Homework help for elementary school kids: what actually works?
What works for elementary homework is short, regular sessions in which your child does the thinking, with you asking questions rather than giving answers, and practice that pulls answers from memory rather than re-reading. What does not work is long evenings, parents quietly fixing the sheet, and hiding from the teacher what your child could not do.
Does homework actually help in elementary school?
Less than many parents assume. A large synthesis of US research published in 2006 in the Review of Educational Research, by Harris Cooper and colleagues, found the link between homework and achievement was stronger in grades 7 to 12 than in kindergarten to grade 6. That does not make primary homework useless. It means the value at this age lies less in the amount and more in what homework builds: a short routine, a chance to practise, and a signal to the teacher about what has and has not landed.
So the question worth asking is not 'how do I get through the sheet?' but 'what does my child need to practise, and how do I keep it short and honest?'
Which kinds of help work, and which backfire?
A 2013 review of learning techniques, published in a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, rated practice testing and spreading practice out over time as high-utility techniques, and highlighting and re-reading as low-utility. Most of that research was with older students, but it matches what works at the kitchen table:
| Helps | Backfires | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Asking 'How did you get that?' | Correcting every line as they write | Explaining exposes the mistake; constant correction stops the thinking |
| Asking questions from memory, notebook closed | Re-reading notes together | Recall builds memory; re-reading builds a feeling of knowing |
| Short sessions on several days | One long session the night before | Spread-out practice lasts longer |
| Letting the teacher see the mistakes | Fixing the sheet before it goes back | The teacher needs to know what did not land |
| Helping plan the order of tasks | Doing a task for them | Planning is a skill; doing it for them is not help |
What should my role be?
Three jobs, and none of them is teacher. Organiser: a set time and place, and a start and finish everyone knows. Questioner: 'What is the question asking?', 'What did you try?', 'How could you check?' Messenger: when your child is stuck after a real attempt, a two-line note to the teacher is worth more than a perfect sheet.
It helps to agree the routine with your child rather than announce it. A child who chose between 'straight after snack' and 'after the park' argues less about starting.
How do I help with a subject I do not remember well?
You do not need to know the answer to help. Some ways in:
- Ask your child to teach you what they learned today. Explaining is itself practice, and you will quickly hear where it is shaky.
- Use the class materials: the exercise book, the worked example on the sheet, the page in the textbook.
- Avoid teaching your own method. The way you learned long division may clash with the method the class uses and leave your child with two half-methods. If in doubt, ask the teacher which one they teach.
- Look it up together. Finding out side by side is a fine model of what to do when you do not know.
What if homework takes far too long?
Stop at the agreed time, even if it is not finished, and tell the teacher how long it took and where your child got stuck. Teachers usually intend a task to take a certain amount of time; if it takes three times as long, they need to know, because it tells them something about the task or about your child's understanding.
Maya Tutor comes at homework from the other end: your child tells her what they learned in class today, and she teaches it with them and explains why a wrong answer was tempting.
Questions parents ask
- Should I check every answer before it goes back?
- No. Check that it was attempted and look closely at one or two questions together. A sheet a parent corrected hides what the teacher needs to see.
- How much homework is normal in primary school?
- It varies by school and year group, and there is no single right figure. Ask the teacher how long they intend it to take, and use that as your limit.
- Is it OK to use online tools for homework help?
- Look at what the tool does. One that gives the answer does the thinking for your child. One that asks questions, shows why an answer is wrong and makes them try again supports the thinking instead.
- My child only works when I sit right next to them. Is that a problem?
- It is common at first. Move a little further away over a few weeks: next to them, then across the table, then in the room, then nearby. The goal is a child who asks for help, not one who waits for it.
Sources
- Cooper, Robinson & Patall (2006), Does Homework Improve Academic Achievement? A Synthesis of Research, 1987–2003, Review of Educational Research (ERIC record)
- Dunlosky et al. (2013), Improving Students' Learning With Effective Learning Techniques, Association for Psychological Science
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