How to do homework. Preparing homework: how to motivate your child to do homework

From an early age, a person goes through all stages of personality development: kindergarten, school, college, university. The most vivid impressions and memories begin in first grade. The first teacher, bright books, covered with copybooks with still inept pens. Time flies by in an instant. And now the last call, receiving a certificate of secondary education, graduation. There is a bright future ahead.

But before that, you need to go through all the difficulties associated with studying: doing homework, essays, presentations. Sections, clubs, and tutoring are also included in the student’s schedule. The main question that faces parents and students is how to do homework quickly, correctly and on time.

Kindergarten education system

From an early age, the child begins to learn to communicate with people around him. Skills of interaction with peers are acquired in a team. Kindergarten is a great place to acquire these skills. But at first, the child’s environment does not leave the most pleasant impressions. An unfamiliar place, strangers - all this has a depressing effect on the baby. An experienced and qualified teacher must adhere to a system of education and training in which adaptation to kindergarten will be the least painful, the child will be interested, and he will take part in the educational process with pleasure. In kindergarten, the child learns:

  1. Express your desires correctly.
  2. Defend your point of view.
  3. Listen to the opinions of others and respect them.
  4. Interact with peers.

In addition, the baby develops mentally, physically, aesthetically. A variety of activities are offered: music, dance, physical education, drawing, etc. This gives every student the opportunity to realize their potential.

Children are encouraged to participate in competitions in various areas. For the child, this is an opportunity to reveal his talents, and he gets down to business with enthusiasm. Of course, adults take an active part in this.

The question of how to do homework arises for parents even before school, when children are taught reading and writing skills, thereby preparing them for a new stage in their lives - for school. These are copybooks, poetry, reading books, etc.

In kindergarten, the process of learning new skills and abilities occurs naturally - through play, thereby the child learns society and his role in it.

School: education system, educational process

The time has come, and the child moves from the highchair to the desk. First class is always an exciting moment. Much is still unclear and unknown. But gradually the child develops a general idea of ​​the process itself, because he spends most of his life at school.

The Russian education system includes several stages:

  1. Primary school (up to fourth grade). During this period, basic and elementary knowledge of writing, reading, mathematics, necessary in everyday life, is given. In addition, additional subjects are taught: the environment, music, drawing, physical education, etc.
  2. Basic education (up to ninth grade). At this time, students gain knowledge in various disciplines. Each subject is taught in a separate room. After completing the course, if you pass the final exams successfully, you will be issued a certificate of basic secondary education. If desired, students can continue their education by moving to high school or other educational institutions: lyceum, gymnasium, college, school, etc.
  3. Senior grades (tenth and eleventh). At this time, students are intensively preparing for admission to higher education institutions. Upon completion, the Unified State Exam (USE) is taken and a certificate of complete secondary education is issued.

Basic subjects at school and daily preparation for them

Main disciplines at school:

  1. Russian language.
  2. Literature.
  3. Mathematics.
  4. English language.
  5. Story.
  6. Physics.
  7. Chemistry.
  8. Geography.
  9. Biology.

The learning process goes as follows: a topic on a specific subject is discussed and in order to master the material covered, you need to complete your homework. And this is where difficulties arise. The child is reluctant to complete it and is distracted by other activities not related to studies. Parents and students are faced with the question of how to do homework correctly, avoid mistakes and fully master the material covered.

The main reasons why a child does not want to do homework:

  1. Fatigue after school due to heavy workload at school.
  2. Lack of attention from parents. With his reluctance to learn, the child tries to attract attention to himself.
  3. Some subjects are difficult to understand or uninteresting.
  4. Fear of difficulties. In other words, the child is afraid that he will not cope with the tasks assigned to him.

Parents should help cope with emerging difficulties, encourage success, not with sweets or games on a tablet or computer, but, for example, allocate additional time for walks in the fresh air.

  1. Regularly follow the established daily routine. The child will get involved in the process faster, then studying and doing homework will not seem like an overwhelming task.
  2. The student must complete homework independently. Parents help - tell, show, explain. Otherwise, this will greatly affect the result in the future.
  3. When doing homework, take a ten-minute break. This will enable the child to more easily assimilate the information received.

Work on mistakes

Russian language is one of the most important subjects at school. The child must learn to write correctly and without errors, and be able to express his thoughts. Spelling, punctuation, stylistics are the main directions in the Russian language and knowledge of them is required. It is important not only to memorize the rule, but also why it is needed and how to apply it correctly.

