Home Learning: How to Support Your Child's Education Without the Battles

The Research Is Clear

The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) has studied what really impacts children's learning. Their findings might surprise you:

What works:

• Parents reading to and with their children from an early age
• Having conversations about learning
• High expectations coupled with warmth and encouragement
• Providing a calm, organised environment for homework
• Engaging with the school and showing that education matters

What doesn't work:

• Excessive tutoring or drilling
• Doing homework for your child
• Creating a pressured, anxious atmosphere around achievement
• Comparing your child to siblings or peers
• Ignoring your child's emotional wellbeing in pursuit of academic results

The single most powerful thing you can do is read with and to your child — from birth right through to secondary school.

Reading: The Foundation of Everything

For younger children (3-7):

• Read aloud every day — 15 minutes at bedtime is enough
• Talk about the pictures — "What do you think is happening here?"
• Play with sounds — rhyming games, I-spy, silly songs
• Let them see you read — children model the behaviour they see
• Visit the library regularly — it's free and wonderful

For older children (7-11):

• Keep reading aloud — even confident readers enjoy being read to
• Discuss books — "What was the most interesting thing you read today?"
• Audiobooks count — they build vocabulary and comprehension
• Let them choose — graphic novels, non-fiction, joke books — it all counts
• Recommend, don't impose — "I think you'd love this" works better than "You need to read this"

For secondary school:

• Talk about current affairs — this builds critical thinking and vocabulary
• Keep books visible at home — on shelves, on coffee tables, in bedrooms
• Share what you're reading — model lifelong reading
• Don't police their reading choices — any reading is better than no reading

Maths in Daily Life

You don't need workbooks. The best maths learning happens naturally:

• Cooking: "The recipe says 200g — we need to make half that. How much is half?"
• Shopping: "These are 3 for £2. How much would 6 cost?"
• Travelling: "We need to arrive at 3pm and the journey takes 45 minutes. When should we leave?"
• Pocket money: budgeting, saving for something, counting change
• Board games: Monopoly (money), chess (strategy), Uno (number patterns)
• Sport: scores, statistics, measurements, timing

Homework: Making It Work

Create the right environment

• A consistent time and place (not in front of the TV)
• Good lighting and minimal distractions
• All materials to hand (pencils, ruler, paper)
• A drink and a snack beforehand

The right level of help

• Ask "What do you need to do?" rather than telling them
• Guide, don't do it for them — "What's the first step?"
• Praise effort more than results — "I can see you worked really hard on that"
• Let them struggle a bit — productive struggle builds resilience
• If they genuinely can't do it, tell the teacher — homework should reinforce learning, not cause distress

If homework is causing tears

• Stop. Step away. Come back to it later or the next day
• Write a note to the teacher explaining the difficulty
• Ask the teacher for guidance on how long homework should take
• Remember: your relationship with your child matters more than any piece of homework

Building a Love of Learning

This is the ultimate goal — not grades, not scores, but genuine curiosity and enjoyment.

• Follow their interests — if they're fascinated by dinosaurs, lean into it (books, museums, documentaries)
• Ask questions together — "I wonder why..." and then look it up together
• Visit museums, galleries, and places of interest — many are free
• Try new things — cooking, gardening, building, coding, art
• Celebrate curiosity — "What a great question!" is one of the most powerful things you can say

Useful Resources

• BBC Bitesize — curriculum-aligned support
• Khan Academy — free maths and science
• Oak National Academy — free video lessons
• Education Endowment Foundation parent resources
• Library card — free access to thousands of books

The most important thing you can offer your child isn't academic knowledge — it's the belief that learning is interesting, enjoyable, and worth pursuing. That attitude will carry them further than any test score.