Homework: Your Work, Too

Whether your child is a seasoned student or a fresh-faced first grader, here's how to make homework easier on both of you:

• Establish a "quiet time: routine. Choose a half-hour each day for the two of you to spend together, even if your child has no homework that day.
• Find a personal work space (a well-lighted table or desk) for your child.
• Become a "homework consultant." Be available to answer questions and help sort through tricky assignments.
• Share homework time with your child. (Example - Balance your checkbook while your daughter tackles her math.)
• Help her acquire the fundamentals of learning. Decide together how to approach each assignment and set priorities.
• Resist the urge to "clean up" errors - a teacher is better able to help if he or she knows your child's weaknesses.
• When your child needs help figuring out a problem, ask him to show you how a similar one was solved in class. If this doesn't help, try looking back a few pages in the textbook together or look at papers brought home.
• Let your child know that handing in completed homework is ultimately their responsibility, not yours.
• Look over assignments after the teacher corrects them, making sure your child understands their mistakes.
• Praise and reward improvement, stressing the acquisition of new skills over good grades. The real reward for both of you will be her increased independence and new found optimism about homework.