Here are some tips on how to make it at home:

  1. First, prepare your workplace, remove unnecessary items (sheets, notebooks that are not related to the given subject).
  2. Review the material covered. Learn and repeat the rules, choose examples for them.
  3. Read the assignments or exercises carefully. If their implementation requires certain rules or definitions, find and learn them.
  4. When rewriting assignments, say what you have written out loud and be sure to check the spelling of difficult words. A spelling dictionary will do a great job of this.
  5. If the task is to rewrite the text, first you need to carefully read the sentence and make out unclear words. In this case, a dictionary is a great help. Then carefully rewrite the exercise.
  6. Check the completed work. If there are errors, point them out and offer to correct them carefully.

These tips are very easy to follow. Stick to them, and the Russian language will be simple and accessible to learn.

Mathematics

Mathematics is an equally important and perhaps the most difficult subject to understand. Addition, subtraction, division, multiplication - all this is found in everyday life. Therefore, basic knowledge of this subject is essential for a student.

Directions for doing your math homework:

  1. Prepare everything necessary to complete this subject (notebook, textbook, pen, pencil, etc.).
  2. Review the material covered in class.
  3. Read the assignments carefully. Start with the most difficult task.
  4. Make all calculations in draft form.
  5. Check the completed task and, if necessary, correct errors.
  6. Carefully copy it into your notebook.

Learning foreign languages ​​at school

English is taught at school from the second grade, and some from the first. This subject is not easy for everyone. The important factor here is perseverance and patience. However, this applies to all subjects studied at school.

A few simple rules on how to do your English homework:

  1. Preparing the workplace, getting everything you need for this item.
  2. If the task is reading a text, then a dictionary is needed. Translate unfamiliar words separately and write them down in a separate notebook. Thus, words are better remembered.
  3. Retelling in English is a difficult task, but quite doable. It is enough to retell it in your native language, and then compose it in English. This teaches you to express your thoughts and emotions, which is very important in the study of this discipline.
  4. Grammar exercises are an integral part of learning a foreign language. If done regularly, this will enable you to speak and write correctly. To do this, you need to carefully read the task and complete it using a dictionary and tables.
  5. Correct errors if necessary.

Nature and society

As an additional component, schoolchildren are taught about the world around them. This item helps:

  1. Understand the importance of nature and society as a whole.
  2. The importance of nature in human life, nature conservation.
  3. Study some natural objects and phenomena.
  1. Read the assignment carefully. If to complete it you need to find and learn definitions, do this using the material you have covered or the theoretical part of the textbook.
  2. If the task requires working with accessories such as glue, scissors, pencils, everything must be done carefully, without rushing.
  3. Check completed exercises. Correct errors if necessary.

Mastering the material covered, independent work

Each student solves tasks in ways that are understandable to them. In performing exercises, his creative and intellectual abilities are manifested.

Homework should be interesting. With the right approach, the teacher will definitely interest the student, and then the question of how to do homework on a particular subject will be solved without much effort.

Memo for parents

    Help your child study so that he understands all the details of a difficult task and can do the same himself, explaining his actions in detail.

    Play educational games with your child more often to train his memory, attention and thinking. Solve crosswords, puzzles, charades.

    Accustom your child to a daily routine, thereby developing his will and concentration.

    Help him strive to improve his abilities not only in school, but also in other matters. As for studying, let the child learn first of all to conscientiously do his homework. Special reminders will help the student when preparing homework.

Note to parents

    Don't turn your child's homework into an instrument of torture.

    Form positive motivation for doing homework, its long-term perspective.

    Encourage your child for homework done well, praise him, and be happy about his results associated with a positive mark.

    Help your child with homework only if he needs it.

    Don’t try to do the homework for your child; it’s better that he doesn’t do his homework at all than for you to do it.

    Form a culture of mental work in your child, ask what additional literature can be used to complete homework well.

    Take advantage of extra and stimulating activities at school to reduce your workload at home.

    Consult with subject teachers if you see that your child is having difficulty preparing homework.

Memo “How teachers can help parents work with children on homework”

Every night, in millions of homes across the country, the same old play about kids and their homework plays out. Different characters may participate in it, but the script is always the same. Parents throughout history have always tried to help their children prepare their homework. This assistance ranges from occasional brief explanations to complete completion of the task by the parent instead of the child. In any case, there are a lot of problems. In trying to cope with these problems, parents use trial and error, bribery, gifts, reasoning, and whatever they think will work in this case.

