Secrets for Making Sure Homework is Done Efficiently and Effectively

Reading is Essential

It's back to school time. So let's talk about homework. Homework is about more than academics. It teaches children how to manage time. 

It reinforces the priority of learning and ensures that home and school are working together toward this goal. It's also your chance to find out what your child is studying in school and observe how he or she works and learns. 

Since children think and learn differently, it helps to customize a homework plan for your child. 

To get you started, here are 6 tips to help you to overcome homework hassles.

1. Consider giving your children an hour or so of relaxing playtime after school before they begin homework. Some children really need this time to unwind after hours of concentrating at school. Yet be sure that the kids know homework must be completed in a timely fashion.

2. Let your children sit at the kitchen table doing homework while you prepare dinner. That way, if they have any questions, you are right there to help them. Another way would be to organize a homework hour after the evening meal. Children can still sit around the kitchen table to do their homework. 

3.Set aside a "family homework hour" when your child sits at the table and does her schoolwork while you also sit at the table and pay bills or catch up on your reading. You're available to help or answer questions.

4. As children become teens, they need a quiet place to study, usually their own room. Some preteens develop more efficient homework habits if given their own private place to study. Other children regard homework as less of a chore and more of a family activity if they're allowed to do homework with you close by to encourage and help. 

5. To complete homework tasks efficiently, store needed supplies in a convenient place, easily accessible to all. Doing math problems is frustrating when it takes fifteen minutes to find a pencil with an eraser (yes, pencils and erasers). Stock up on poster boards, report covers, markers, and crayons to avoid last-minute runs to the store when special projects are due.  

6. If your child is struggling with a certain subject, take a special field trip or turn it into an arts-and-crafts project to make what's in the book applicable to real life. Many children drudge through homework because they don't see its relevance. Help your child make connections between schoolwork and the world around him. 

By regarding homework as a family activity rather than a chore that interferes with quality family time, you reinforce that learning is an expected priority and that it can be fun. It's up to parents to point this out. 

Although some parents complain that their children have too much homework, statistics show that most children spend more time watching noneducational tv or playing video games than doing productive homework.


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7 Signs of Bad Teaching and What You Can Do About It

    

You are your child's first teacher. This is not only true, but you as the parent remain responsible for 
your child's education throughout his or her total school experience.

Parental attitude have greater correlation with pupil achievement than material home circumstances or variations in school and classroom organization, instructional materials, and particular teaching practices.

Your attitude must be that  you want and deserve teachers who are competent and effective for your child.

A bad teacher can destroy your child's self-confidence, devastate his desire to learn, dampen his achievements, and leave emotional scars. You can't afford to allow your child to be subjected to incompetent teachers. You must keep tuned in to detect bad teaching.

Here are seven signs of bad teaching to be aware of:

1. The teacher has low expectations for your child.
2. The teacher can't communicate knowledge in an interesting way.
3. The teacher is not aware of your child's strength's, weaknesses, and interests.
4. The teacher gives disorganized lessons and vague, careless assignments
5. The teacher shows little enthusiasm in his or her work.
6. The teacher does not assign homework on a regular basis.
7. The teacher belittles your child's efforts.

Moreover bad teaching should not be the norm in your child's school. You have every right to understand what's happening to your child and teachers have the responsibility to share that information without prejudicial judgment. 

Want an Exceptional Student? Here's the One Thing You Can Do

In their book, Pygmalion in the Classroom, psychiatrists Robert Rosenthal and school principal Lenora Jacobson describe a study they did involving children from kindergarten through fifth grade. They told the children’s teachers which students in their classrooms had “exceptional learning abilities.”

But the teachers did not know that the researchers had chosen these “exceptional” students at random. When the students were tested at the end of the school year, the students who the teachers had been led to believe had exceptional learning abilities had made much greater academic progress than their peers.

In essence, the teachers had been programmed to expect more from certain students, and these students thus expected more of themselves and delivered.

The message here for teachers is that you get what you expect.

Expect the best from your students and you’ll get the best. And, above all praise the efforts. The results will come. This is great advice for parents also.

What are your thoughts. Leave your comments below.

14 No Nonsense Ways to Help Your Child Read Better

As the former Secretary of Education William Bennett, once wrote, children learn to read by reading. Many American schoolchildren, however, read ten or fewer pages a day for school  and homework combined.

