(905) 946-1181Your child is more likely to enjoy school when they are engaged by their activities and love their homework. But a child who loves homework is rare. As a parent you can help out by making homework more interactive and interesting. If you can get them used to doing homework at a young age, students are more likely to be academically inclined and responsible later.
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This post shares some useful tips to help your Montessori school child with their homework.
Tips to Help Your Child with Montessori Homework
While homework at the Montessori level may seem easy to you, it is important to remember that it isn’t for your child. That said, there are things you can do to help them enjoy their homework more:
- Have different approaches in mind
When you help your child with an assignment, keep a variety of approaches to the same topic in mind. These approaches should be more creative than methodical if you are going to hold the attention of a Montessori-level toddler. This way homework will not get boring and your child will be more willing to sit through lesson-time.
- Be engaging and interactive
Kids love activities that are interactive. When you help with their homework, the key is to be engrossed in the work. If you seem bored or disinterested, your child will be too.
- Stay in touch with teachers
To a certain extent, your child’s teachers are the best way to learn about their progress in school. Attend parent-teacher conferences and ask about how you can – and if you should– get more involved with your child’s homework.
- Guide but do not do the work from them
Many parents do some (or all) of their child’s homework. Maybe it’s almost dinnertime and you just want to get them to the table or you think they will learn from watching you. Don’t. This makes them dependent on you and they will start seeing daddy doing their homework as the rule rather than the exception. No one learns in that situation. Children at the Montessori school level tend to learn more from their mistakes, and they only make mistakes by doing the work.
- Talk to them about their school activities
Talk to your child about their day. Show interest in their assignments, their extracurricular activities, and their art. Motivate them and encourage their interests rather than being critical about their mistakes. When you take an interest in their school work, they are more likely to see homework as an extension of that interest.
- Create a flexible routine
Children are easily stressed, and their attention spans are short. If you create too rigid a routine, they will get stubborn. Forget about studying then! Instead, create a flexible routine that heeds their interests. Reward kids with short breaks between lessons, and plan study sessions such that they get a break after each completed assignment. Let them do whatever they want on that break, including play.
- Use toys and props
Many children are “visual learners,” meaning they tend to learn and remember better when lessons are presented pictorially. If you can explain homework using props or toys, they will be better able to understand the concept. For example, if you are teaching them about colours, show them items of that specific colour.
With kids of Montessori daycare, it is not easy to make them sit through homework. The tips shared here can motivate them if implemented correctly. The key is to make study time enjoyable and stay aware of what your children are doing in school.