Succeeding at Home

This week, we read the article, Every Mark on the Page: Educating Family and Community Members about Young Children’s Writing by Kate Foley Cusumano. This article does a phenomenal job at offering strategies to support young learners on the academic journey in and out of the classroom. For instance, Cusumanos’ theory on getting parents involved in a positively encouraging way can really aid in students success. It is also important to point out that these strategies can generally help children enjoy completing homework.

The idea that children do not enjoy doing schoolwork at home seems to be universal. However, the reasons for this reluctant position to do homework can be varied. Some of the reasons include, but are not limited to, lack of help after school or at home, feeling as though “homework’s” purpose is similar to a testing atmosphere, and feeling as if they have to do drills on lessons they either do not understand or have already mastered. This can make the process of completing homework exhausting for the child.

Cusumanos also talks about getting parents to praise their children’s strength, rather than criticize their errors and mistakes. It is all to often those children do not receive positive reinforcement for their efforts. If we want children to succeed, we must first help them understand that they have the ability to do so. Criticizing errors will discourage children from the process altogether. If children feel as though they perform well on little aspects, they may continue to work diligently on the whole project.

Another idea to explore is that parents and the community have their own expectations about how a child should be progressing, not realizing that every child has their own developmental timeline. This could put unnecessary pressure on children to perform like their peers when, in fact, they may not be at the same level. There is much support needed in this area to meet each child where they presently are in their progress.

It is clear that there are strategies to help children approach homework and succeed with the process. Although the strategies presented in this article are paramount, it is important for parents to also look into more ways to help their student in a positive way. Periodic conferences with the teacher and child would be helpful in understanding and supporting the child’s growth. With models such as these, there is no limit to how much we can do to support our students!