Supporting Your Middle School Student
When should my child do homework?
Depending on your child's schedule, you and your child should talk about what is the best time for them to do their homework. Typically, the best time to do homework is when they come home from school, or when they're done with the day's activities. Homework time should be a time where they have a quiet place to go and complete their activities, that's free of distractions. Also, if your child tells you they can listen to music while studying or doing homework, take that with a pinch of salt. Make sure you know what it is they're studying while listening to music. They can't do an English homework assignment while listening to music.
Should I let my child use a calculator for math homework?
Depending on the level of math your student is in, a calculator may be useful for performing simple mathematic functions like adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing and make their homework go a little quicker. However, if they're using a fancy graphing calculator that's beyond their level, it might be doing most of the work for them instead of them learning how to use the concepts that they are learning in math. So, make sure that they are not dependent on the calculator to know how to do the math assignment and that it's not above the level of math that they are currently in.
How can I help my child to stop procrastinating?
The best way for you to assist with your child's procrastination is to daily ask them what there assignments are and keep track of them for yourself. Know when their important papers are due and ask them what their progress is. Another tip to help your kids not procrastinate is to make sure they are doing the most difficult assignments first, and they are doing them as soon as they get home from school before they get tired and frustrated. Also try and provide simple rewards if they are getting all their homework done, to prevent procrastination.
What is a "tutor"?
With supporting you middle school student, a tutor is someone who is charged with the instruction of another person much like a private teacher or a coach for an academic subject. Tutors are becoming more popular especially with school students and parents who don't have much time to elaborate on certain assignments. Tutors can get to the core of the students problems and help support your student when they need it, and when they need it in an effective way.
How can a tutor help my child?
A tutor can provide the kind of individualized instruction that the student can't get in the classroom with their teacher. A tutor can look exactly where the student is having problems and help them figure out the problem, explain the concepts and terms that students can't understand, and then show them how to build up those skills so they can do better in other assignments. A tutor can also help determine the type of learning style your student has and help them learn the best with their needs and minds.
What does a tutor NOT do?
When supporting your middle school student, tutors do assist your student with homework, but they're not going to do the assignments for them. The tutor's job is to give your student the tools they need so that they can practice these concepts on their own, like on exams or essays. So a tutor is not going to write a student's research paper for them, the tutor is just going to give them the right tools so that they can write a research paper for this particular assignment and for all of the other research papers in the future.
What should I look for in a tutor?
When supporting your middle school student, the number one thing you should look for in a teacher is for somebody who is going to be patient with your child and acknowledge when they're getting discouraged; helping them work through that discouragement and to succeed. Next, you want a tutor who is going to be constantly engaging your child in the material. Usually the tutor will be asking them lots of questions, forcing them to create the answers for themselves rather than simply feeding them the correct responses. Another important element is that you need to find the right chemistry between your student and the tutor. Your student should feel comfortable asking the tutor any question that they need. The student should never feel dumb or that they're asking a silly question. Any question is a good question if it will help your child learn.
How much homework should a middle school student have?
Typically, a middle school student will have about an hour or two of homework each night. If they're in advanced classes or preparing for exams, they should have significantly more hours of studying and homework they need to complete. If your student is completing less than an hour of homework a night, it probably means that they're not completing all their assignments, and you need to check with the student's teacher and find out what the homework expectation is.
Should I help my child with her homework?
When supporting your middle school student, parents should definitely take an active role in helping with their children's homework. However, the best role as a parent you can play is to ask your child questions and learn the concepts, rather than completing their homework for them. Just like a tutor, the parent should ask the child questions. "Well, how would you solve this problem?" "What do you think you should do next?", rather than just simply telling your child what to do, as the student needs to learn the process for themselves.
How can I encourage school success without applying undue pressure?
The best way for you to encourage school success, without putting too much pressure on your child, is to sit down with your child and figure out which subjects they succeed in naturally, and which ones are more difficult for them. In their more difficult subjects they're never going to have as strong grades or performance as in the subjects they are naturally gifted at. So decide with your child what an attainable goal is for them, to encourage success. And also help them to have personal pride in their grades and what they do in those subjects that they can succeed or even excel at. Another way to encourage students to succeed, if possible, is to provide them with rewards for their good grades or their performance in school. Whether that be as simple as taking them to a movie on the weekend if they complete all their assignments, or maybe a summer trip if they get all A's.