There is no doubt that parents' motives are the most natural. Is it possible to find anything bad in natural parental concern? In fact, it is not the reason itself that causes anxiety and tension for both children and parents, but the techniques used to achieve the goal.

For some children, school is a source of constant stress. When you consider school expectations for completing assignments, anxiety about whether parents will approve of you, fear of failure, and so on, it becomes clear that children may view home as a kind of paradise where they can relax in peace.

If they also experience stress at home, when their parents “stand over their souls” while doing homework, then where is the place where they can “hang up their hat on a nail”? For working parents, it's like working all day and getting your share of stress, only to come home to an equally stressful environment. Estimate how long you will be able to withstand such a situation.

Remember that adults always have the opportunity to get out of a situation when the pressure becomes unbearable, but children are deprived of such an opportunity.

Below is a list of techniques to help the homework process and prevent frustration, anger and disappointment.

1. Schedule for homework.

Many children find it helpful if they have a clear schedule for when to do their homework. For some of them, the burden of responsibility is too great if they have to decide for themselves when to start their homework. Such children may decide whether to do their homework immediately after coming home from school or after dinner. This is a personal matter that depends on their learning style.

However, once the time is decided, you need to stick to the schedule as closely as possible. This will help, in particular, to cope with such a problem as “catching” children and “settling” them to work. After a while, homework will simply become a natural part of their daily schedule. Please note that the time allocated by the schedule for homework should not be interrupted by anything. Phone calls, television broadcasts and everything else can wait until the job is completed.

In the evening, be sure to check your completed homework. Many children are very worried about bringing incorrect work to school, which is why it is important that parents check their work regularly.

This action of the parents gives the child a feeling of completion of the work, is a sign of the parents' friendly attention, as well as a feeling of security and confidence that the work is completed without errors. The child will bring this confidence with him to the classroom, and will therefore be more confident when doing classwork. However, if it is obvious to you that your child does not understand certain material, you need to let the teacher know.

2. Distribute tasks by importance.

For some children, the problem of which task to start with for homework turns into a difficult choice, and they can be tormented by this problem for a very long time.

There are children who use horizontal perspective. This happens when they consider all tasks equally important and do not set any priorities. If you prefer to distribute tasks by importance, suggest to your child which task should be completed first, which task should be completed second, and so on.

Many children tend to use a quantitative approach (how many tasks are left to do) instead of a qualitative one (taking into account the relative difficulty of tasks). This means that if they are given five different tasks, they will complete the four easiest ones first. From their point of view, this leaves them with only one task undone, even if it is actually the most difficult one.

3. Do not sit over your child’s soul while he is doing his homework.

For many parents this is a big and ongoing problem. The only thing that can be said about this is that parents who use this method of control not only expose themselves to enormous frustration and anger, but also create “learned helplessness.”

Many parents will tell you that their children simply cannot work without their parents sitting next to them. In fact, it is not true that children cannot work; they deliberately choose not to work. Some children stop working when the parent decides to move away from the child and does not devote his full attention to him.

This is a very unhealthy “dependency” because a child cannot reproduce anything like this in the classroom. As a result, the child may decide not to do work at all in class, and bring unfinished assignments home.

This way they can have mom or dad's full attention. After spending the whole day at work, parents are very tired, and the thought that they will have to spend three hours in a row sitting next to the child can lead to problems.

If you are already in this situation, you should not immediately destroy the established order of things. Take small steps. For several days in a row, sit at the far end of the table. Then gradually increase the distance between you and homework until finally your child is working completely independently.

4. First check what was done correctly.

Parents often have the habit of paying attention first to mistakes. The next time your child brings you his work for checking, first of all, note how well he completed those tasks that were done without errors, correctly written words, etc.

Regarding those tasks where an error was made, say: “I think that if you check this example again, you may get a slightly different answer.”

The child can now return to these examples without disgust or feelings of “inadequacy.” If you start by analyzing erroneous assignments, and even get angry, then the child, instead of correcting the assignment, will worry that he has caused your displeasure.

It may be convenient to test small portions of assignments. For many children, it is better if they can immediately receive confirmation that everything has been done correctly.

Ask your child to make just five examples first and let you check them.

