Time management skills: Which
you have that uneasy feeling that
will help them get started on their
work has gone undone. Ask your
She was in quite a quandary. She
work, stay focused and understand
was making it a regular practice to
how long things actually take to
child to log onto the portal with
tap into her freshman son’s school
finish. studies | from page 23
portal each day and print out his
assignments so they would be
ready for him when he came home
from school. When asked why
she did this, she responded, “If I
didn’t, he would never do them.”
One of the most important gifts a
parent can give to their child is the
ability to navigate life, including
schoolwork, independently.

Middle school is definitely the
time to start. And in high school;
it’s a must.

if you don’t set the stage for them
to do these school preparations
and tasks on their own. So again,
work with them to get the process
started, but then adopt a “hands-
off” philosophy so that they have
the chance to work through it
themselves. own.

And study skills: Which help them
make better use of the time they
do dedicate to homework and
6. Work on communication rather
studying. than the schoolwork itself
As the old allegory says: “Give
The question remains, “What
a man a fish, and you feed him
do you do if the work still goes
for a day. Teach a man to fish,
undone without your support?”
and you feed him for a lifetime.”
The answer is complicated because
And that couldn’t be more true
when it comes to studying and
doing homework, so it’s worth the
investment. They’ll never have the opportunity
to develop the skills they’ll need
you there; do not do it on your
4. Give them a choice
the obstacle is typically deeper
than missing assignments. So
often, there’s a problem with
communication. Schedule a time to sit down with
your child and discuss the issue
Expect that your student has
without nagging or judging him.

a system in place to track
When kids feel as if their parents
assignments, projects and dates of
listen to them, they are more
quizzes and tests. It should be up
likely to listen to their parents. I
to the student to determine which
recommend a fantastic book and
system works best for him or her,
so give them a choice on how they
want to accomplish this.

one that changed the way I deal
with the students I teach and my
own children. It’s called, “How to
Some students find apps that run
Talk So Kids Will Listen and How
on smartphones or tablets are ideal
to Listen So Kids Will Talk” by
Once your kids start working
for this application, where they are
Adele Faber. Check it out. It’s an
through their homework
permitted. Others, although very
few these days, prefer the old-
easy read and so worth it.

independently, inevitably you’ll
run across some issues with
fashioned assignment notebook.

3. Give them the tools
key and will help you navigate
staying organized, getting their
work done on time and studying
sticky situations when it comes to
ahead of time for tests.

5. Trust, but verify
So it’s not usually enough to
Trust that your child has
just set them loose on their work
completed his daily assignments
without helping them develop the
and planned out those that are
skills they’ll need to make their
long-term, but be wise enough to
way through it. These include:
verify. This means that you may
Organizational skills: This helps
kids feel more in control of their
In the end, communication is
want to cross-reference what he
says he has for homework against
helping with schoolwork.

Ann Dolin is the founder and
president of Educational Connections
Tutoring, serving Northern VA, D.C.,
and MD. She and her tutors travel to
students’ homes to help them improve
what is documented in the portal.

their confidence and grades through
a handle on all of the homework
“Trust but verify” shouldn’t be
management coaching. Learn more
and studying they have to do.

daily, but should be used when
at ectutoring.com.

work and confident that they have
24 November 2017 washingtonFAMILY.com
1-to-1 tutoring and organization/time