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Kimberly Houk Reporting Studies show that parents can make a difference in their child's education just by asking questions about their homework.
So many times the question parents ask is, ‘Did you get your homework done?’ And although that's an important question, experts say there's a better way to go about creating a dialogue with your child that will actually end up improving their grades and their test scores.
Immediately after school Megan Doezie gathers her three kids around the dinner table and makes them do their homework.
Megan Doezie: “We tried to do it the other way. We tried to let them go out first, come in in an hour. Well the hour turned into two hours, and then it was night time and they wouldn’t come in and do their homework.” Mother
It's the after school routine that keeps her kids caught up in school and keeps her tuned in to what they're learning.
Experts say parental involvement is vital to kids performing well in school. They say the best way parents can do that is by modifying the way they interact with their students.
Joyce Epstein, Ph.D., John Hopkins University: “It really is important for parents to talk with their children about the work. It's not just did you do the homework, but it's also tell me something that you learned in math today. Show me how you do one of those examples. Those kinds of conversations make learning interesting."
And experts say the talking will also increase your student's grades and test scores. They say it's all about showing kids that you're genuinely interested in what they are learning.
Research shows most students do less than one hour of homework per week. But Doezie says in their family there's a rule, no one leaves the dinner table until all homework is finished.
Megan Doezie: “We get everything out of the backpack when they get home. WE look at what they’ve done during the day and always question.”
The research is also showing that parental help with homework does drop off through the years, as homework becomes more complicated. But experts say that even if you're kids are going to high school, you have to stay just as focused with them about their homework.
