Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Getting Homework Help: Harmful or Helpful for Your Child?


Throughout the country, many voices have been raised against the over loading of homework. But we can't deny the fact that Homework is an indispensable part of our education system since long time and still it remains. Even there are large percentages of people today who profoundly believe in it and support for its cause.
Research has already proved that children are more likely to succeed in study if their family takes active participation in their homework assignments and helps them to complete it. Even hiring an online tutor makes it easy to complete the assignments for parents and children as well. In fact it's a two way opportunity for the whole family to interact, communicate and create better understanding about each other. Other benefits of assigning homework are:
  1. It helps the student to revise and practice what they've learned in class and prepares them for the next day.
  2. It teaches them to be relf-disciplined and responsible.
  3. It improves children's memory and thinking skills.
  4. It provides a more practical approach to study and to explore the subject more deeply in terms of projects, reports etc.
However it's only the one side of the coin. When we analyze it practically, we get a different picture all together. To quote author Alfie Kohn "Homework is all pain and no gain". In his book "The Homework Myth", Alfie mentioned that "no study has ever found a correlation between homework and academic achievement in elementary school, and there is little reason to believe that homework is necessary in high school. In fact, it may even diminish interest in learning". Even in certain families homework can be a burden in itself. Especially where both of the parents work outside which is quite common now days. In this case parents have to literally struggle to make their children complete their homework.
So what's the end line then? Well, it lies in the fact that homework is doubtlessly an imperative part of our student life but teachers should be enough careful not to overload it. For example, the right amount of homework is directly proportional to the age and skills of a child. Research reveals that students up to second grade can gain from 20 to 30 minutes of doing homework while for third to sixth grade 30 to 60 minutes is enough. But from seventh grade onwards students should put an extra hour for doing homework. Parent's involvement in children's education can actually spark their enthusiasm for learning. Parents who are busy at work can take the help of online tutors. Especially for the subjects like Math, Science, English etc. Online tutoring is always a wise choice where children as well as parents can be involved from the comfort of their home.

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