid some guidance on his homework without doing his work for him. If stuck on a math problem, use different numbers to walk him through an example, and let him try the problem over again. If he’s stuck on a writing project help with an introduction to get the momentum going but let him stretch his imagination to continue.
Review His Work
It’s okay to check your child’s work when he’s finished an assignment, but don’t correct answers for him. If you see a mistake, you can point it out, but don’t fix it yourself. To encourage his independence, you can help him create a “proofing checklist” with spelling, grammar, and math rules that he can use to review his homework on his own. Your role is to help your child become a self-sufficient student, not to ensure that he has perfect homework. After helping him create good study habits, stop stepping in, even if it means he gets a couple bad grades.
To be successful in the long run, the responsibility to do work must be his or hers, not yours.
culled from education.com
