Julie had told the principal that if her children ever experience difficulties, that she is available and "willing to do whatever it takes" to help them. At homework time, Julie sits with her son and does not allow him to give up, thereby providing him with needed encouragement:

And then he'll right away say, "I don't know how to do it." I'd say, "Bud you never even gave yourself a chance." I said, "I know you know how to do it." And then there'll be an example to show him how to do it…especially his math. There would be an example. "It says right here…Oh…there it is…Just look at."

When Jane's daughter was doing her math homework in the videotape interaction and begins whining "I'm tired", Jane immediately reinforces the necessity of the homework by stating, "You have to do your work!" This was not open for discussion. Seated on the living room floor between her daughter and her daughter's classmate whom she babysat, with the television turned off behind them, she begins showing them how to do the math homework as best she can. It is apparent by the length of time that it takes Jane to read some of the questions or her need to reread the questions that this grade 2 math was not a simple task for her. Yet, Jane recognizes that it is important and she stays with her daughter and friend until they are finished.

Even though Jane's daughter is able to read at a level that would be sufficient for her to read the text in her math word problems, she sought her mother's assistance. Jane's manner of helping her daughter with her homework is to read the word problems to her and then dictate what to do, rather than having her try to first read them out loud and helping her if she encounters a problem. For example, she indicates which mathematical operation is required and the procedure involved, "It's take away…the bigger number has to be on top" or "So you have to put all those numbers down and add them up."