Parents and homework: tricks to direct without solving
When the children start to bring school homework home, sometimes parents do not know where to start. Procuring an adequate space for homework is one of the first things we have to think about so that they can study. What they need is a chair, a table, a good light, no distractions and all the silence that can be provided.
If we have the opportunity for the child's bedroom to be prepared for the study, it will be a good option, but if not, we can look for other suitable spaces, which will also help the student to distinguish when he is studying and when playing or sleeping. In many families with several children, common work spaces are established to study and do the school homework, so that the table in the living room or living room transforms for a few hours into a library that invites collective concentration.
It is important to try at all costs to avoid noise in that room or in the next ones: we will not have televisions on, the washing machine or the vacuum cleaner, and we will try that, if there are small brothers, they stay distracted during this time, because any excuse will be good for that the young student looks away from his homework.
Tricks to direct without solving the school duties
1. Ask without checking It is good that we ask what duties they have assigned each day, but with a sincere interest and not with a controlling spirit. It's not about us looking at the agenda for them or, worse, asking other parents about homework because we do not trust our children to know about it. This message transferred late after afternoon is absolutely negative in the human formation of the little ones, who will understand that we do not trust them and will feel incapable of successfully carrying out the only task that is entrusted to them: aim and do their homework.
2. Organize your time and divide it. When they have already arranged with the tasks in mind, we can help at the beginning for a reasonable distribution of time. One of the most criticized problems of homework in Spain is the excessive volume. They have different subjects and children have a hard time establishing a reasonable and realistic schedule with this material. Give them clues as to face first the most difficult and leave for the end of the day the most mechanical, it will help them in the later organization.
3. Teach to study. Parents have to offer adequate study techniques, but never the resolution of problems. Thus, if we see that the child is stuck in front of a mathematical statement, we will have to go to the rescue with support to the reading comprehension, but not to the determination of whether the required operation is a sum or a subtraction. When they have to study their first concepts, we can teach them the basics of notions such as the underline, the outline and some simple memorization techniques for the main words.
What if my son 'does not walk with a ball'?
There are times when we find that our children can not cope with their tasks. What parents do at these early ages will mark in many aspects the future development of the child, so it is essential to act correctly. Some keys that we can follow are:
- Added problems. Check with the tutors of the student and the psycho-pedagogical office if there is a specific problem in the learning that we can tackle, for example a dyslexia or an ADHD. If there is no added problem, the experts can advise us on the best way to deal with the situation.
- Physical difficulties. Check also hearing or vision problems, which are usually detected precisely when children have to start paying attention to the blackboard.
- Pay attention. Prioritize in our agendas the attention to the duties of the child, so that they do not become annoying at the end of the day, when parents can, and that ends up damaging family relationships. If not, they will have the impression that it is not important.
- Devote a lot of time to explanations and leave a lot of time for the child to solve on his own. To avoid falling into the temptation to give them the right answer, we can leave the room the moment we stop thinking about it, even though we are very attentive.
- If the problem becomes entrenched, we can think about the outsourcing of the explanations. As the duties of a student with difficulties are not pleasant, it can happen that parents are "burning" with academic issues and generate a bad relationship with the child, who will then move to other areas of life. You can ask for help from a private teacher, a close relative, or even propose to other parents the exchange of classes in different subjects.
Alicia Gadea
