Helping with Homework Doesn’t Help?
I wrote this post a while back… way before I was a middle school mom. Recently, I became the proud mom of middle school girls and began writing a series on it in an effort to share ideas for educators and families better help students make a successful transition to middle school. In that vein, I’m reposting it…
(This post is part of a series focused on middle school. To read the first post in this series click here.) Helping with Homework doesn’t help, but here are some proactive ways you can help!
Contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to know algebra to help your child succeed in high school. In fact, research by Professor Nancy Hill of Harvard University, shows,that when parents helped teens to do their homework it actually had a negative effect!
Helping with Homework Doesn’t Help?
I had the amazing opportunity to conduct focus groups on parent involvement with juniors and seniors at Burton High School in San Francisco Unified two years ago. I asked them, “What can parents do to help you succeed in school?” Surprisingly, they told me that when parents helped them with homework, they were often more confused. Times have changed, and many of the ways we learned to do things in school are vastly different than the approach many teachers are using today.When teens say “PLEASE! Don’t help me on this!” we should listen to them. This doesn’t mean, however, that they no longer need us to support their success in school.
So how can parents help?
Parents as learning “coaches”
Dr. Hill’s research confirms. She found that successful teens have parents who work with them to establish reasonable expectations around homework, organization, and grades in a way that gives them a chance to take responsibility for their own success. Dr. Hill calls this “scaffolding independence.”
Dr. Hill explains. “Don’t jump in and help your children right away. Let them try to find their own solutions first. If you don’t bring their forgotten lunch to school today, they will be more likely to remember it tomorrow.”
Students in my Burton focus group also confirmed Dr. Hill’s research. They said they still need help from parents to be successful in school. They want us to share stories about how we handled high-school pressures, and to help them problem-solve the academic challenges they face. They want opportunities to try it their way, to “mess up”, and help in figuring out how to do things better next time.
Here are the basics:
- Help your child set academic goals. Focus on both short and long-term goals
- Monitor their success along the way. Establish a regular check to review and problem-solve together
- Reward success with more freedom. Allow teens to make more decisions about how they manage to get their homework done as they demonstrate success.