When they don’t understand

When your child says “I don’t understand this,” a reflexive response is to ask “What don’t you understand?” That’s a frustrating question for many students because, understandably, they can’t always articulate what they don’t understand. In those situations, grab your Sherlock Holmes hat and spend a few minutes investigating the work together to try to identify where they’re getting stuck. For example, take reading comprehension. By digging into the text together, you may find it’s simply a vocabulary issue which can be solved by keeping a dictionary open. Or maybe you find that they can’t keep track of all the characters and how they’re connected which can be solved by modeling the creation of a character map. A few minutes in the weeds will likely help you and your child identify the root issue and foster more independence for the long-term.