Momspotting: How Much Do You Help Your Kid With School?

Kiddo is in Pre-K right now so I mainly just monitor his "homework" on a daily basis. He is learning to write and they are learning sight words now for learning to read.  I wanted to get him in the habit of doing homework after school though since Kindergarten starts in the fall.

I dread math and especially algebra when it comes up. I barely passed it myself and I know Kiddo will have to get help from his dad, not me. Heck, I don't know my multiplication tables!

Elizabeth

@texasebeth ( http://twitter.com/texasebeth )

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That is one of the best tips I've heard. I have been frustrated about the between too much and too little help, so THANK YOU.

I hate algebra. I hated it then. I will give it a shot, though, to see if she really needs my help or just wants someone to stare at it with her.

Rita Arens writes at Surrender Dorothy ( http://surrenderdorothy.typepad.com ) and BlogHer and is the editor of Sleep is for the Weak ( http://tinyurl.com/9pg62e ). She is BlogHer's assignment and syndication editor.

I'm with Giyen, I'm hopeless at algebra and it's my teenagers weakness too.  He takes an extra after school class once a week to get help from his teacher.

And well, my other kids are in preschool so there's not much that I could help with even if I wanted to.  I just ooh and aah over their latest artwork accomplishments :).

Tonya writes This and That ( http://www.tonyastaab.com )

Is much like what you said, Expat Mum. Instead of fixing it, you put an "x" by the side of the sentence indicating there is a problem somewhere in the sentence. The student can then ask for hints but only after they've proven they are really stumped. Then you say "it's a punctuation error" or "it's a usage error." It forces them to find the problem themselves.

Rita Arens writes at Surrender Dorothy ( http://surrenderdorothy.typepad.com ) and BlogHer and is the editor of Sleep is for the Weak ( http://tinyurl.com/9pg62e ). She is BlogHer's assignment and syndication editor.

..but I do edit their written work from time to time. By "edit" I mean I write "Read this sentence again" in the margins!

Paige has been struggling with Algebra lately and there are two things that I have learned about homework at the high school level:

I can't do Algebra anymore. I sucked at it in high school and I would have to do all of the assignment before I could explain it to Paige.
Paige does not want to learn from me. Something happens when I start talking - no matter what topic it is, Paige tunes it out.
So even if I wanted to help Paige with homework these days, I definitely am not able to. Nowadays when Paige needs help, we hire a tutor to get her the help that she needs. It's much better that way!

Giyen writes at Bacon Is My Enemy ( http://www.baconismyenemy.com ) and vlogs Momversation. ( http://www.momversation.com ) When she's not on the interweb she is writing haikus about the virtues of butter and crusty french bread.

Not much help in preschool. I do have some workbooks at home to help him with learning to write his letters. And I make sure he plays one of the bookmarked educational games everyday so he's not only playing fun computer games.

But, well, it's preschool. :)

@FireMom ( http://twitter.com/FireMom ) from Stop, Drop and Blog ( http://stopdropandblog.com ) and The Chronicles of Munchkin Land ( http://thechroniclesofmunchkinland.com )