Helping children with homework and teaching them how to complete at-home assignments can be significantly easier if parents are directly connected to the child's teacher instead of relying solely on information conveyed by the student. To boost your ability to help your child, send notes or call the teacher at the start of the academic year and ask about homework. How often does she assign it, and what types of assignments does she expect students to complete?
Older children with years of homework experience understand the rules, such as turn off the TV and sit in one spot until the assignment is finished. To a newbie, however, they can seem challenging. To make homework rules clear to your first-grader, make a poster listing the rules and hang it near the desk or table where your child will complete assignments. Read over the list with your child and then enforce the rules if necessary to build solid homework practices.
It is often easier for children if they see a model of homework completion. As a mother, you probably don't have homework to complete alongside your child. But you can find something, such as a crossword puzzle or math logic game, to work on in a similar way. By following the homework rules and completing your "assignments," you can provide a role model for your youngster.
To first-graders, the intrinsic rewards of homework completion often are not immediately apparent. Mothers can solve this problem by -- at least temporarily -- adding in some obvious rewards. By giving your child small prizes for completing homework, you can encourage him and show him that homework is something to which he must dedicate time and effort to build his skills.