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Self-help tips
When you're having trouble with your school work and your parents can't help you, it's not easy to keep your head above water. Your self-esteem melts away, you fall behind and, eventually, you stop even trying.
A few simple measures can give children a hand, no matter what kind of difficulty they are experiencing with their school work. A number of Centraide supported agencies have developed ways of assisting elementary school children. Two of them, La Maison d'Aurore and Je Passe Partout, shared their skills with us.
Advice to help children do homework and lessons
- To do well at school, children need healthy food and lots of sleep because they are growing. Have them eat nourishing meals and put them to bed early.
- At the start of the school year, establish a routine with the child and stick to it.
- When the child gets home from school, let her relax for about half an hour. During that time let her play or give her a snack.
- Prepare a setting that is conducive to studying and doing homework: a place that is quiet, airy and well lit where paper, pencils and reference books are within the child's reach.
- Establish a meaningful interaction of trust with the child: talk about his day, follow his progress and supervise his school work.
- For more disadvantaged families or those less able to spend time with their children, agencies such as La Maison d'Aurore and Je Passe Partout assist parents and set up spaces and conditions conducive to children's scholastic and social success
La Maison d'Aurore
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Lorraine Decelles, director of Maison d'Aurore, and Lise Fontaine, coordinator of the homework workshop.
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La Maison d'Aurore operates in the Plateau Mont-Royal and offers different activities to improve living conditions for disadvantaged residents of the neighbourhood. While working together in a collective kitchen, a group of parents discussing the problems their children and other neighbourhood kids were having at school came up with the idea of creating a workshop to help them with their homework.
The kids who attend this homework workshop have learning difficulties. Others need help because their parents aren't home often enough to coach them. In some cases, the parents simply don't have enough schooling themselves to be of much assistance.
"Our approach is to establish a relationship with the child," explains workshop director Lise Fontaine. "Through individualized coaching, we believe that we can motivate the children to persevere and to take pride in their schoolwork."
La Maison d'Aurore has been awarded a mention for the 1995 Agnes C. Higgins Award for its homework workshop.
La Maison d'Aurore
826 Saint-Joseph Blvd. East
Montréal (Québec) H2J 1K4
Tel.: (514) 527-9075 Fax: (514) 527-3949
Je Passe Partout
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Lucie Sampson, director of Je Passe Partout
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The priority at Je Passe Partout, as its name implies, is to help children "pass," that is, to succeed in their endeavours, to help prevent them from dropping out of school, and to help them in their social and personal lives. "We work with children who are at risk of dropping out," says Lucie Sampson, the director of the agency. "These children don't always have the material conditions at home necessary for studying, and their parents need help in providing the support the children require. "
The children-some 300 to 400 a year-are brought together in small groups after school for help with their homework, which is provided by monitors. In many cases, monitors also provide support at home, helping parents develop the ability to help their children with schoolwork. Setting up a space at home for the child to do homework is an example of the kind of help a monitor can provide.
"If the child receives encouragement from loved ones or role models, such as parents or teachers, if he or she gets into the daily and responsible habit of doing homework, then it's obvious that the child will be more successful at school," adds Mrs. Sampson.
Je Passe Partout was granted the Agnes C. Higgins Award in 1998.
Je Passe Partout
2570 Nicolet Street, Suite 311
Montréal (Québec) H1W 3L5
Tel.: (514) 521-8235 Fax: (514) 523-8637
E-mail: jepassepartout@qc.aira.com
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