Homework help: how much is too much?

Homework+is+a+big+responsibility+for+elementary+students%2C+one+that+can+be+shared+with+parents.

Kara Engle

Homework is a big responsibility for elementary students, one that can be shared with parents.

Kara Engle, Staff Writer

When it comes to homework time, there are often two types of parents. The parents that only help their kids with homework when they ask, and the parents who always assume their kids need help.

Many students go home and basically have their parents do their homework for them. Some parents don’t realize that there is a difference between kids who do their own homework and kids who have their parents do it.

Mrs. Tara Naylor, a second grade teacher at Bellwood-Antis, at Myers Elementary School, thinks there is a huge difference between these types of students.

“I think parents who do homework for their kids have an impact on their kids learning,” she said. “It teaches them to find the easy way out in life.”

When you over help your kids with homework you are not letting them learn tasks they will need and this can affect them in the long run.

“If you help your kids too much on their homework, the teacher might think that the student is able to complete a task that they really don’t understand,” said Mrs. Naylor.

Mr. Michael Collins, a fifth grade teacher at Myers Elementary School, also agrees that there are negative inputs to helping too much.

“I think you have to put part of the ownership on the child to see whether they were really paying attention in class or no,” he said.

The distinction is between “doing” and “helping”

Middle school teacher Mr. Tim Trexler feels there is no problem with sitting down with your kids and giving them the extra help they might need.

He said “I think you should sit down and help your kids with homework. I don’t think parents should do it; I’m saying they should help.”

Mr. Collins also thinks there are many positive effects with helping your kids with homework.

“I think sometimes they don’t always understand everything,” he said, “and I think there are times where students don’t ask questions cause their afraid or embarrassed, so I think it’s good, in a sense, that you help.

Myers Elementary School recently had parents come in to learn a new math program with their kids and teachers thought it was wonderful because they were able to demonstrate how to carry out the error correction procedure effectively.

Mrs. Naylor thought it was a wonderful idea.

“Most parents want to make sure they are helping their kids in a way that matches what they are expected to do at school.”