How can I help my (struggling) child with homework? (Part 2) by Sylvia Hannah
- Sylvia Hannah
Sometimes homework can seem like a chore to families. Let’s think, further, about how to make homework a learning experience, for you and for your child.
How Can I Help My Child Stay Organized?
Binder Organization – Teach binder organization from the beginning.
- Labelled with your child’s name.
- Subjects are separated by dividers.
- Dividers are labelled with the subject name (any divisions in subject areas should have the same coloured dividers).
- No loose pages (re-copy loose pages or use reinforcements).
- Extra looseleaf paper for each subject is available. Your child needs to periodically add new paper to his/her binder. He/she should have extra paper at the end of each subject and may want to label a section at the back of the binder, “Paper”. Or, your child could keep an extra binder in his/her locker full of looseleaf paper.
- Pages are in chronological order unless told otherwise.
- Each page has your child’s name, class, and the date in the top right corner.
- Each page is titled.
You might periodically check your child’s binder and use the following rubric:
| 3 | your child’s binder is well-organized according to the above criteria |
| 2 | your child’s binder is generally organized, but may need some minor work, i.e. reinforcements for loose pages |
| 1 | your child’s binder is poorly organized and needs a great deal of work |
| 0 | your child does not have a binder or his/her binder shows little or no attempt at organization |
Locker Organization
- Texts and binders are standing up at the bottom of the locker with spines facing out.
- Coats, backpacks, etc. are hung on hooks.
- Boots/shoes are neatly arranged.
- Small items (pens, pencils, dictionaries, etc.) are arranged on top shelf.
- All paper is stored in binders rather than kept loose in the locker.
- If necessary, encourage the use of a locker shelf to give more space to organize belongings.
*If your child does not use a locker, have him/her organize his/her backpack.
| 3 | locker is well-organized according to the above criteria |
| 2 | locker is generally well-organized but may need some minor work |
| 1 | locker is poorly organized and needs a lot of work |
| 0 | locker is disorganized (little or no attempt has been made to organize) |
How Can I Help With Time Management?
It’s critical to help children understand how work and time are related, e.g.:
- How fast does time pass?
- How much can I do in a minute/hour?
- How can I estimate how much I can finish?
- What work takes longer?
- What subjects take longer?
- What’s harder for me?
Your child can learn how to answer these questions for himself/herself.
Have a clock/hourglass/timepiece facing your child as he/she begins to learn to answer these questions.
Your child will learn how to estimate how fast/slow time passes.
Your child may, ultimately, not need a visible clock, or, may be distracted by it.
Downloadable Resources:
Study Work Goals Sheet (pdf format)
Study Work Goals Sheet (Word format)
Here’s a Time Management Chart that can be helpful for you and your child to use. You can modify it depending on your child’s grade.
Time Management Chart (pdf format)
Time Management Chart (Word format)
How to Take Breaks/ Reward Yourself
A very helpful resource for families (and educators) is Eric Jensen’s monthly “Brighter Brain Bulletin”. Eric connects recent brain research with teaching practice and shares this in a monthly bulletin. You can contact him at www.jensenlearning.com
The following ideas were gleaned from Eric’s monthly bulletins and have been referenced by date.
- Have a glass of filtered water. “…when initial thirst was high, the more water ingested, the higher the performance. When initial thirst was low, the more water ingested, the poorer the performance. (Jensen, June 2011)
- Have a banana, milk, or turkey (builds serotonin which increases the ability to delay rewards. (Jensen, June 2008)
- Have a quick activity energizer every 8-15 minutes, e.g. marching, power walking, stairs (bumps up cortisol, dopamine, and norepinephrine, all of which help strengthen memory formation. (Jensen, January 2009)
- Have a live conversation – builds an emotional repertoire, fosters meaningful relationships, builds social interactions, reduces cell phone use, a smiling face is highly rewarding, makes you feel better (builds dopamine which facilitates working memory and neural plasticity). (Jensen, August 2008, January 2009, April 2009, August 2009, September 2009.)
- Look forward to something good coming up (even the thought of something good, activates the dopamine in the brain). (Jensen, March 2009)
- Do something motivating. (Jensen, March 2009, October 2009)
Downloadable Resources:
Homework Completion Tips (pdf format)
Homework Completion Tips (Word format)
Can I Help With Attention/Motivation?
“Paying attention” is a learned skill.
Your child can learn how to pay attention by engaging in a range of academic and non-academic activities, e.g.:
- hobbies
- high interest reading material
- building blocks, puzzles, cards, board games etc.
- martial arts
- playing a musical instrument
- the reflective writing process
- brain fitness games and activities
- visual arts
(Jensen, October 2008; May 2009; January 2010; March 2010)
How Can I Help With Studying and Study Habits?
How are memories formed and how do memories stick?
- intense emotion
- make it physical/tactile
- have enough glucose available (for energy)
- use memory strategies like mnemonics
- repetition
(Jensen, May 2008)
Research says:
“Review is best for retrieval when done about one-third to one-half of the way towards the exam.”
(Jensen, May 2008)
- If you want your child to remember something in an hour, review it after twenty minutes.
- If your child is taught something on Monday, and he/she needs to remember it for Friday, then review it on Tuesday or Wednesday.
Research says:
“Repeated testing enhances learning more than repeated studying.”
(Jensen, December 2009; January 2011, April 2011)
- Pre-testing your child is a good idea. (What do you already know about…?)
- Don’t “gloss over” mistakes. If your child gets something wrong, or isn’t sure of something, give him/her feedback. Talk about why he/she got the wrong answer and what he/she will do differently next time.
- Get your child involved in the feedback/preparation-for-testing process. He/she will become a more thoughtful test taker and it reduces stress by letting him/her have more control over what/when to prepare.
- “Think aloud” processing forces better quality thinking and greater accountability.
- Reduce test stress by teaching self-regulation strategies like slow deep breathing and quiet meditation.
- Teach your child to reframe the testing experience. (“It’s not about how smart I am. My brain keeps changing. I keep learning more and more all of the time.”)
- Use daily summary notes and the two column study method. (These were presented in “Homework” – Part 1)
- Use visualization charts and left brain/right brain notes. (These will be introduced in later “Homework” articles.)
Future “Helping With Homework” articles will focus on teaching effective strategies for gaining reading comprehension, developing vocabulary, perfecting written language, and handling exam questions.
Sylvia Hannah is a “retired” teacher/reading specialist. With an MEd, she has spent forty years thinking about, and learning, how to make reading, spelling, and writing easier for her students. Sylvia taught in classrooms, small groups, and one-on-one, and was also a Language Arts consultant in a large urban school district. She established two private educational clinics in Canada, that work intensively with students, of all ages, who experience academic challenges. Sylvia will never really retire as her passion for helping students isn’t diminishing! Visit her website at dynamicreadingandwriting.com
© Sylvia Hannah and LDExperience.ca. If citing this article, please do so as follows: Sylvia Hannah, “How can I help my (struggling) child with homework? (Part 2)” www.LDExperience.ca, December 14, 2011.
