Do You Help Your Grandchildren With Their School Work at Home?

Discussion in 'Education & Learning' started by Von Jones, Jan 30, 2015.

  1. Von Jones

    Von Jones Supreme Member
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    I have the pleasure of helping one of my grandchildren with schoolwork at home. I must say that teaching has really changed since I was in elementary school. It took a while for me to understand some of the terms that has replaced words like 'borrowing' which is now called 'regrouping.' Trying to explain it is a whole different story.

    There is a new educational program in place called 'Core Curriculum' I think. They are presenting more in depth in the basics of math and English. At first I thought it was unfair to the parents because a lot of the homework that was sent home was difficult to explain to an eight year old and not enough direction for the parent to follow through.

    Nevertheless, I was determined to overcome it all by introducing it first the way we were taught and somehow it all began to make sense to me and was better able to explain what needed to be done. Jeez...:confused:
     
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  2. Mal Campbell

    Mal Campbell Supreme Member
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    I don't have grandkids, yet. But this is one thing I'm really looking forward to. When my son was in third grade, his teacher had him tested and found out that he was "gifted and talented". We had no clue, he was an only child and we just thought all kids where that smart. Anyway, she gave him extra work to do to challenge him and even arranged for a tutor to come in once a week. Well, when he got to fourth grade, his new teacher wouldn't do anything to help - she "had to get the kids ready for SOLs (standardized testing in Virginia)" and she didn't have the time. So we actually took him out of school and home schooled him. I have to say it was an eye-opening experience. He loved to learn, and teaching him was so much fun - to see how his mind worked and to hear his thoughts about things. To see him struggle with a concept, and then "get it". It was one of the most rewarding things I've ever done. After one year of home schooling though, he really missed having classmates, so we moved and found a great private school (geared towards gifted students) for him.

    I think that there is nothing as wonderous as seeing the world through the eyes of a child - and we can learn just as much from teaching them as they learn from us. Of course, now that he's a PhD candidate, he really does teach me more than I teach him!!
     
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  3. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    If you're in the United States, that's probably Common Core, although, to avoid controversy, I think some states have changed the name of it.
     
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  4. Von Jones

    Von Jones Supreme Member
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    Thank you Ken. I believe this is going in the right direction. Another thing I found out is that the schools will not be teaching cursive writing anymore. I haven't found out the reason why but I'm certain it's because of computers/laptops that have been introduced in the schools. One thing for certain we won't have to try and figure out any future doctor's signatures :rolleyes:.
     
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  5. Pat Baker

    Pat Baker Supreme Member
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    My grands have stopped asking for help on most things. They get most of the answers online when they are not clear on the subject. One of the teachers suggested my grandson type his work because she felt his hand writing was hard to read, he had to come to me and ask for help reading her hand writing because it was to fancy and loopy. We had a good laugh on that one because we both had trouble reading her writing. My daughter is taking a few classes and she will ask for help on the computer clases which I can help her with.
     
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  6. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    I adopted a 7 year-old when I was 20. After moving to Long Beach while he was in the 9th grade, he was having trouble in Algebra, although he did okay in all of his other classes. Of course, I asked he had asked his teacher for help, particularly since I wasn't very good with Algebra when I was in high school, and had forgotten what little I thought I might have learned since then. He said that his teacher never showed them how to do anything but would simply have them work the problems in the book. Looking at his book, I could see that it would pose a problem, give a very simple example of the problem, and then ask several questions that seemed unrelated to the problem or the example that preceded it. I went in to see his teacher one day, explaining that Algebra was the only class he was having trouble with. The teacher told me that everyone else was picking it up okay, and that was it.

    I ended up buying a copy of his textbook and the teacher's edition, finding that everything was explained so much more sensibly in the teacher's edition so that, obviously, the teacher was supposed to have a role in it. I ended up teaching myself Algebra so that I could help him with his, and finding that it wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it was when I was in high school. Fast forward several years to 2002, when my wife and I took in our nephew at the age of twelve. By then, I had been a teacher, albeit a teacher of EMT and paramedic students. After one semester of public school, we pulled him out and homeschooled him until his senior year of high school.
     
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  7. Juan Ortega

    Juan Ortega Veteran Member
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    I give the kids homework if they don't have any. They do not really need my help, as they solve their own problems or find out how to do so. I only check if they are correct and to make sure they are actually learning. I do so by creating similar problems to the ones they are struggling and having them work it out. In this way and others I help the kids academically.
     
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  8. Helene Lawson

    Helene Lawson Veteran Member
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    Yes, sometimes whenever I have time for it then I gladly help my grandchildren.
    It's great to share your knowledge with somebody!
     
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