Your involvement in homework shouldn’t be any more than setting them up with the right tools and letting them struggle on their own.
Perhaps the biggest educational struggle for a parent is helping your child with their homework in the right way. You don’t want to help too much; they won’t learn anything. You don’t want to ignore it; that sets a bad example. Here’s how to walk the line.
Show Interest
The biggest thing a parent can do to affect their child’s educational success is to just participate. This includes homework. Simply asking about it and what their assignments are about is more than half the battle.
Set Them Up for Success
It’s a very rare child that knows how to organize themselves. Kids need help in learning how to keep things organized and set up the right work environment.
First, eliminate distractions. If you let your child complete their homework in their room with the door closed, there is probably a lot more going on than just homework. Work goes much more efficiently in a common area.
Second, make homework part of a routine. It helps them remember their assignments and helps you keep track of what’s going on.
Facilitate the Process, Instead of Completing It
Your job is to “lead the horse to water”. Your involvement in homework shouldn’t be any more than setting them up with the right tools and letting them struggle on their own.
Before they start, ask if they understand what they are supposed to do. If they don’t, help them find other materials that can help them, such as online tutorials. Consume them together as a demonstration of team building.
If they get frustrated in the middle of an assignment, offer a break and a talk—but never any advice about the specific work.
At the end, feel free to check their work over and even alert them to problems or tasks that might be wrong, but stop short of suggesting ways to make the answer better that go beyond any background information they would have received in class, in their textbook, or online.
Work Together with the Teacher
The homework process becomes much more effective if the parent and teacher work together as a team. After all, homework is just supposed to be practice. If the parent better understands what is involved in that practice, the child will be much more likely to complete it successfully.
Regular communication and the ability to ask the teacher for clarification can be valuable tools to help the parent and teacher work together effectively.