Students in Andrea's youngest daughter's grade are dismissed from school an hour earlier than her children in the higher grades. Andrea established a routine whereby this child begins her homework when she arrives home with the goal to be finished before her older siblings come home from school. However, unlike Jane, Andrea allows her daughter to watch television while she is doing her homework. This likely extends homework time since Andrea states that it takes over an hour for what should be no more than 15 to 20 minutes of work according to her teacher. Andrea describes the homework routine:
While Jill and Beth also talk about supporting schoolwork as their role,
this means ensuring that homework is completed only if the children are able
to do it. Jill reveals that she does not know what to do at home to help
her son learn if he is struggling. She attributes difficulties to poor teaching
and feels it is entirely the teacher's role to identify the problem and offer
help to her son. As Jill emphasizes, Beth states that she found school challenging when she was a child. At
times she has difficulty helping her young children with their homework.
She indicates that if she has trouble doing the work, she turns first to
her mother for help by calling her on the telephone and asking her to explain
directly to the child. If that fails, she says she would |
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