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Homework is meant to give students the opportunity to engage in independent practice. The ultimate goal should not be for the child to bring in a paper that is devoid of errors; but rather to allow the child to practice the skill they were introduced to in the classroom. Practice, by definition, implies that the skill has not been mastered and mistakes will be made. For this reason, I hold my students accountable for attempting to complete all of the assigned problems but I expect them to make any necessary corrections as we go over the problems in class.

When parents work too closely with their child to make sure the work and answers are perfect, they give the child the impression that they don't need to pay attention to the explanations or corrections since their paper is already "right".The evidence of this is the poor marks these students earn on tests that cover the material they were never required to struggle over and figure out on their own. There is a saying that people must learn from their mistakes; if parents help their children too much, what lesson will they learn?

If parents want to help their child with homework I would offer them the following advice: instead of telling or showing them how to do the problems they should ask the child to first reread the problem, passage or question and explain what it is asking for. Once this has been established, they will want to ask their child what they will need to do to come up with the answer ( do they need to look in the text, look in their notes, perform a particular algorithm). If the child is unsure, the parent can offer advice; but ultimately, it is the child's responsibility to carry out the necessary steps to come up with an answer. If the answer is wrong, the teacher will now be aware that the child may need additional instruction to achieve mastery. The best thing parents can do for their children in regard to homework is to encourage them to do the best they can and allow them to make mistakes.

Learn more about this author, Marisa Setzer.
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