How involved should the parent/guardian be during homework time?
As little as possible. The parent should help set up a quiet area in the house with minimal distractions. Any materials like pencils, notebook paper, calculator, books, dictionaries and such should be readily located in this area. However, once the homework process begins, your fifth grader should be able to do most assignments with minimal/no help. Almost always, homework is a review. If you have to spend a great deal of time helping your child through an assignment, please have your child let me know. If you would like to listen to your child read and then ask comprehension questions, that would be terrific…you know, with all that extra time you have. I have attached some question starters that can guide you in asking grade appropriate questions. It is entitled: Marzano’s Question Stems. The further you get down on the page, the more thought provoking the answer should be.