Mark those that are done correctly and invite your child to move on to the next group of examples.

This way, the child receives immediate feedback and approval, and is positively motivated to complete the next task.

In addition, if a child begins to do something incorrectly, it is possible to immediately detect and explain the error, so that the child does not have to redo the entire task later.

5. Do not allow you to sit at home all evening long.

Sometimes parents allow their child to sit on homework for several hours at a time until he finishes. This is normal if the child is really working all this time, and if the task really requires that much time to complete.

However, if you see that an hour or two after the start of work the child is in the same position as 10 minutes after the start of work, you need to stop this activity.

The only thing you will achieve otherwise is an increased sense of “inadequacy” in the child. You may decide to end your child's work after a certain time and write a note to the teacher explaining the circumstances. Most likely, this type of problem can be resolved in a meeting with the teacher.

There may be several reasons for this behavior of a child.

First, he might simply not understand the new material in class and therefore not be able to complete his homework.

Secondly, perhaps the child has already developed a feeling of helplessness. In this case, if he sits on a task for a long time, then there is a high probability that the task will be completed by his parents.

Thirdly, the child may have serious problems with learning in general, especially if such situations are repeated frequently, and he may not be able to cope with the volume of tasks.

6. Success strategies for textbook assignments.

Most textbooks have questions at the end of each chapter. Often children do not know what they need to pay attention to while reading paragraphs. Discuss the end-of-chapter questions with your child before he or she begins reading the textbook chapter. Using this strategy, they will know what important information to pay attention to.

Some children have a tendency to remember absolutely everything.

It may be worth giving such a child a pencil and asking him to mark a word or sentence that may be the answer to one of the questions. Then it will be easier for the child to navigate the text when he looks for answers to questions in the book.

Consider recording a textbook chapter on a tape recorder. Research shows that the more different senses that are used to receive information, the more likely it is that the information will be retained.

So, it makes sense to tape chapters from history or science textbooks so that the child listens to these recordings at the same time as reading. Thus, both visual and audio channels for receiving information will be used.

From time to time, add a joke, or a song, or some kind of message to your child to maintain his interest.

7. Pay attention to nonverbal cues.

Parents often say that they never get frustrated or yell at their children when helping them with homework.

Everything would be fine if all communication took place on a verbal level.

But we know that non-verbal methods of transmitting information are a very essential part of communication. Therefore, many signals, especially negative ones, can be transmitted very easily, even if you yourself are not aware of it.

Grimaces, tense posture, sighs, raised eyebrows and other manifestations of “body language” are all nonverbal responses. If children are sensitive enough, they will pick up on these signals, which will only add tension to your homework-related relationship.

All this is especially important in relation to young children, who do not distinguish between parental disapproval of their activities and loss of parental love.

This condition will only add stress and impair their ability to be productive.

8. Avoid finishing homework for your child.

Some parents are ready to do all their homework for their child. Although parents' initial motivation may be to help their child cope with a particularly difficult task, the end result can be devastating.

Children feel "inadequate" when their parents finish their work for them.

Firstly, they perceive it as their failure.

Secondly, they feel that they will never be able to complete a task as well as Mom or Dad did.

There are parents who complete an entire year-long project for their children (analogous to coursework, in terms of volume and significance in the final grade, but they happen not only at the university, but also at school - Translator's note) This practice increases the dependence of children and their sense of helplessness .

If a child cannot complete a task, although he tried honestly, write a note to the teacher explaining all the circumstances. Most teachers will respond appropriately.

To sum it all up, before you sit down to help your child with his homework, make sure that you do not see any symptoms of more serious problems. When parents try to work with children who have severe learning and comprehension problems or are very stressed, they may end up feeling frustrated, angry, and confused.

If you follow the rules described above, the result will be more favorable for both children and parents.

Reminder for students

How to prepare homework

    Be active in class: listen carefully and answer questions.

    If something is unclear, do not hesitate to ask a question.

    Write down assignments for each subject carefully and in detail.

    Learn to use reference books and dictionaries to be able to find out the meaning of unfamiliar words and expressions.

    Learn to find the information you need using a computer.

    Repeat difficult lesson material on the same day at home to immediately consolidate and remember it.

    When doing your homework, don’t just think about what needs to be done, but also decide by what means and techniques this can be achieved.

    Don’t be shy to ask adults and classmates for help.

    Before doing homework, make sure that all assignments are written down in your diary.