Your child will not become a really strong reader with such a limited amount of experience. He needs to be reading at home everyday. Especially if his homework is light, non-existent, or it's summer time, he needs to spend some additional time with books.

Here are the 14 No Nonsense Ways to Help Your Child Read Better:

1. Make certain your child’s reading material is appropriate for his or her level. If not, modify or adjust reading material to your child’s ability level

2. Have your child verbally paraphrase material just read in order to enhance his or her comprehension.

3. Teach your child to identify the main point in the material in order to enhance his or her comprehension.

4. Have your child outline, underline,or highlight important points in the reading material

5. Have your child read progressively longer segments of reading material in order to build comprehension skills (e.g.begin with a single paragraph and progress to several paragraphs, short stores, etc.)

6. Have your child list new or difficult words in categories such as people, food, animals, things that are hot etc.

7. When your child encounters  a new word or one whose meaning is not understood, have your child practice making up sentences in which the words can be used in the correct context.

8. Have your child identify one word each day that is not understood and require him or her to use that word throughout the day in various situations.

9. Make certain your child learns the meaning of all commonly used prefixes and suffixes.

10. Give your child time to read a selection more than once, emphasizing accuracy not speed.

11. Reduce the amount of material your child reads at one time (e.g., reduce reading materials to single sentences on a page, a single paragraph, etc.). Gradually increase the amount of material as your child experiences success.

12. Highlight or underline important information your child should pay close attention to when reading.

13. Make certain that your child learn dictionary skills in order to find the meanings of words independently.

14. Stop your child at various points throughout a reading selection to check for comprehension.



What would you like to add to this list. Leave your comments below.

17 Ways to Help Your Child Develop Better Study Skills

It is essential that you foster in your own home the principle that hard work is the key to school success. It is one of your most solemn responsibilities as a parent. As your child grows, let him know that studying is a top priority. 

There will be much enjoyment in learning, but at the same time there needs to be determined effort. And always praise the child’s effort. Make your child understand that studying must take precedence over practically everything else: watching tv, playing with video games, talking with friends, and playing sports. Cultivate such an ethos in your home by the ideals you express, the rules you set, the behavior you model, and the encouragement you give.

Consequently, the most critical task is to help your child learn how to study. It takes certain skills. Children aren’t born with them. They have to be developed, which means adults must take the time and responsibility to show youngsters the way. When youngsters routinely sit down the night before test, stare at the books, go to school the next day, and fail, often the problem is that no one has really taught them the art of studying well.

 Here are 17 ways to help your child develop better study skills:

1. Identify and designate a place for studying which is quiet and free from movement or other distractions (e.g. no tv, away from siblings, isolated from phone calls, etc.)

2. Choose a time which allows for maximum concentration (e.g. after an hour of play or relaxation, after dinner, etc.) This could be an individual preference.

3. Have your child study at the same identified time each day. In the event he does not have an assignment, the time can be used reading or reviewing.

4. It is vital that your child be required to follow a routine of studying and preparing for school each day.

5. Make sure your child is aware of those specified times when he can watch tv, play video games or visit with a friend, etc.

6. Work the first problem or problems with your child to make certain that he understands and follows the written directions accurately.

7. Make certain that the vocabulary used in delivering instructions, directions, lectures, etc., is appropriate for your child’s ability level.

8. Provide your child with a shorter task which does not require extended attention in order to be successful.   Gradually increase the length of the task as your child demonstrates success.

10. Provide time at the beginning of each activity/day for your child to organize his materials (e.g., before school, after school, end of the day, etc.).

11. Act as a model for being prepared for activities.

12. Give your child fewer concepts to learn at any one time, spending more time on each concept until your child can learn correctly.

13. Have your child highlight or underline key words, phrases, and sentences from reading assignments newspapers magazines etc.

14. Have your child review new concepts each day for a short period of time rather than two or three times per week for longer periods of time.

15. Require your child to use resources, including the library and the internet, to provide information to help him be successful when performing tasks.

16. Provide your child with opportunities for drill activities in the most interesting manner possible(e.g. working with a computer, using a calculator, playing educational games, watching a film, etc.)

17. Allow your child to use devices to help him successfully perform specific tasks (e.g. calculator, multiplication tables, dictionary, etc.)

Overall emphasize the importance of studying and the joy of learning so it becomes such a personal value for your children that it will remain with them their entire lives. 

What would you like to add to this list? Leave your comments below.