Schoolwork at Home: Parents Can Help

Dec. 1 -- Rory Jefferson sailed through elementary school. But when he got to junior high, he hit a wall.

"He just had a meltdown," recalls his father, Kent Jefferson. Rory would put offdoing homework, or do it but forget to hand it in. Sometimes it tookhours for him to complete assignments that should have taken minutes.

"He just wasn't there, mentally," Kent says.

So Rory's parents, Kent and Maureen, worked with him. They met withteachers. They helped him get organized, buying loose-leaf binders and ahole-puncher so he could organize his work.

At a teacher's suggestion, Maureen and Rory went through his lockerevery week or so, regularly finding homework that had been completed butnot turned in or assignments that never made it home.

It was a stressful year, according to Rory and his parents. But thingsgot better. Rory, now 15 and a high school sophomore, does all of his homework onhis own.

"He did really well on his first-quarter grades," says Kent, although some missed assignments brought him down from an A to a B+ in geometry.

Looking back, Rory says he simply wasn't prepared for seventh grade.

"You had to do a lot more on your own, and I just wasn't ready forthat," he says, adding that he needed his parents' help. To help get hiswork done on his own, he's learned to manage his time better, especiallybecause extracurricular activities such as twice daily swim teampractice make it essential that he stay on top of his work.

Learning to Help Learn

Rory's experience shows how parental involvement can improve a child'sperformance at school.