Homework Help: It’s Time to Win the Homework Wars

Homework Help for Your Child

Bonnie Terry: Kicking Your
Kid’s Study Habits into Gear

FOX 40 – Alisa Becerra Reports

The school year is well established, in fact it is half over, how can parents make the most of the rest of the school year and give their child the homework help they need?

It’s time to re-evaluate how things are going in school. For example, is it a good year or a frustrating year? Are you spending time every night with homework taking up the whole night?

One thing to consider when you are spending a long time on homework every night is the sleep your child is getting. Are your kids getting enough sleep? You may even wonder why I’m asking about your child’s sleep. But sleep does have a huge impact on learning as well as homework? Studies show that there is a direct link between getting enough sleep and higher grades.

Researchers have found a link between sleep and cognitive abilities. One researcher found that sixth graders who lost just an hour of sleep performed at a fourth-grade level. Other studies show a link between getting enough sleep and higher grades. So, if you want school time and homework time to be easier for your child, see that they get enough sleep.

What other steps can parents take to give their child the homework help they need and make the rest of the school year better?

3 Homework Help Tips

There are actually 3 steps to what a parent can do…

Step 1 Paying attention to their child’s schoolwork

1. How long is it taking them to get their homework done? For each year your child is in school they should have approximately 20 minutes of homework, so a 3rd grader should have approximately 1 hour of homework per day.
2. Are they able to get their homework done accurately? Is your child usually able to get their homework done accurately or do they make a lot of mistakes? Homework should be review work, work for extra practice on a particular skill for mastery, not new concepts, so your child should have a high accuracy rate. If they are not getting at least 80% of their homework done accurately they may have missed the concept. You may need to help them out with it or contact their teacher about it.
3. Are they struggling with assignments repeatedly? When homework is a struggle repeatedly you may want to look into what the underlying root cause of those struggles. When children struggle consistently there is typically a reason for it. When you know what is going on and address it, life gets easier.
4. Do they like their teacher or feel negativity towards their teacher? Sometimes there is a conflict with your child’s teacher that may cause an attitude problem towards a particular subject. These issues can be addressed so your child can flourish in school.

Step 2: Monitor your child’s schoolwork and homework

1. Periodically check your child’s homework for quality as well as correctness
2. If it is beyond their child or if it is repeatedly too easy, talk to the teacher – you can call a conference of your own

Step 3: Provide your child with specific resources that will make homework time easier:

1. Be sure your child has the resources they need at home to help them plan out their homework and after school activities
2. Chunk homework assignments into shorter time frames for greater focus
3. Use a weekly planning calendar – there is a great one in Ten Minutes to Better Study Skills
4. Writer’s Easy Reference Guide – The ultimate cheat sheet for any writing assignment: paragraph format essay format, how to do a bibliography and much more
5. BT Easy Math Guide – The ultimate cheat sheet for any math assignment: addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fractions, decimals, percents, word problem strategies, and much more

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