Author: Bethany Spencer
Posted: 07 May 2015
Estimated time to read: 3 mins
It's crucial for parents to be involved and engaged in their child's school life, particularly the homework process. School can generate a lot of stress and anxiety in students and this can have a negative impact on a their learning.
Feeling stressed and anxious has been to known to halt productivity in some students and diminish their growth in learning! Parents can play an important role in helping their child excel at school by helping them practice effective study habits at home. Every child is different and unique and as parents, it's important for you to understand the science of homework to help you cater to the needs of your child.
1. Staying Organised
It can get quite hard for students to keep track of the numerous tasks assigned to them daily. The habit of noting down all the daily homeworks with their respective deadlines can help your child become more organised - it’s a good idea to keep this online so that everything is in one place and there’s no risk of losing their notepad!
2. Create a check-list
Making an online To-Do List depending upon priority can be very useful to avoid clutter in your child’s mind. It can get quite overwhelming when faced with too many pressing tasks at once. Having a To-Do List will ensure your child knows where to begin and will encourage them to get the work done, one task at a time!
3. Distraction- free work area
It is very important for you to create a homework friendly area which will allow your child to concentrate. A quiet space with few distractions will help keep their mind from wandering elsewhere and encourage them to stay focussed on their work. Help them choose their preferred location. It needs to be a place where they can give their full attention to their work. Make sure their study space is stocked with paper, sharpened pencils and other stationery supplies they’ll need to avoid them having to get up again and again….
4. Create a schedule
Make sure your child has a specific allotted time to study daily. Homework habits are more easily formed if children work at the same time everyday. Maintaining a homework schedule will ensure your child knows that they need to study everyday and surely enough, it will soon become a part of their daily routine.
5. Small breaks
As parents you need to understand your child has a saturation point. Working for long tireless hours can make your child feel exhausted and this will affect their productivity - the brain gets fatigued if you are doing the same thing for a long time! You should encourage your child to take a 5-minute break to stretch their legs after every 20 minutes. Introducing brain breaks will help your child relax for a bit and they’ll get back to work feeling energised and positive!
6. Keeping check
Once your child has finished their work, it’s a good idea to check their work in order to make sure that they have completed everything. This not only makes the child feel more obligated to finish the work but also makes them feel you are more involved. You cannot do your child’s work for them but you can help encourage and support them when they do complete homework.
When children know that the effort they put into their homework will enhance their participation and enjoyment of classroom learning, it will hopefully make them more motivated and they may not mind spending as much time on it!
