Month: October 2020

Being an Effective Homework Coach: Tips for Parents

Although homework is ultimately the student’s responsibility, there are several things that homework coaches (parents) can do to support the homework process. Here are a few ideas:

Help set up the structure for homework.

• This includes helping to schedule a daily homework routine, providing reminders and reinforcement, and encouraging encouragement so that the routine is followed.
• Encouraging goal-setting and celebrating success
• Ensuring that there is a quiet time and place for doing homework and that supplies are readily available
• Encouraging organizational strategies such as the use of an agenda or calendar

Convey the message that homework is important.

Discuss the reasons for homework and the value of it when talking to your son or daughter. There are two main purposes for homework:

• To reinforce what is learned at school and to provide extra practice.
• To develop organization skills, time management skills, and study skills for later schooling and careers.

Be available for help and consultation.

• Communicate with the teacher or school if there is an ongoing problem with homework.

Some potential homework problems include:

• Homework is taking too long (i.e., your child is spending hours on it every night)
• Your child never brings home homework, but then you find out about missing assignments at report card time.
• Your child seems to have difficulty understanding the homework and is getting frustrated.

Provide praise and encouragement.

When you give praise, be specific about what the task or particular accomplishment has been, rather than giving generic praise that will do little to help your child understand what they are getting better at. For example, “You did a great job at figuring out how to prioritize your homework tonight” gives more information than saying, “Good job on your homework.”

©CanLearn Society. Reproduction is prohibited without written consent.

Reading Pilots is a unique program that aims to bring the joy of reading to young readers through teaching essential reading skills and strategies.

It was developed in response to parents telling us that their children struggled to read and were becoming frustrated and sad. We wanted to provide a program that could stop that progression – and fast!

Reading Pilots is an individualized, intentional reading program where the instructors and the Reading Pilots coordinator work together to build personalized learning situations for each student.

In two 45 minutes of lessons, a week for ten weeks, students develop strategies, skills and motivation. They are taught to use these in relation to the different facets of reading; phonemic awareness, phonological awareness, fluency, comprehension and vocabulary.

Most importantly, we do everything possible to make reading an enjoyable and fun experience for our students. Building on students’ already existing strengths and using games and activities, we aim to increase student enthusiasm and motivation.

Parent involvement is an essential part of Reading Pilots. We rely on parents to spend 20 minutes or half an hour every day enjoying reading with their children. Outside lesson time, we show parents how to use specific methods for reading with their children, rather than trying to teach them to read. These methods are effective and fun. Instructors suggest games and activities that parents, grandparents or friends can do with our students to increase their reading strengths and the enjoyment of reading.

In the nearly two years since Reading Pilots has been in existence, our students have shown marked increases in their reading skills. More importantly, both students and their parents have commented on students’ increased confidence and their motivation to read.

Reading Pilots Winter sessions will begin in January 20201. Registration is now open and we still have spaces available!

If you think your child would benefit from the Reading Pilots program and you would like to learn more about scheduling and pricing, call or email the Reading Pilots coordinator, Jody Wood at 587-439-3646 or [email protected]