For many families across the United States, homework time is an evening must-do that, if not completed at school or the afterschool program, is an eye-rolling event during dinner preparation. “Only a few more years before they’re completing this on their own,” adults utter internally between the sighs of their patience. While a “a few more years” isn’t long from now, it’s quite a time to labor with printables and last-minute projects.
The good news is that you don’t have to wait to improve homework time with your child. The information and tips in today’s article can help you maximize any time of learning so your child can increase their enjoyment and improve their information processing. You also get to enjoy them even more.
Before you start homework, start with what is already known.
Homework time goes faster when the child is actively thinking about the concepts and can draw coherent connections between known concepts and new concepts. To get them actively thinking about concepts, set up pre-homework time with an intentional conversation. Pre-homework time plugs kids into what they know so they can complete the assignments in front of them.
Ask your child to communicate in a few sentences what they know about the subject in which the homework was given. Providing a brief summary of the concepts being learned and explaining the connection to the homework assignment demonstrates effective memory recall. Simply talking about what they are learning activates their memory recall, connecting current knowledge to existing funds of knowledge. If your child cannot remember, that’s okay. Practice remembering. When children practice remembering, their brains light up neuronally with connections strengthening between the hippocampus and the cortices involved in the perception of the information [1, 2].
Get your timer ready to make it a game after the child has explained the concepts to you the first time.
Once your child has completed summarizing what they know, ask questions that link what they know to their homework assignment. Have the young person explain their reasoning once without a time and twice with a timer to improve time-aware thinking and speaking. A child or youth who can do this has proven that they are highly proficient in the subject because they have consolidated the information and internalized it coherently. This is exactly what we want children and youth to be able to do. It shows us adults that young people are actively processing the concepts they’re learning. Active processing is a brain-based learning process that improves outcomes. [3] Acknowledge emotions as they arise. But let them speed bumps rather than roadblocks for expression.
The benefits
- You invigorate your conversations with curiosity and enthusiasm, two emotions that positively influence your child’s autobiographical memory. [4]
- You reduce emotional dragging and procrastination by energizing yourself with curiosity, enthusiasm, and a timer.
- You get to see your child in educational conversation action and shining that brilliant light.
- Your child develops a variety of skills that strengthen executive functioning for academic success.
- Your child increases their emotional self-awareness.
- You and your child create another memory that will make you smile.
Stay tuned for the next article where I will share ways to help second and third graders stay on topic when they have so many ideas to share during homework time.
Sources:
- Seigel, D. & Payne-Bryson, T. (2011) The Whole Brain Child: 12 Revolutionary Strategies to Nurture Your Child’s Developing Mind, Survive Everyday Parenting Struggles, and Help Your Family Thrive. Random House Publishing Group.
- Degen, R. J. (2011) Brain-Based Learning: The Neurological Findings About the Human Brain that Every Teacher Should Know to be Effective. International School of Management Paris.
- More, K. M. & Rane, A. R. (2015) Brain Based Learning: Holistic Approach to Teaching and Learning. International Journal of Educational Research Studies. www.srjis.com
- Holland, A. C. & Kensinger E. A.. (2010) Emotion and autobiographical memory. Physics of Life Reviews Volume 7, Issue 1, Pages 88-131
Ashley M. Blanco 