What To Do When You Want To Help The Kids With School

How long has it been since you were last in school? Maybe it’s been over 10 years? Over 20? Either way, you’ve forgotten a lot of what you learned there, even though you’ve got the certificates to prove you went through it! 

That doesn’t help when you’ve got kids of your own that are school age. They’re coming back with homework at least twice a week and you have no idea how to help them. If you find yourself in this scenario, you might think you need to go back to school yourself, but that isn’t strictly necessary. 

In fact, there’s a lot you can do to help your kids through school; check out our list below for some tips on approaching their educational needs in a practical manner. 

What Subjects are They Good at?

This is the first thing to determine. What do they like to do? What are they ‘good’ at, in terms of the grades they get? And ultimately, with what subjects are they going wrong? The more you know about these three questions, the better you’ll be able to assign the help they need with their school work. 

It could be a simple matter of talking to their teacher in a subject they’re struggling with. It could also be that they have a natural talent for one subject over the other. Within this, teach them how to ask for help, and to never let something they don’t understand hold them back. 

Break Down Their Approach

How does your child like to do their homework? When you really understand their specific approach, you’re going to be able to pinpoint where their struggles are coming from, or work out the way they think and how this might differ from the typical. 

One of your kids might like to start from the bottom and work their way up. Their brother or sister might prefer to do the ‘hard’ questions first before answering the easy ones. Once you see them work this way, and ask them why they choose to complete a task like that, you’ll get an insight that their teacher isn’t even likely to have! 

Hire a Tutor

Hiring a tutor for yourself might seem like a big step to take – and it is! But it’s also one of the most practical things you can do to help your kids in the long term. And it’s easier than ever to do as well. You can look up an online english tutor and work with the person you rub along with best, even over a Zoom call. 

Failing that, you could simply consider getting the kids a tutor from time to time. If you know they’re struggling with a certain subject and you want to be responsible about the help they get, the use of a tutor will go far to strengthen their understanding. 

Start an After School Club

An after school club can be started up by anyone – it doesn’t even necessarily need to be hosted on school grounds. However, you will need to look into the program regulations your state has imposed on clubs like these, and whether or not you’re going to need to apply for insurance or a license. 

But once you’ve got all the paperwork out of the way, you can bring your kids and others just like them into a fun, supportive setting where they can learn together and uplift each other. Kids can learn from other kids just as much as they can from adults, and they often have more chances to talk to each other than they do the teacher leading the class. 

Change the Environment

This is the final thing to try. You can change the environment in which they do their homework or complete some extracurricular activities and see if it supports them on their educational journey. 

For example, come up with a dedicated homework room. This is the place where only homework or other work focused tasks are to be done. That means no TVs, consoles, or phones are to be used inside it. You can take snacks in there with you, but this room is for focusing! 

If you think you’re unable to help the kids with their school work, think again! While you can hire a tutor and do your best to ‘school yourself’ all over again, you can also just make their days more constructive. An after school club can supplement their learning, and the less distractions at home, the better!

Josie Smith