Homework Help: The right way to go about helping your kids
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Heading back to the classroom brings a number of challenges at home -- not the least among them the pressure on parents and guardians to provide homework help.
As KDKA's John Shumway reports, there's a right way and a wrong way to go about it.
As certain as the school year starts, along with it is the guarantee of homework.
"This is a great time for parents to adjust their homework policy," said parenting coach and founder of Positive Parenting Solutions Amy McCready.
"Having those routines established, it's just what we do every day that eliminates a lot of the negotiating and badgering on a daily basis that parents might have to deal with," McCready said.
McCready says that a common mistake is to be overseeing the homework process while sitting at the table, but instead you should want to foster independence.
"They may need you to act as a coach, or to run some questions by you, but we should not be sitting beside them, making sure they get that homework done," McCready said.
A couple of things McCready suggests you establish from the beginning are to have the less-fun things be done before the more enjoyable parts of the day and to put your availability in focus.
To avoid being stumped by your child's homework, McCready says that homework helpers are only an internet search away.
"Khan Academy is a fabulous one," McCready said. "They have how to videos and instruction on just about every subject. And that's free."
McCready says it's a good idea to reach out to your child's teachers to see just how involved they want you to be. Some teachers want to see where kids are struggling to better shape their teaching.
If you're reviewing work and see an issue, rather than pointing out the mistake, ask how they got their answer. It improves problem-solving skills, but don't do the work for them.