    Decide for yourself in what order it is best to complete the tasks and how much time each of them will take.

    The desk should contain only what is necessary to complete one task. After its completion, remove the already used materials from the table and lay out those educational supplies that are necessary to complete the assignment in the next subject.

    Take short breaks while preparing your homework.

    When studying a given material, you first need to understand it, and only then remember it.

    Before doing written work, learn all the rules that may be useful to you.

    While reading the textbook, ask yourself questions about the text.

    When learning new concepts and phenomena, connect them in meaning with previously known ones.

    A large task must be broken down into parts and worked on each of them separately.

    You should prepare for essays and reports in advance, distributing the workload evenly, and not leaving such important work for the last day.

    It is necessary to be able to use maps and diagrams and use them when preparing oral lessons.

    Make a plan for your oral response and test yourself.

Keyword method

(for studying large amounts of text)

Keywords are the most important words in a paragraph. When you remember key words, you immediately remember what is said in the right part of the text.

When reading a paragraph, one or two key (most important) words are selected. After this, the selected words are written down in the required sequence, and each word is posed with a question that connects it with the corresponding part of the text. Then two keywords must be connected using questions, resulting in a chain. It must be written down and learned. When retelling a given text, they rely on this chain.

"5P" method

(for preparing oral answers)

This method was developed by American psychologists. In their opinion, it allows you to focus on the most important things in the text being studied and helps you remember it better.

1P– look through the text (quickly);

2P– come up with questions for him;

3P– mark the most important places with a pencil;

4P– retell the text (using keywords);

5P– look at the text again.

First, let's figure out what reason opponents of homework give? They ask a lot, it is impossible to cope with all the tasks. Yes, such a problem really exists: if every teacher assigns homework excessively, then children will simply stop doing it. This is what happens in high school: only a few complete tasks, among them half are “GDZ students” and those who study with tutors. So “some” decided to introduce an “innovation”: abolish homework altogether, in all subjects, in all classes. Instead of making the tasks interesting...

How to assign homework? Six Principles of Good Homework

  • Homework should be interesting. Of course, it is impossible, and there is no need, to reduce all tasks to humor and interesting stories, but it is simply necessary to avoid the obvious banality and dullness of textbooks.
  • Assignments should touch students' emotions. People usually don’t talk about emotions when writing homework. What is pleasant, the question that “irritates” because you want to find the answer - that’s what will always work. Children are inquisitive by nature, look for questions that will haunt you for a day, two, weeks, but in the end the student will find out the answer himself or in class. Such questions are not born to order when you are preparing a lesson, so get a notebook in which you will write them down, and do not skimp - give these ideas to your colleagues on pedagogical websites, forums, and on your personal blog. What will be more interesting for you to read: news about increasing salaries for teachers or increasing salaries for police officers? I am sure that for teachers, this is why this topic is close to you, it is “yours.” It’s the same with students - try to bring the tasks closer to your students. For example, one of the geography teachers on our website, when explaining the new topic “Cities” to students from neighboring countries, gives examples not of Moscow or Vladimir, but of Baku and Yerevan - these children are not only pleased to hear their native word in class, they are happy to complete such tasks .
  • Tasks must be dosed. Yes, there should not be many of them, and there should not be few - you must find your “golden mean”. Constantly complex and lengthy assignments will lead to failure in the subject, too easy assignments will begin to seem like the norm, and students will begin to be lazy. Alternate large and small tasks, give the children a rest. On Monday, the day of work for both adults and children, it is better to give fewer tasks; on the weekend - creative tasks. Of course, if you only have 1-2 hours a week, it’s more difficult for you, but I’m sure you can find a solution.
  • Homework should be at different levels. Yes, among your students there are “average” students, but there are also those who are passionate about the subject, and, to be honest, those who are not interested in your subject at all. It's easiest with the middle ones. But what about the gifted? They need separate tasks, additional ones, especially for them - maybe not every lesson, but at least sometimes, they need this additional food for the mind, they need to know that you value them and consider their level of knowledge to be high. Well, for the “lazy” and simply uninterested - give them the minimum, something that is difficult not to cope with, something very easy, but on the topic of the lesson. Who knows, maybe the situation of success will inspire them and they will fall in love with your subject.
  • Homework should be justifiable. There is no need to set a task for the sake of a task, set at least a small goal for each task and exercise (as an option, practicing certain UUDs, universal learning activities), and then look at the result yourself or together with your students - whether the goal was achieved or not, what the percentage of achievement was goals. Communicate this to students (see next point).
  • The student must have “feedback”. If there is no connection, that is, tasks are not analyzed and discussed in class, then the student will never know whether he has achieved the goal, whether he has stepped forward to new knowledge. The student spent his time on the assignment, take a few minutes to discuss his work. Remember: a simple assessment in a notebook is not enough for a student, he needs a word, oral or written, or better yet, individually; find an opportunity to personally say some words to each student - at least once a month or quarter. To make it interesting, prepare a template in Excel with a pie chart and right in class ask the children to raise their hands to see who completed the task, count and enter the number into the table, a diagram will appear on the board from which you can understand how the children completed the task. And so on for each task. Such a mini-interactive will be a pleasant addition to the lesson; you can do it from time to time, or you can organize competitions: by rows (which row did the best job), by alphabet (who did the best job, whose last name starts with a vowel or a consonant). And if you have an interactive voting system with remote controls, then that’s great - such sections can be made constantly, on any issue. And don’t forget to praise students: both personally and the class as a whole.

