Tips & Advice For Parents Helping Children With Homework & Schoolwork - Helping Your Child With Maths, English & Science

As a parent or guardian it can be quite difficult to determine when your child is struggling with school or college work. The warning signals that the student is not achieving their academic goals, may not be apparent straight away. The signs can include lack of motivation, poor homework, schoolwork and coursework marks or poor exam grades.

As tutors ourselves and the feedback that we have received from parents, we are aware that it can be daunting for parents and guardians to know where to begin, especially when the education system is forever changing. This guide was written to help you to answer these questions. Although this guide refers to the compulsory school subjects of Maths, English and Science, the advice can be applied to all academic subjects including Biology, Chemistry, Physics and French etc

Spotting The Signs That The Student Is Struggling At School, College Or University

Some of the following points may help parents to spot the signals early on that the student is struggling at school or college.

• Is your child often struggling with their Science, English or Maths homework ?
• Does the student show lack of interest in their subject ?
• Do homework marks reflect that your child is struggling academically ?
• Science, English and Maths test marks and examination results as well as exam grades can reflect that the student has difficulty in grasping some concepts. It can also help establish that they have not revised enough or that they have difficulty in preparing for examination techniques.
• Feedback from teachers at parents evening or from school reports.

How To Help Your Child - Maths, English & Science Homework Help & Schoolwork Help

When you know that your child is struggling at school, college or university, your first instinct will be you need to help them. The first step is that you have addressed the problem. The next step is use a plan of action. As a parent or a student you may not know where to start, especially if you are not up to date with current the education system. The following advice for students and parents will be beneficial on how to get back on track : -

• Get feedback from teachers or lecturers. - Ask the teacher what specific areas the child is struggling with. If the student is struggling with GCSE or A-Level courses and subjects, ask the teacher what syllabus they are studying.
• Ask the teachers if they can recommend any books or software that may help the student with Maths, Science or English.
• Become acquainted with the syllabus specification. - Ask the child / student the topics that they are finding difficult. Most of the major syllabi are available to download for free from the examination boards' websites. Links to the major examination boards can be found on our links and resources page. These include English, Science & Maths specification for AQA A, AQA B, OCR, Salters, Edexcel, Nuffield and WJEC examination boards.
• Research the internet for relevant worksheets and notes - The net is excellent for finding lots of revision notes for Maths and Science and worksheets for English, some which are free of charge.

Buy Revision Guides For Maths, English & Science

• Buy revision guides and books. - Many of the major publishers provide specific revision guides for each syllabus. CPG books provide excellent workbooks and revision guides for primary, secondary (including GCSE) as well as AS and A Level courses. Also the Heinemann revision guides are especially good for AS/A-Level subjects. Other publishers providing revision guides include Letts and Lonsdale and Collins. All major book retailers sell these revision guides including Amazon, Play.com, Waterstones and WH Smiths and can be purchased online or bought in their high street shops.
• Look through the revision guides, worksheets and syllabus. - Once you have looked through the syllabus, guides, books etc that you have purchased, sit with the student / child. Ask them to indicate topics that they do not like or are finding difficult to understand. Make a list of the topics and a timetable of the topics that need to be covered. Try to sit with the student or child on a regular basis, reading through topics and explaining them. Also try to work through the questions with your child. Do not be put off because you feel you have not studied Maths or English for the past thirty years ! The majority of the guides are laid out in such a way that they clearly explain major topics and concepts. They also provide answers to questions, often with worked examples.

All of the above points will help understanding and improve the confidence of the student. However as a parent or student you may still feel that after this that you would like to hire a private tutor or employ the services of a tutoring agency. More advice regarding private tuition can be be found here private tutors and tutoring agencies .

We hope that this guide has helped you to help your child with Maths, English or Science homework, tests, coursework or exams and will help to pave the way to their academic success. We wish you the very best of luck.

By Jayne Thomas Co-Founder of Home Tutors Directory

This guide is original and was written using our own experiences of advising students during many years of tuition. It is protected by copyright. You may use this for your own personal use or for teaching purposes. It should not be published wholly or in part on other websites or in written publications and certainly not passed off as anyone else's work. If you have seen this article published elsewhere we would like you to let us know by contacting us here. We WILL then take action against them.