It's been a long day at work and you come home to find your child overwhelmed by a mound of homework. The tension mounts as you wonder how you are going to have dinner as a family and have a little time to relax, yet help your child with the homework. Here are a few tips that might give you a boost.
 

Make a list of all the homework assignments and allow your child to check them off as he or she completes each one. This gives you both a starting point and a way of knowing what you have ahead of you. It also gives your child a sense of accomplishment each time that one of the items is checked off. Never let your child give up. Assist him, modify the task, or sit down and literally read it with her, but don't give up. Failure only teaches a child how to fail. By making a list and sticking to it, you are teaching your child to meet the task head-on one at a time rather than to be put off by what seems an impossible amount of work. This is as much a part of education as
the content material before you.
 

 When reviewing for a test, help your child make up little sayings or rhymes that are funny. For instance, if the assignment is to memorize the names Conrad, Mott, and Tenney for a history test, make up the saying "C-all M-e T-onight" which utilizes the first letter of each name. Practice the sayings that correspond to the questions and then practice remembering what each initial letter stands for.
 

Another idea when learning something is to put it to rhythm. For instance, when memorizing the multiplication tables, make them into a chant: 2 X 2 is 4, I said, and 3 X 2 is 6! One philosophy of education is to involve as many of the child's senses as possible to initiate the use of different areas of the brain. A way to do that is to add body movement, or kinesthetic learning. March around the room, for instance, as you and your child recite the multiplication facts. You have made what was a "task" into something fun. 
 

Above all, you want to make learning a pleasant and successful experience - so much fun that your child will want to do it again. As any teacher will tell you, the ultimate goal of teaching is to create in a child the thirst to learn more, just for the sake of learning.
 

Continued at :  Don't Let Your Kids Give Up on that Homework - Part 2 
 

Submitted by:  © Elaine Ernst Schneider  is a freelance writer and a teacher. She has been writing since high school and has published articles, songs, and children's work. Presently, Elaine is a curriculum author for Group Publishing and also writes the City Songs column for www.newcolonist.com ezine.

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