Checklist for good homework

  • "Interesting"
  • Emotionality
  • Dosage
  • Multi-level
  • Justification
  • Efficiency

After preparing the homework text, check whether all the principles are followed; you can check the boxes next to these points or cross them out. Perhaps some tasks should be reformulated or replaced with others. Don’t be afraid of change, do different tasks on the same topic in different classes of the same parallel, and then do your own mini-research and “work on mistakes”: which tasks were easy / difficult, which ones you liked / didn’t like, etc. You can also draw diagrams - over time you will understand which tasks are more effective and which ones you do best. If you have not previously used these principles when preparing your homework, then start with at least 1-2 points and see the result, I’m sure it will be positive.

What, in your opinion, should be good homework? How to do homework? I look forward to your comments.

A study led by American researcher Fernandez-Alonso suggests that If a high school student spends more than 90-100 minutes a day on homework, his grades will slip.

This applies to grades in math and science subjects. Although, maybe that’s why the guys sit for more than an hour on the equation, because they just can’t understand what’s going on with this “X.” In any case, if you see that work is dragging on for two hours, threaten your child with deuces and send him to rest.

4. Attentive parents help their child learn

Researchers Walker, Hoover-Dempsey and others are confident of this. These are the parents who answer difficult questions, support in anxious situations, encourage before public readings of poems by Russian poets, and even call the school: “Natalya Nikolaevna, are you sure you asked to do experiments at home with the ignition of the fleecy part of the carpet?”

In general, such assistants, according to scientists, are of great benefit: creating a connection between family and school, comprehensive support and motivation of the child. Only mom and dad can explain in a popular manner why you need to study and what happens if you fail in a quarter.

5. No, parents should still go out the door.

Other scientists, Patall, Robinson and the already mentioned Professor Cooper, in a 2008 study, insist that dad, mom and grandma are capable of causing mischief behind the child’s back. Children, it turns out, learn worse if they feel pressure from behind their left shoulder: “Come on, Senya! Smooth line! Write “five” here. I forgot the comma again!”

Such persistent help will kill any remaining motivation. Therefore, the correct strategy is support, but not control. Even if it is difficult for adults to keep a smile on their face when it comes to verb conjugations, it is worth remembering that the child’s inner attitude is most important.


Photo source: istockphoto.com

6. How much is possible? How many lessons can you do?

The American National Education Association supports ten minute rule. These 10 minutes for all lessons in the first grade turn into 20 in the second and so on. However, in the senior year, homework should not exceed two hours.

Natalya Ard

Psychologist, mother of three children. Works with teenagers in the community of teenagers and parents TulaTeens, Tula.

Pressure and reproaches from parents. The child feels helpless and guilty.

We are caught in a vicious circle. Every day, lessons not completed on time, endless work on mistakes and new exercises. Again mistakes, again long, drawn-out lessons. The child is fading away, exhausted and growing dull before our eyes, and I... I no longer know what to do. We are drowning in homework. Hands down.

Mom of a third grader

What went wrong and is it possible to help a drowning man? Why do some kids complete their homework quickly and easily, while for others it’s an insurmountable obstacle? We will discuss common mistakes when doing homework and tell you how to avoid them.

