Helping kids with assignments
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Nah chuck em to the sharks. Little bastards learn quicker that way
Look, I recently taught my daughter some methods on how to algebra properly, and she's finally getting it despite "hating" maths.
I think taking them through what you've done is important the first couple of times, then walk back the help as fast as they can take it.
My wife recently rewrote significant portions of my daughter's creative piece, and unsurprisingly it was even wordier than the word limit she'd already breached
Top marks aren't the end of the world.
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Cheers for the feedback. Much appreciated.
Ultimately you want them to achieve their potential. My youngest is on an academic scholarship and should really be a straight A student. He learnt the Cyrillic alphabet for fun! He doesn’t even need to put in that much effort. But he has to be switched on and by God that is a daily struggle. Hope he grows out of it. It’s one of the reasons I don’t want him playing rugby. You have to be focussed and switched on when on the field. If not you can get badly hurt. He’s likely to be thinking about the symmetry of the ball or something.
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@r-l said in Helping kids with assignments:
@rancid-schnitzel
Do kids these days still have to hand in essay plans prior to the actual assignment? Apologies if already mentioned, you know, reading...
At A level stage (16-18) we would basically have to map out the essay in bullet point style, in order,no more than one side of A4 and then hand that in first. The teach' would then mark it and make suggestions to the order of points or any gaping holes etc. Kids who didnt get the plans done were always the ones who got lower marks, it just prepared you better.Maybe you help him at this stage? Just an idea.
I carried on doing this throughout Uni as it was pretty standard practice then, always left you with a handy revision sheet!
Re: helping kids with homework, I may or may not be a dab hand with a crayon...
Can't help but speed up the colouring when she's on a go slow.They have those but they make them so overly complicated these days. Dividing up into sections and subsections. But yeah I think it’s a good idea to get the bare bones established first and then ask him to fill in the rest using that template. Mind you he had that for the last assignment. Hopefully he’ll learn something
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@rancid-schnitzel said in Helping kids with assignments:
Ultimately you want them to achieve their potential. My youngest is on an academic scholarship and should really be a straight A student. He learnt the Cyrillic alphabet for fun! He doesn’t even need to put in that much effort
That's the issue with kids in academia, sport, whatever: if they "just get it" they don't put in the work, and then someone with a better work ethic will likely overtake them.
I know because I was the same and still am
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@nta said in Helping kids with assignments:
@rancid-schnitzel said in Helping kids with assignments:
Ultimately you want them to achieve their potential. My youngest is on an academic scholarship and should really be a straight A student. He learnt the Cyrillic alphabet for fun! He doesn’t even need to put in that much effort
That's the issue with kids in academia, sport, whatever: if they "just get it" they don't put in the work, and then someone with a better work ethic will likely overtake them.
I know because I was the same and still am
True dat. How often do you hear that such and such had more talent but lacked the drive etc. As someone who wasn’t handed much of anything I kind of consider it criminal when such talent is wasted.
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@nta said in Helping kids with assignments:
@rancid-schnitzel said in Helping kids with assignments:
Ultimately you want them to achieve their potential. My youngest is on an academic scholarship and should really be a straight A student. He learnt the Cyrillic alphabet for fun! He doesn’t even need to put in that much effort
That's the issue with kids in academia, sport, whatever: if they "just get it" they don't put in the work, and then someone with a better work ethic will likely overtake them.
I know because I was the same and still am
When it's so easy, why try?
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we had to help TR Jnr with an assignment over the weekend.
HE asks the question, we give ideas or things to think about, and he rattles off all the relevant stuff.
Getting him to write this down is the battle!
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@taniwharugby said in Helping kids with assignments:
Getting him to write this down is the battle!
has he tried dictating? Modern voice to speech is something really good compared to what was around a few years ago.
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@nzzp no, some subjects he is allowed to have someone sit with him for things and he talks and they write, he's always been great at talking!
Although, I am pretty sure his chrome book has that functionality, so will check it out.
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@taniwharugby should do, or use your phone and then edit. It's seriously good, and compare to older offerings is incredible!
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Just a rather happy update to this. Son had an English exam which I was very anxious about given recent developments. But he got an A+. Seems like the only thing that will bring him down is himself. Great to see he can do this himself when he has to.
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I think it depends on what the assignment is aiming to achieve and that your input is helping your son learn.
If it's a History assignment and the ideas and thoughts are coherent and well argued, but the writing is poor, then helping with a re-write is something I wouldn't have a problem with. The same if your kid had a problem in forming his arguments and you discussed and helped him do that and get it down in writing.
But with my kids, I drew the line at actually doing any part of the assignment in full - if I helped out it was a two-person process.
