Help Your Kids Do Kindergarten Homework: 8 Useful Tips For Parents

Whether or not you agree that preschoolers should study outside of class, it has to be done, or the child ends up ill-prepared for the next day at school.

Homework has a number of purposes. It enables your child to practice or apply knowledge of what has been learned that day, check that the child has understood the lesson and show evidence of learning.

Good study habits are best learned early.

Properly set homework can not only enable the teacher to see what the child has learned it can also enable the parents see how their child is progressing.

1. A primary goal is to ensure children understand that learning happens at home as well, through reading and play.
2. Many parents complain about routines around extra-curricular work. Starting to set them early in the school career, while learning is still “fun” lay the groundwork for later on, when working out of school hours really matters.
3. Create a space for homework. A quiet well-lit, distraction-free zone, in the same place every day encourages the attitude to work. Set up a “grown-up” office space with your little one, with everything the child needs to do the set task within reach.
4. Make sure you do it at the same time every day. At pre-school age, it should be early, as soon as they get home. Have a snack ready, talk about the day at school and then do the set task while the memory of the day’s work is still fresh in the child’s mind.
5. It often helps the child if the parent reads the guidelines and explains the task to the child before beginning.
6. Stay nearby while your child is working to give advice if necessary. Try not to fall into the trap of doing it for them – whether or not your child can do the set work tells the teacher whether a child is struggling and requires extra assistance.
7. Be positive. Project the attitude of it being a “grown-up” thing to do. If you choose to act like it is a chore to be endured, that is the attitude your child will take. This will make working after school that much harder for him or her later in their school life.
8. Ideally set homework should be 10 minutes per grade so expect your pre-school child to have about 10 – 15 minutes of set tasks per night. If there is more than one sheet of work, it is best to allow breaks.