While our kids are screaming in delight over the reduction of homework in schools these days with the ‘didik mesra’ concept, parents should be aware of the need to supplement their children’s school work with additional homework. Doing group projects and folios have their merits but fail to do what individual homework does. Parents have the ultimate responsibility of driving after-school development of their children, particularly when it comes to supplementing primary school books.

Homework helps the child develop study skills and habits
As our kids grow older and move on to higher institutions of learning, they will be burdened with more work. Life in the work force can also be demanding. Nobody said it was easy. Children need to be introduced to the realities of life early. Of course, as parents we need to create a balance but let us also equip them with the skill that they will need in the future. The physical and the mental strength developed early will save them from the issues of stress and stress-related diseases in the future. Today, we see many complaining about their inability to cope with work or not being able to manage their time. This is mainly due to bad habits cultivated from young.

Time management at home
What does your child do at home when he/she has no homework? Think about it. Is he/she in front of the television, computer, tablet, phone or involved in a hobby? Rest is important for growing children but how the free time is spent is important. Idling is not good. Being addicted to the iPad, television, computer or the mobile phone is not good. Hobbies are a better way of spending their time but are our children really doing it. This is where homework has its benefits. Children end up doing something productive during their free time. It does not need anything tedious, in fact parents can in cooperate elements of fun with in direct learning. Reading is one activity that I enjoy and my kids have been introduced to this from an early age. Sitting together, each engrossed with some form of reading material is such a pleasant activity for the whole family.

Homework helps parents to keep in touch with their child’s activities in school
As parents we cannot leave the education of our kid to the school alone. As much as we would like to believe that all is well in school, very often there is some form of shortcoming. Sometimes teaching is not adequate or too fast for the child, sometimes there is a lack of teachers for a particular subject and sometimes the child is simply not listening and playing while the teacher is teaching. Parents need to keep a sharp eye on the learning that is taking place in school. Monitoring homework will quickly show a parent his/her child’s competence in a particular subject. The child’s interest and flair in particular subjects too can be detected early through his/her homework. However, parents are not usually familiar with the syllabus and how much was covered in school. And let us also remember that many children are able to deceive their teachers by copying their friend’s work before school and passing on as their own. With supplementary homework, you will have a better idea of how much your child really knows.

Homework allows a child to practice and prepare
What is learnt in school is reviewed and practiced at home. Even if the child understands what has been taught doing some extra work at home is a good way of reinforcing learning. It also provides a platform to prepare for the lessons the following day. For teaching and learning to be most effective, there must be a constant flow from day to day. Breaks will only disrupt what is learnt and will often require relearning. This is especially true when there are school breaks and holidays. Let me remind you that when we speak about work we are talking about small, manageable exercises that are suitable for the different ages of the child. Say for an example, if a child comes from a Chinese speaking home where English is never spoken, imagine what would happen after a six-week school break? Reading storybooks in English would give the practice that the child need. At least the contact with the language is not broken.

All in all, homework is a necessity for children. It gives a little structure to their time at home and gives them something useful to do. The problem as always is that some parents can get overenthusiastic and go overboard. They believe in getting their children to do so much that the child will begin to hate school and learning. These negative effects can have long-term effects towards the child’s attitude towards studying. Let us as parents have realistic goals. Rest is more important that all the rest. This is my belief. If the school is giving enough homework, let the child be. What he/she is doing is adequate. If the child is idling, get the supplementary books. Let him be productive and do something worthwhile.

This article was written by Madam Kalai Lingam. Madam Kalai has 27 years of teaching experience in government secondary school. She opted for early retirement in 2013 to pursue her love of writing, and is currently writing a book. Madam Kalai is well versed in the Malaysian Education system, having been a senior English teacher and school administrator for many years.