Transcript How Can I Help My Child With His/Her Homework? Mr. Lepetit

How Can I Help My Child
With His/Her Homework?
Mr. Lepetit
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General Tips
• Make sure there is a regulated TIME and
PLACE for your student to complete
homework.
– This does not have to be his/her own room, but a
place with few distractions
– By making homework routine you will also be
creating a “homework culture,” in which homework
is no longer an afterthought.
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More General Tips
• Teach your child to take initiative.
– The best students are the ones who don’t
let a hiccup in their homework become an
excuse not to do it.
– “I wasn’t there that day” --> “I got the
information from a friend”
– “I lost the book” --> “So I borrowed it from
the library.”
Even More Tips!
• Make sure they have, AND USE, a
planner; writing it down on scraps of
paper won’t do.
• Teach them time management. If you
see in their planner that a project is due
in a few days, ask to see tangible
progress days before. If none can be
produced, ask them to do something.
Praise, Don’t Punish
• Kids are motivated more by praise than
they are by punishment.
• Encourage kids to do better when they
don’t do well. It may seem obvious, but
children shut down completely if they
feel that their efforts will only result in
failures and punishment. Tell them you
know they can do better.
Who’s Doing the
Homework?
• Ultimately, it’s okay for kids to make mistakes
on their homework, just as it is in life.
• Additionally, the teacher needs to see what
the students are struggling with.
• Doing it for them or correcting everything
won’t teach them anything. It’s important that
students learn from what they have done
wrong, not that they get it right. You won’t be
there on the SAT’s.
But I Don’t Want My Kid To
Fail!
• Of course not! There are ways to help:
– Encourage them to deepen or expand their
writing.
– Have them take pride in a mature piece of work.
– Make sure they followed the directions, rubrics,
etc.
– Help them if they don’t understand a concept or
the steps.
– Look up math equations, science formulas, book
plots, and re-teach it if needed.
Set an Example
• If kids see you reading or getting work
done in a silent manner then they are
more likely to follow suit.
• If you watch TV while they are studying
calculus they just might ignore that
work.
What If I Don’t Understand
What is Being Asked?
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“I Don’t Understand”
• It’s often difficult for teachers to
effectively and habitually communicate
the motivation and reason for an
assignment.
• Additionally, students are not always the
best at communicating what they have
to do, which leaves you in the dark.
“You Have To Do What
Now?”
• In that case, ask to see the task, written
out, or a rubric, if possible.
• If that’s not possible, talk to your student
about what they have been doing in
class. Take a peek in their notebook
and get an idea of what’s going on.
(This can be more enlightening than you
might think.)
Self Advocacy
• Self advocacy is one of life’s most important
skills.
• Teach your child to ask when they don’t
understand something.
• Encourage them to get better feedback from
teachers.
• This is hard, especially among shy students,
but with some encouragement, and a plan,
they can do it. “Ask one teacher for help
today.”
What happens to all those
pencils?
• Make sure that your child can account
for their supplies. Notebooks, pens,
pencils, reading books, a planner, these
are all things that they will generally
need. Get them in the habit of double
checking their supplies!
That’s funny, last year you
got A’s…
• A good teacher pushes his/her students.
• Unfortunately, this means that sometimes
they won’t perform as well as they usually
do…
• BUT THAT’S OKAY!
• A failure every now and again, treated
properly, can keep kids in check. It can show
them that they need to step it up and change
how they are doing things.
• Overcoming a failure can be more valuable
than never failing.
More than one teacher!
• Remember, your child’s education is not only
the responsibility of the teacher, but of
everyone at home, too.
• If you can’t remember the quadratic formula,
the emperors of Rome, or the point to The
Sound and the Fury then don’t be afraidto
look it up. You and your child can learn
together. Your child will learn a lot by
watching you.
Looking it up…
• Don’t be afraid to
use Google or
Youtube or
Sparknotes to find
information, they
can be great
resources.
• Even Wikipedia isn’t
entirely terrible.
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Working together
• Students learn more from what they see
at home then what they are taught at
school, so keep in mind good habits and
do your best to set good examples, and
this will make your child a better
student.
Activity
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