Some Ways That Homework Benefits Kids

Children go to school to learn so that they can educate themselves and become prosperous in their futures. Their teachers give them homework in order to help them along this journey. Although homework may seem like a drag at times, ways in which homework benefits children tend to outweigh annoyances the assignments may incite.

Ways in which homework benefits children include:

• Engaging in homework assignments allows children to reconfirm material discussed in class. This is important because despite the number of times a teacher may tell students to raise their hands when they do not understand concepts presented in class, many students do not follow this direction. Sometimes kids are embarrassed about asking questions. They think their peers or even their teacher will view them as dodos for failing to “get it”.

• When children do not understand material, many are not likely to go home and try to figure it out for on their own. Therefore, when teachers assign tasks to reinforce classroom topics, children get the opportunity to readdress material at home where they may feel more at ease should they need to ask for help. Many children feel more comfortable asking family members for help than they feel asking teachers or fellow classmates.

• Homework helps children learn to become independent workers. Writing down assignments teachers post on boards for homework spurs children to understand their responsibility to accomplish homework assignments on their own. Children learn that in addition to writing the assignments, they must complete the assignments without the teacher standing around waiting for them to do so. The same concept goes for handouts. Children learn they must take the handouts home, complete them, and return them in timely fashion without the teacher telling time is up.

• Homework presents a stage wherein children can look through their books in their own time and develop understandings of how textbooks work. For instance, looking through a textbook in class when the teacher tells you to go to page so and so and then answer the questions may not mean as much to a child looking through a textbook and happening upon questions and vocabulary associated with the chapters on their own. Homework gives children a chance to become in tune with how guide words work, how to read maps, and how to use glossaries as well.

• Homework allows teachers to keep material moving forward, which in turn, allows teachers to cover more material more rapidly. This means children get to learn more of what textbooks offer as well as more of what teachers want to provide via textbook enhancing methods. Should a teacher want to act out a play about the first Thanksgiving, for example, children will have more time to learn minute details and practice acting roles in school if they do more textbook lessons for homework.

The bottom line is that homework benefits children by allowing them to discover how they can become better students. They are able to work at their own speed, to get work done in their own time, and sometimes, encouraged to finish so they can do something fun like going out to play.