1. Delayed start

“My daughter can spend 30 minutes rearranging her textbooks, going to the kitchen for a glass of water, being distracted by her younger brother, whining and explaining why she doesn’t want to do her homework. Anything except doing your homework.”

The habit of swaying for a long time, procrastinating and being distracted is the scourge of most schoolchildren. A habit that quietly and mercilessly eats up time.

The main thing is to start quickly and have fun. How can I help? Promise a sweet prize at the end or another reward, for example: “If you have time to do your homework before 17:00, you will go to training or to a theater studio.”

2. Trying to learn homework at a table littered with notebooks and books

You may not pay attention to it, but the workplace is a mess in your head.

Help the child. Tell him: “Leave only your diary, textbook and materials for one lesson on the table. Learn and put it away, then get the next one.” It's amazing how much time this simple recommendation saves.

3. The habit of doing homework before class, not after

Doing homework at the last minute, constantly putting it off and living with the feeling of being late. Have you ever thought that the word “success” comes from the word “to have time”?

Change the situation and stop chasing the departing train. Get ahead, attack! Let all assignments be completed immediately after school today. The feeling of freedom will be the best reward.

4. Unlimited time to do homework

Busy children, who have every minute planned, do their homework quickly and efficiently. They intuitively organize work correctly, extracting the essence and spending time economically. Remember Parkinson's law? “Work fills the time allotted for it.”

A timer, a sound signal, an hourglass, and a rhythm of alternating work blocks and short rests can help you. Never allow children to stretch out their homework endlessly at the expense of walks, friends, etc.

5. Freeing the child from household responsibilities

“What are you talking about, Lyubochka studies every day until twelve or even one. She goes to bed later than us and gets up earlier. As soon as he gets home, he’ll have a snack and go straight to homework. He just sits like that.”

Don't let your child sit. Household chores are a productive vacation. Teach your child to alternate lessons with short useful switches of 10–15 minutes. Let him vacuum the room, wash the floors, walk the dog, or put the groceries in the refrigerator. Tired brains will thank you for this. And the lessons will be done faster.

6. Study only from the textbook

If your child studies only from textbooks, he will never become a cultured and educated person. Learn to answer and forget? He's just wasting his time!

Let's figure out how to do it. The textbook provides only a summary of knowledge. They are poorly digestible, cramming them is useless. It is much better to study the topic deeply and comprehensively, find relationships between subjects, watch and read fiction books on the topic of the lesson.

Each phrase from the textbook should be followed by pictures, images, stories, facts. This is how knowledge becomes education and remains with a person.

Of course, within the framework of the academic year with its kaleidoscopic speed, this is unrealistic. But there is a way out. Open YouTube and search for videos on the topic of the lesson. Typically, there are 10-20 minute documentaries on many topics based on the textbook.

Teach your child to watch videos in accelerated mode. In 15–20 minutes he will master the material and give examples. Excellent grades at school and a reputation as an interesting person are guaranteed.

7. Complete all tasks in full

This is most clearly noticeable in the elementary grades. Pressure on the child from the parents is necessary for the traditional Russian school as a lever of influence.

The school puts pressure on the teacher, demanding good results in exams, olympiads, and competitions. Therefore, teachers often behave as if their subject is the only one. But there are many teachers, but your child is alone, his resources are limited.

Take care of your child’s strength, do not allow him to become overtired and exhausted. Select the key items, prioritize them, and take it easy on the rest.

A student's ability to cope with homework is an indicator of success in school. Parents can help their child organize this process. Remember that lessons are needed to consolidate knowledge, not the child for lessons. Be on the side of his interests.

The mother of a fifth-grader says: “At school I was an excellent student and always did all my homework. This took all my time. I had no time to hang out with my friends, read books or just do nothing. My cousin, the same age, did not strive to study well. She and her mother read a lot, traveled, talked, and played with friends. I did my homework according to the residual principle.

I grew up, became an accountant and am not very happy with life. My sister is a successful person. It took place in family, work, business. She is respected, she has her own opinion, her own interesting life. This example is always before my eyes when I check my son’s homework.”

Maybe the reason is the attitude towards homework? Perhaps in life you don’t have to spend all your time just studying?

Analyze mistakes and help your child approach schoolwork more effectively. Rejoice with him at how much faster he will cope with them and how his life will change.

To consolidate success, figure out in advance how you will enjoy life together in the time free from lessons.



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