Keep Your Cognitive Ability Healthy By Helping With Your Kids' Homework

Every parent wants to help their child to do well in school. As you already know, helping your children with their homework is one of the most reliable ways to improve their academic performance. Things have probably changed quite a bit since you were in school yourself, but the basics will never really change - and by helping your children with their homework, you'll be exercising your own brain and improving your own cognitive abilities, not just your child's.

It may take you a little time to get back into the swing of things. Most likely, it's been a long time since you took algebra and if you're like most of us, you've forgotten much of what you learned. If you need to, follow along with the sample problems given in the book to refresh yourself so you can help your child with their work. You can check your child's math homework by doing the problems yourself independently. If your child comes up with a different answer, then help them work through the problem again until they find the right answer.

You can also improve your cognitive abilities while helping your children out with their English homework. You probably don't remember all of the grammatical rules you learned back then; most of us don't! You'll relearn this material quickly though and improve your own reading and writing skills even as you help your child improve theirs.

Once your children see how interested you are in their homework, they'll be more likely to come to you when they need help as well as being more motivated to get their homework done. Doing homework with your child can also be a family bonding experience; kids don't always feel comfortable asking their teachers for help, but they will come to you.

All too often though, parents aren't familiar enough with the material their kids are learning or are in need of a refresher to help them with their homework. Helping your kids with your homework helps them do better in school while giving you the mental workout you need to improve your cognitive abilities. If you have more than one child, you'll have your work cut out for you, since you'll have to learn what all of them are learning

You can get information which can help you help your kids online if you don't find your child's school books helpful. There are many websites which are devoted to helping parents to get back up to speed on these long-forgotten school subjects in order to help their kids. You can get in touch with your children's teachers if you're unclear about anything - explain that you're interested in helping your child with their homework and they'll be glad to assist you.

Best of all, you'll remember more of what you learn now that you're doing it for the second time. You'll have more background knowledge and some skills you didn't have as a child. You'll gain a new perspective on this old coursework; you'll know just what your kids are doing and how long it should take.