Homework I know that most of you help your children with their homework. Keep up the good work! This is the greatest gift that you can give to your child. Parents often ask how they can best help their child at home. I encourage you to check homework twice ... the night your child is working on it, and once again after it has been corrected. Your child doesn’t need to correct every problem that they miss, but if you can spot trouble, and encourage them to re-work some of the problems, it will save them the grief of doing poorly on later homework and tests. I use homework to build "foundation" and to provide practice so that skills become “reflexive.” It is difficult to know how quickly individuals can finish their homework … so I am asking for your help. If your child has “worked hard ” for more than 20 minutes, it is probably time to do some "triage". For example, if it's Math, tell them that it is time to start working every-other problem, or select a few problems that seem to pose the most difficulty, so that you can work on them together. Those who ‘do more’ generally ‘do better’ by year’s end… but I will leave some of that in the parent's hands. Generally… those who struggle need more, not less practice. It’s a difficult dilemma. My goal is not to exhaust the children OR the parents. What to do if you decide an assignment needs to be shortened, or it’s a bad night for homework (relatives visit, or some other unusual circumstance)? Write a short note to me... don't feel guilty, and sign it. It can be as short as, “Couldn’t finish homework last night,” or “Needed to shorten assignment.” DO make sure that you find time to help your child catch up to their peers. Homework is important, but it must not get in the way of socialization, sleep, prior commitments, or your family's sanity. A simple note that the homework is unfinished will do, although work still needs to be finished in a timely manner. Keep the line of communication open if work assigned is often overwhelming and needs to be modified. |