Helping with homework
Though the school year has come to a close, I am curious as to how dads support their child's homework endeavors during the course of the school year. As a teacher, I am finding too often that parents just assume their kids are doing "what they need to do". When I talk to parents about homework support, they usually say they don't want to do the work for their child. I explain the difference between doing their work (actually doing the tasks that I have asked the students to do) and supporting their work (such as creating a quiet, resourceful work area and checking for completeness).
I must admit, though I have been teaching for five years, I've only been a dad for five weeks, so I may not understand the whole picture.
How do you support your child's homework endeavors?
How do you help them find answers and ideas without giving them answers and ideas?
Has it been hard finding the right balance between academic support and academic independence?
How does your child respond to your efforts (or lack thereof)?
What advice do you have for new parents and teachers?
tricky indeed
Kevin,
Your last paragraph spurred a little tete a tete between me and my wife. Should one do something one thinks is meaningless even if it was assigned by a "superior". This applies to students and teachers as well as workers and their bosses. I agree with your view. One should not do work if it has no meaning. My wife made the point that sometimes you need to do such things in an effort to not "rock the boat" as you work toward larger goals.
We put forth the hypothetical - what would we do if we thought our son was assigned meaningless homework. We both agreed with an approach. First, we'd ask our son what he thought was the meaning of the homework. If he was not sure, we would ask him to ask his teacher. We would tell him that it is very important to find meaning in one's work, and that it's important to ask questions if need be to find such meaning. We'd also ask him to finish the assignment out of respect for his teacher. If the teacher continued to assign meaningless homework, I would tell our son that I too am wondering about the meaning of the work - and schedule a meeting with his teacher.
Tricky Topic
I love the topic. Congrats on your new baby. We are slightly ahead of you. Our boy is 12 weeks old and is now sleeping through the night. When you get there, it is bliss!!!
Homework is nowhere near my mind right now, but we have him watching Baby Einstein all the time. We believe in this and there is TONS of evidence it works magic. I am hoping to have healthy balance with my son of homework and other activities.
That is, I believe in good academics, but I also believe in being VERY well rounded. I want him learning but not at the expense of "learning how to learn". To be able to fend for himself and teaching him the art of getting things done will be paramount in my teachings.
I also will make sure that the homework is not just filler. If I feel the homework is meaningless junk, then I will do my best to direct him away from this. As a teacher, I know you cringe when you hear this, but not every assignment is a value added one. He will need to learn to do address all assignments given to him as everything we do in life is not value added, but still might need to be done. Just as in life, we should address everything put in front of us, but not every task deserves same amount of attention...
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