3 Tips for Helping Your Kids with Homework
It can be very frustrating when our kids need help with their homework and we feel totally unable to help them. The following tips will help you to create a home environment perfect for learning and studying.
Create the Right Environment
This is essential if your kids are to have half a chance of successful studying. The most common reason that children and teenagers struggle with getting their work completed at home is simply because they don’t have anywhere in the home where they can study without interruption or distraction. When our attention is divided between what we are currently doing, and some form of distraction in the background, we simply cannot physically give both tasks equal attention.
One of the best things you can do for your kids in order to make their homework duties as painless as possible, is to help them to understand the importance of doing their homework in the right environment. Part of this will be down to them (we will discuss the importance of teasing those electronics away from them in just a moment), but you can help them by setting a good example. When your kids are doing their homework, try and avoid watching TV or playing games yourself. Instead, sit down quietly with a book and help create the right environment for homework.
Put the Electronics Away
Whether it’s the TV, MP3 players, games console, or smartphones, electronics like these are the antithesis of focus and hard work. Even the most attentive and determined amongst us can’t give our full and proper attention to more than one task at once. Some people find that having a small amount of background noise can help them to focus. Some people even find that playing white noise, or static, can help them to focus on the task in front of them.
While this may well be true for your children, you should also realize that it is very easy for any of us, with the best of intentions, to tell ourselves that this is the case when in reality we are subconsciously looking for distractions.
Learn the Subjects Yourself
It is the nature of our educational system that our children end up learning things that we were never taught. While many of the things that we learn are universal and will always be taught in some form, this is not always the case. If you want to be able to offer your children the highest level of possible assistance with their homework, you should make an effort to learn the subjects that they are studying yourself.
Look to online revision sites aimed at teenagers; these should give you the necessary grounding in the subject and should be easier for you to learn than your child. For example, if they are learning biology, spending some time on Biologyjunction.com will equip you with all the information you need to help them.
In most cases, the main reason that parents are unable to help is because they simply lack knowledge of the subject at hand themselves. By taking the time to learn the same lessons as your children, and helping to create an environment conducive to study, you can help to make a difference.
Author: Carol Trehearn