Homework/Study Skills

‘Coach’ your child to be successful with homework

Homework helps your child learn. Research shows that doing homework can help children get higher grades. It also reminds children that learning happens outside the classroom, too.

As your child grows, her teachers will give homework assignments that let her learn on her own. Many of these will require her to gather and re-package information. She may need your help.

It’s good to assume the role of “coach”—asking her questions and guiding her. Your child is the main “thinker” and “doer.”

Help your child follow these steps:

1. Define the assignment. Ask her to describe it in her own words. What are the key questions? If she’s unclear, suggest calling a classmate.
2. Brainstorm possible information sources—books, TV, videos, Internet, materials from organizations, local “experts.”
3. Figure out how to get the information. Go to the library. Search the Internet. Contact organizations.
4. Review the information. After she reads the material, ask how well the information she found answers the questions posed in the assignment.
5. Put the information together. Ask your child to summarize what she’s learned before she writes the paper or presentation.
6. Evaluate the completed assignment. Go over it together. Will it satisfy the teacher’s expectations? Is the content good, with reliable information? Is it presented clearly?

Once she turns in the assignment, ask your child, “How could you have done it better?” For instance, spent less time reading unrelated information?

Reprinted with permission from the March 2007 issue of Parents make the difference!® (Elementary School Edition) newsletter. Copyright © 2007 The Parent Institute®, a division of NIS, Inc. Source: Bob Berkowitz, “Helping With Homework: A Parent’s Guide to Big6 Information Problem-Solving,” (ERIC Digest), Big6, www.big6.com/showarticle.php?id=308.