Why is kids' modern homework so confusing to parents?
Parents forget foundational academic material over time and get tripped up by unfamiliar new teaching methods like common core and strange phrasing. This makes them feel embarrassed and unable to guide their children through assignments without first looking up external explanations.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1Using online learning and video platforms like Khan Academy or YouTube to refresh skills
- 2Asking AI tools like Gemini for help with homework questions
- 3Reading the school textbook
- 4Using teacher-provided printouts or family math lessons
- 5Asking older siblings or other family members to help
- 6Sitting with the child nearby while doing household tasks
- 7Negotiating the timing of homework to allow for decompression after school
- 8Using a visual timer
- 9Offering small rewards like snacks or candy after completion
- 10Making the process enjoyable with physical comfort and positive compliments
- 11Taking away video game privileges
- 12Practicing letters, numbers, and shapes out of workbooks during the summer
- 13Using play dough to build fine motor skills
- 14Cutting back on household chores to make room for family time
- 15Skipping homework entirely
- 16Talking to the teacher to clarify expectations or negotiate a reduction in workload
- 17Splitting homework up with breaks in between
In their words
Unedited, most upvoted first, each linked to the thread it came from.
“She comes home every night with homework that takes her about 1.5 hours to complete along with the required reading and log.”source ↗
“I can tell this is the reason she’s losing her bubbly self.”source ↗
“I just need some advice and words of encouragement”source ↗
“I definitely have needed refreshers while helping.”source ↗
“I feel completely lost when my daughter asks for help on her homework!? I forgot literally everything and it’s embarrassing! It’s actually alarming how much I don’t remember.”source ↗
“For the past two and a half weeks I have been sitting with him but its an awfully slow process because of dawdling.”source ↗
“I have a quant job and absolutely conceptually understand the math concepts as they were taught to me, but I often go watch a video or look up an explanation to make sure I’m doing the mechanics correctly”source ↗
“Well now here we are 2nd week in and he's not even trying with his work. I feel very disappointed in myself as a parent. Idk what to do. It's so hard motivating him & he just doesn't care!”source ↗
“He's very much the type to, if it doesn't work the first time or first 4 seconds, he's over it and gives up.”source ↗
“It’s just the terminology that is weird. I haven’t encountered anything actually hard, it just asks a question and I don’t g know what the hell they are asking.”source ↗
“The home work with say something along the lines of solve these using the "X" method, and I have no idea what theyre talking about and apparently neither do my kids”source ↗
“It's not the actual math that confuses me, it's more the way they're doing it now with common core. Sometimes it's the horrible wording of the question as well. But yes, sometimes I just totally forget how to do the math because I don't multiple fractions on a daily basis.”source ↗
“My youngest is in third and won’t do any homework unless I’m watching her do it. She won’t even do it for her dad or grandma-babysitter. It’s fatiguing.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
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