When you mingle with parents of primary ONE students, you are bound to hear these common discussions:
How do you get your child to sit still long enough to do homework? Do you have to nag/scold/cane your child to do homework? How long does it take your child to finish a 15-minute piece of homework - 1 hour? 2 hours?
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| courtesy of thestar.com |
In my household, getting my Primary 1 son to do homework is an immediate call for the battle zone. He would huff and puff with all his might to avoid going to the study room. His body posture went from immediate ease to a wilting one (always claiming that he is tired, even in the morning, after 10 hours of restful sleep) or suddenly he has other priorities like taking a bath or eating lunch (I’m hungry or thirsty).
According to Roderick Chua, consultant and head coach at Edu.Quantum Learning Systems, these are some of the signs that your child is averse to homework:
- Sloppy handwriting
- Takes 2 hours to complete a 15-minute assignment
- Gets poor grades despite studying or preparing
- Takes short cuts in his/her work
- Poor body language at the mention of homework – big sighs, drooping body, furrowed brows
“There is a difference between learning and studying,” said Roderick, who is a 20-year veteran in tutoring and coaching youths. “Learning is enjoyable, while studying is hard work,” he continues.
But, unfortunately for our Singaporean kids, as soon as they enter the primary school system, homework becomes an immediate part and parcel of school life. While homework is a breeze for some children, others find it a real chore. So how do we as parents get around this tricky predicament?
Roderick explains that there is a conflict of interest between the parent and child when it comes to homework. Most Singaporean parents are focused on the result; when it comes to homework, our objective is to get it done so our child can hand it in to the teacher.
But for a child, it’s a job that has to be done; thus becoming a chore as it is NO FUN. Hence, in his/her mind, the kid identifies the parent as the source of stress or a fun-killer when it comes to homework.
Also, lower primary students are generally very fidgety and hate sitting down for hours to do homework. The way to get around this, said Chua, is to offer some fun in the process of doing homework and allowing them some movement.
Roderick also shares that you cannot teach your child because of the child’s psychological barrier that YOU are the PARENT. He offers these tips instead to help you guide your child during homework time.
- Offer Parental Support
- Sit beside them and work with them
- No drilling
- Do not demand or force to finish their work
- Offer Encouragements to boost their confidence
- “You’re getting there.” Or “It’s almost done.”
- “Great handwriting!”
- Be understanding
- Give them a time limit.
- Understand that the span of concentration in a young child is short – 15 minutes duration
- Slowly extend the duration – 5 minutes at a time
- Be patient
- Revise the skills that they have learned (so the child does not have to repeat learning or doing things he already knows and gets bored or frustrated with)
- use the homework as an assessment to understand their level of understanding
- Help them understand the concepts that eluded them eg. grammar or math concept like more or less than
- Motivate
- Use reverse psychology if it works on the child
- Reward the child with praises
- Ask questions
- Add a little fun “competition” – “Let’s see who can get more correct answers?” Or “Who can add this sum faster?”
- Understand the child’s way of studying
- Auditory
- Visual
- Kinaesthetic
Edu.Quantum Learning Systems is located at Blk 134 Jurong Gateway Road, #04-309R, S600134, Tel: 6566-8835.
This article first appeared in theAsianparent.com.
This article first appeared in theAsianparent.com.
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