How can parents help with learning and revision?

June 8, 2023

Today I received a message from a concerned mum about her son’s literacy. Both parents are committed to helping their son, but they also work full-time. Leading into the holidays, she wants some advice on how to ensure he doesn’t slip further behind. Parents often ask: “I’m not sure how to help my child with schoolwork.” or “I see my child study for tests and not do well.” and “How much help is too much? Or not enough?”

As teachers we want parents to help their children with their learning – but not to do it for them! But what can parents actually do? Here are some suggestions ~

Remember: Our goal is to support our kids to learn themselves.

Consistent routine and motivation:

We must emphasise that parents play a key part in making learning at home a normal, routine part of life. Establish a set time each day when homework will be completed. This routine will help children develop good study habits and create a sense of structure and predictability.

Motivation has far-reaching positives. The motivation to study has long-term benefits (ambition to succeed in the future) plus short-term benefits (completing work before you move onto recreational interests).

Parents can ultimately help in both areas. Routine and habit-forming behaviour means that study time shouldn’t be a big drama as they do it each week – it should be something they do without question.

Homework: everyone’s children have tried the ‘No homework’ line. The key is in the question: “What homework do you have this week? Let’s take a look.” This communicates that there is homework and that you’re willing to help them plan what they need to do. Kids respond better to parents taking an interest, rather than critical scrutinizing.

Making Revision Timetables Visible: this works so well in our house. A timetable that’s visible on a wall (or fridge) is really effective, rather than attached to the back of a bedroom door (or scrunched in the school bag). Establish this early – this becomes so important once they reach high school. Studying at the kitchen table or in their room with the door open facilitates easy supervision and supportive checking in. (A great tip I received was to take in a hot chocolate or milkshake when they are studying as a good excuse to check in.)

Parents require the right information

Fewer than 10% of students have parents who are certified educators. Where can the other 90% of parents go to find answers? Here are some ideas to help:

Provide parents with access to study material: subject topics/themes, curriculum overviews, knowledge organisers, word lists and let them know where these things can be found online and which resources their children will have been provided with. I’ve always encouraged parents to read the same novel as their child.
Try to make your parents’ information as curriculum specific as possible. Study tips that are too general are much less effective than specific tips on studying maths, French, science, history and spelling rules.
Create resources that are highly quizzable by a non-expert. I always say that a good knowledge organiser is one you can give to your mum or your sibling or a friend and they can quiz you on things you’re meant to know: dates, definitions, bullet point summaries; equations; quotes; sequences of procedures or events; labels for diagrams…. so many things! Flash cards are terrific and can be used for all ages – even upper high school!
Provide guidance about doing the quizzing. Ask a small set of questions; give your child time to think and say or write the answers; then show them or tell them the correct answers. Then discuss any they got wrong.
Provide questions and separate answers. Tell parents – your child should be able to answer these questions. Ask them. Then provide the answers. If there are any queries, provide a means for parents to ask you or suggest resources or links for them to look at. Here, parents don’t even need to provide answers – they just have to ensure their child follows the routine. Test – check- evaluate. Repeat.
Offer a variety of the type of quiz questions that you send to parents: simple factual recall; lists; multiple choice; ‘tell me as much as you can about….’; ‘summarise the main points about….’
Set practice tasks that parents can supervise: eg handwriting practice; drawing/sketching exercises; times tables practice; French terms practice. Parents don’t need to do more than establish what the practice task is and ensure their child does it with sufficient repetition and intensity to make an improvement.

Reading

This circles back to my original query from a parent today. If parents are looking to help their children with holiday revision (it might be maths, literacy, a language) then try these strategies:

Parents, set up the materials the night before at the kitchen table: worksheets, readers, pencils etc. Have everything at hand before you start.
No tv or devices until they have completed their tasks. Asking a child to turn off the xbox or tv in order to ‘do extra work’ is going to have a negative effect.
Parents if your child is struggling with the text, read the set material to them; then ask them questions to check for understanding. (ie ‘Read these passages to your child; then ask them these questions to see how well they understood).
Parents can support accountable independent reading: (Ask your child to read these passages independently; then ask them these questions to see how well they understood.)
Celebrate success: Celebrate when your child completes their homework and achieves their goals. This will provide positive reinforcement and motivation for future homework assignments.

If you’re looking for a literacy resource to boost student literacy, we have it covered. Testing has shown that 100% of students in a Year 6 cohort improved their reading comprehension after using our program.

Our programs ~ Literacy for Boys and Literacy for Kids ~ have had a huge uptake with high schools this year. It reflects two things:

a) the need for quality reading material that engages older students

b) a decline in reading skills over the past three years (COVID’s impact largely)

We are incredibly passionate about improving kids’ literacy – research consistently supports the fact that confident readers achieve more highly than disengaged learners.

If we can get our children to enjoy reading they will grow into a reader, and that reader has more doors open to them in this world.

If you are wanting a resource that can boost your child’s or class’ literacy in 2023, please visit Literacy for Boys or Literacy for Kids

Check out our recent appearance on Channel 7 News ~

Parents ~ sign up for a free 30-day trial and improve your son’s literacy for the upcoming school year!

As an educator, do you want more from your literacy program? Contact us for a 30-day free trial in your school or classroom. Sign up for our newsletter and get FREE Comprehension Worksheets for Years 3 to 9.