Helping Kids with Homework

With a positive attitude and a plan in place, homework can be a rewarding experience for students of any age. Below are tips for helping kids of all ages with homework.

Primary (Kindergarten-second grade)

• Routine, routine, routine. For the same reason you establish a strong nighttime routine you should establish consistency when setting your child up for homework success. A routine helps your child know what to expect and can lessen worktime arguments.
• Establish a specific time to do homework and be consistent. It’s a good idea to let your child have at least a short playtime after school before hitting the books again.
• Select a location. Maybe your child has a small desk she likes to work at, or perhaps sitting at the living room coffee table or kitchen table seems more inviting. Select a homework spot and stick with it.
• Be available for help. At this stage, you are going to have to guide kids concerning teacher expectations and work requirements for optimal success.
• Mindy Rawlston, a second grade teacher in Overland Park, says the purpose of homework for students this age is to “get students thinking about what they learned outside of the school setting.” Homework time can be a great opportunity to open up meaningful conversations with your child about what’s going on in school.

Upper (third-fifth grades)

• Routine is also important at this age, but these older students should have some choice too. Be sure to let them have a voice when selecting the time and location for homework, which can help them feel in control of their time.
• Students should be more independent when completing homework at this age, but you’ll still need to be available on an as-needed basis.  A good way to be available, but not hovering, is to select a project you can work on at the same time.  Maybe you’ve got work to do, emails to send or papers to sort. Not only will you model work ethic and diligence in front of your child, but you may get something checked off your to-do list also!
• Focus on the process and not the outcome. Brain-based learning proves that the act of struggling and persevering leads to greater learning than just getting the answer right immediately. Talk to your child about how the process of figuring something out is when our brain grows the most.

Secondary (sixth grade and up)

• If you’ve got older students in the house, you should still be aware of their homework load. Be sure to attend back-to-school night to clue you in on different teacher’s homework expectations.
• Joseph Cline, a high school teacher in Overland Park, says that “juggling different teacher expectations can be tricky, so be sure your middle or high school student has a planner to track assignments and due dates.” Parents, be sure to take a peep at this occasionally, too!
• Cline also says that when parents utilize online resources such as gradebooks, Google Classroom and other platforms, this can go a long way in making sure there is solid communication between teacher, student and parent.

Homework Station:

Being prepared always goes a long way! Consider stocking necessary homework supplies near your chosen homework spot. That way, you and your child are prepared for any homework task, which lessens the chance of fizzling out of energy when you don’t have a needed supply. A small rolling cart is a convenient way to store everything for easy access. Here’s the short list of items to have on hand:

• Post-its, index cards, notepads, graph paper
• Markers, crayons, colored pencils, highlighters
• Extra pencils, and don’t forget the pencil sharpener!
• Glue, tape and scissors
• Atlas, ruler, calculator, math blocks

Emily Cline lives in Lenexa with her husband and 3-year-old son.