Manister National School
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Homework Tips

Below is a number of ways which might be of value to parents to help their children with homework and reading at home. We hope everyone finds them useful as we know homework can be a struggle sometimes for all parties concerned.

Homework Tips:
  •  Agree on a set time for homework with your child. Among other tips, Schooldays.ie suggest that you allow your child some of choice, i.e. that your child may start and finish when they want to, providing it falls between 3pm and 5pm.
  • Have a snack before they start – it gives a little break in between school and homework, and lessens the chance of low blood sugars causing rows!
  • Encourage your child to sit at a table – it makes their handwriting much neater.
  • There’s a familiar scene in every classroom at least once or twice a week, where a child goes into a panic because they know that they did their homework, but can’t find it. Get your child to check that they have all the books and copies they need for the next day in their bag.
  • On the topic of organisational skills, encourage your child to label, date and number their work. It’s much easier to identify their homework and it looks far neater. We also ask our students to rule their page in red pen.
  • Switch off the tv and game consoles while your child is doing their homework. We’re not suggesting that everyone should tiptoe or whisper – but distracting lights and noise will only delay getting homework finished.
  • One important tip that came up via Schooldays.ie is one that we would also recommend. Allow your child to make mistakes. Help them to correct mistakes, rather than constantly correcting their mistakes. Editing work and correcting mistakes, particularly in Maths, are important skills.
  • Parents often tell us that their children are taking way too long to do their homework. We recommend using an oven timer or an alarm on your phone to keep your child on task. Allowing ten minutes for a task will often focus the child and can help to eliminate the long periods of time staring out the window.
  • If your child is working consistently but is still genuinely struggling with homework, talk to your child’s teacher. Note in his/her homework journal the amount of time being spent on homework for a couple of days and discuss what you’ve noticed with the teacher in person.

Learning Homework:
  • Test your child by mixing up the vocabulary or maths facts. Can your child spell or say the answers when they’re out of order?
  • Test your child by asking him or her to write it down. Can they say it and write it?
  • Encourage your child to do their learning homework every day. The repetition of learning everyday will help your child to hold on to the knowledge. Five or ten minutes every day is much better than three hours in one night!
  • On the same point, practise learning homework in the car, in the supermarket, waiting for the bus – tables are especially important to learn in this way. They really need to be second nature.
  • One way to learn vocabulary and spellings is to use ‘Look-Say-Cover-Write-Check’. Your child writes the tricky word, looks at it carefully and says it. Your child then covers the word and attempts to write it. They then check the spelling of the word. If the word is correct, the child can move on. If it’s incorrect, repeat the process.

Reading Homework:
  •  In the senior end of the school, your child will generally not need you to ‘hear’ their reading every single day. However, it is important that you check that they understand what they’ve read. Ask them to tell you five things that they read (and make sure that they’re not from the same page!)
  • In the junior end of the school, it’s really important that your child focuses on fluency. This means that it’s not enough for your child to be able to read every word by itself. It’s also important for them to read all the words smoothly as a sentence.
  • It’s important that your child practises reading with expression. Encourage them to play around with silly voices for characters and ask them how a character might have said a certain piece of dialogue.
  •  Junior classes also use word walls to increase vocabulary. Read over each word (and mix up the order!) until your child can say it confidently. Your child should also try to use the word in a sentence to show you that they know what it means.
       For age-specific tips, check out the very useful Helpmykidlearn.ie for activities.

