How to help children with homework and study |23 October 2021

Homework, study, exams, projects are part of the everyday vocabulary of a student. Having lived through similar experiences, parents will have first-hand experience of the world of a student.

However, on the onset, we must caution parents that what worked for you might not work for your child and more importantly, your successes are not your child’s success and your failures are not theirs either. Therefore, you must allow your child to learn at his or her own pace. Your duty, as parents, is to support your child and try to guide him or her wherever you can. You can also rely on the teachers of your school to guide you on your child’s learning development. If possible, a private tutor can also assist in ways that as a parent you cannot help.

Be interested:

Children spend most of their time at school and therefore talking about school is a great way to bond with your child. Although schools should be a fun place, it is not always the case and parents must be able to know if their child is not happy and how they can help. You can encourage your child by:

• Asking about their day at school.
• Asking your child to check their bags for homework.
• Asking questions that starts with “Show me…”, “Tell me…”, “How was…” or “What did…” to encourage your child to talk about school.
• Listen to what your child tells you.
• If you have younger children, spend some time each day listening to them read, helping them learn to spell,etc.
• Praise your child when they are successful.
• If your child do not do well at something, encourage them to keep doing their best.

Encourage homework and study:

It is especially important for primary and secondary students to have a quiet place to study.

• Provide your children with a suitable homework and study area, which has a table and comfortable chair, good lighting and school equipment, such as folder, paper, pens and pencils.
• Try to keep noises and distractions to a minimum. If possible, turn off the TV.
• Encourage other family members to support your child in their studies. Older siblings for example, can help with homework, one parent can assist with Mathematics, another can assist withreading, etc.

How long should the study time be?

Study or homework time must be an agreement between you and your child. It will also depend on the age of your child and their attention span. As the parent, you would know your child better and can adjust the study time accordingly. Some children cannot sit and study for long, whilst others can spend hours reading a book. There are some days where studying will be especially hard. Perhaps, your child has had a hard time at school or you are too tired to sit through a 30 minutes homework session. Do not be afraid to be flexible. For example, if there is a party at home, try to change the schedule, or, instead of not studying at all, you can ‘cheat’ by watching a movie about the topic your child is studying.

Should I sit with my child during homework and study hour?

When your child is small, supervision is necessary to ensure they are doing what they should be doing. Your child might have some difficulties understanding the task and will require some help.

However, you must make sure that work done at home is checked. Asyour child grows up, you must give him or her the responsibility of doing his or her homework independently. Perhaps, you can sit somewhere close, just to monitor.

Be organised:

Be creative with the study time. Some children cannot sit for long hours reading therefore, studying can and must include interesting resources, such as colouring books, building blocks for counting, YouTube videos, etc.

In order to have an effective study time, you must make some preparations yourself as the parent by researching some materials on the topic of study, providing other materials, downloading the videos, etc. To have an effective studying time parents must:

• Decide with the children on the specific time for studying.
• Decide what subjects will be studied on specific days.
• Decide in advance how to prepare for assessments and exams.
• Have all the resources required for each subject such as past papers, books, etc.

We always say children mimic our behaviours. Parents, why don’t we sit together with our children during studying? Show them what studying is about by following the routine yourself and taking that time to read your bible or a magazine quietly.

Contributed by NCC