What if...?

• If homework sessions become long and frustrating, investigate the cause. It could mean that your child is having to catch up on work that was to be completed at school, but was not, because of inattention of some other cause. It could mean that the child is not making the best use of study time and needs some help with strategies for attaching the task at hand. It could mean that the work is beyond his/her level. Meet with the teacher and resource personnel to discuss your concerns and ask for some help crating ways of helping the child to develop good work and study habits, both in school and at home.

• If the child gets bored and irritable, he may be hitting the books too hard and too often. Don't let homework be the child's only evening experience.

• Too many nights out of the home, in team sports or other activities, is just as tiring, debilitating and stress producing as spending too many nights doing only homework. Try to create a balance that suites your life and the child's interested but still gets the assignments done on time and makes sure that the child is prepared for all scheduled tests.

• If a child's whole home time is spent on nothing but television and video or computer games, however, their creative juices may just dry up. This passive form of entertainment does little to make them thinking, communicating beings. Try to inject a little non-TV time into their free time, with the opportunity for some physical activity and scope for imagination.

Source: K. Burt- past Modern Languages Coordinator, Delta SD, How can you help your French Immersion Child at Home?