  • Home
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    • Booklists 2022-23
    • School Staff 2022-23
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      • Old School Photos
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      • Top 100 Books for Primary School Children
      • Useful Maths Websites
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      • Numeracy >
        • Subtraction with "Renaming"
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      • West Midlands Theatre - Robin Hood
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      • team Limerick Clean-up Friday April 8th 2022
      • Class Blogs >
        • Infants 2021-22
        • 1st and 2nd 2021-22 >
          • 1st and 2nd Class School Tour 26th May 2022
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        • 3rd & 4th 2021-22
        • 5th & 6th 2021-22
    • 2020-21 Archive >
      • News Feed 2020-21
      • School Staff 2020-21
      • European School Sports Day 2020
      • Halloween 2020
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      • School Closure Work Feb 22nd - Mar 5th 2021
      • School Closure Work Jan 11th - Jan 22nd 2021
      • Class Blogs 2020-21 >
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          • 1st 2nd Walk to Old School
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        • Mr Musgrave's Birdhouse
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        • 3rd - 6th School Tour 2019
        • National Tree Week 2019
        • Rosie's Animal Magic Wildlife Rescue 2019
        • Geoff Hunt Biodiversity Feb 2019
        • Manga High 2018
        • Futsal
        • SEAI Visit
        • Halloween 2018
        • Liam McCarthy
    • 2017-18 Archive >
      • Class Blogs 17/18 >
        • Infants 2017-18 >
          • Infants Sports Day June 25th 2018
          • Sowing May 2018
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          • Seachtain na Gaeilge 2018
      • Booklists 2017/18 >
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      • News Feed 2017-18
      • Infants, 1st and 2nd School Tour June 2018
      • School Activities >
        • Sports Day 2018
        • School Note March 5th 2018
        • Various Infants 2017/18
        • Seachtain na Gaeilge 2018
        • Grandparent's Day 2018
        • School Note 16th Jan 2018
        • Internet Safety Talk
        • School Note 7th Dec 2017
        • School Note 29th Nov 2017
        • Gaelbhratach 2017-18
        • Halloween 2017
        • Tommy McCarthy Memorial Tournament 2017
        • Green Schools
        • Harvest 2017
    • 2016-17 Archive >
      • School Activities 2016-17 >
        • Maths
        • Gaelbhratach 2016-17
        • Flash Mob Dance
        • Sports Day 2017
        • Penalties on the principal
        • Walk a mile (or more)
        • Yoga with Stephanie
        • Infants, 1st and 2nd School Tour June 2017
        • Wizard William
        • 3rd to 6th School Tour 2017
        • School Garden Sowing 2017
        • First Holy Communion
        • Green School Litter Pick 2017
        • Féile Luimní
        • Seachtain na Gaeilge
        • Grandparent's Day 2017
        • Art Exhibition Dec 2016
        • Halloween Festivities 2016
        • Cumann na mBunscol Boys Football Final 2016
        • Skip Hop
        • Take on the Teachers
        • Harvest 2016
        • News Feed 2016-17
        • School Tours
        • School Plays
        • Charity Work
        • Archive of School Activities
      • School Staff 2016-17
      • Infants 2016-17 >
        • Our Plants
        • Easter Egg Hunt 2017
        • Chicks 2017
        • Pancake Day
        • Planting
        • Literacy
        • Numeracy
        • Science
        • ICT
        • Run a mile
        • Art
        • Frosty The Snowman Dec 2016
        • Aistear
        • Halloween
        • Speak like a pirate day
        • Infant Autumn Trail 2016
        • Infants Maths Week 2016
        • Drama
        • 1st & 2nd Classes 2016-17 >
          • Art
          • First Holy Communion
          • Life Cycle of a Butterfly
          • Science
          • Numeracy
          • Some memories of the current 4-6th classes >
            • Halloween Activities
          • 10@10
          • P.E
          • Computers
          • Skip Hop 2016
      • 3rd & 4th Classes 2016-17 >
        • School Activities 2015-16 >
          • School Tours 2016
          • Euro 2016 Prediction Competition
          • Sports Day 2016
          • The Golden Dragon
          • Animal Magic Wildlife Rescue
          • Green School Litter Pick
          • Proclamation Day
          • Maths Week 2014-15
          • First Holy Communion
          • First Confession
          • Feile Luimnigh 2016
          • Seachtain na Gaeilge
          • Grandparent's Day 2016
          • Class Blogs 2015-16 >
            • 1st & 2nd Class >
              • Our Class Chicks
              • Art
              • School Tour 2016
              • Active Week
              • First Holy Communion
              • Hurling
              • Class Blogs 19/20
              • Maths
              • Science
              • Rosie's Animal Magic Wildlife Rescue
            • 3rd & 4th Class
            • 5th & 6th Class
          • Receiving our National Flag
          • Charity Work 2015-16
          • Halloween Festivities 2015
          • Maths Week 2015-16
        • 3/4 S.E.S.E 2016/2017
        • 3/4 Literacy 2016/2017
        • 3/4 Gaeilge 2016/2017
        • 3/4 Numeracy 2016/2017
        • 3/4 Interesting Websites !
    • 2015-16 >
      • News Feed 2015-16
      • School Staff 2015-16
      • School Calendar 2015-16
    • 2014-15 >
      • School Tours 2014-15
      • Astronaut Al Worden - June 2015
      • Sports Day 2014-15
      • Charity Work 2014-15
    • 2013-14 >
      • Tips for Parents of Primary School Children
      • School Tours 2013-14
      • Charity Work 2013-14
      • Maths Week 2013-14
    • 2012-13 >
      • School Tours 2012-13
    • 2011-12 >
      • School Tours 2011-12
      • Photos from 2011-12
    • 2010-11
    • 2009-10
    • 2008-09
    • 2007-08
    • Pre 2008
  • Virtual Tour
    • School
    • Playschool
    • Manister Before & After School Club >
      • Sinéad's Easter Camp 2016
  • Kids Zone
  • Contact Us