Homework Help, Tutoring, or Brain Training: Understanding the Nuances

When kids and teens race home from school, it’s hard to pivot back to learning. Plenty of students struggle to complete their homework. So, when is it time to enlist homework help? And how do you know what type of support your child needs?

Students of all ages may need support in the following situations:

• They try to set up effective homework strategies but are unsuccessful.
• They’re regularly demoralized or frustrated by homework.
• Homework takes them an unusual amount of time to complete.
• They’re overwhelmed by the work involved.
• Homework is a frequent obstacle for them.

For these situations, both tutoring and brain training may provide the homework help that is needed. Let’s review how each of these options can benefit your learner.

Choosing Homework Help for Each Student

Identifying What Homework Help Is Needed

While tutoring and brain training may seem similar, they have very different approaches and outcomes.

If a student does well in the classroom, only to fall short when completing homework, they may need a different learning environment. Tutoring can provide a fresh start. Simply put, tutoring provides another form of teaching:

• It draws on students’ existing abilities
• It uses repetition and memorization to help kids remember
• It promises short-term, focused gains within a subject

But when students deal with consistent challenges in learning, including homework, it’s often because their foundational cognitive skills need further training. In these scenarios, brain training helps them build a better path to learning. Brain training can:

• help students work on key skills like focus, processing speed, logic, and memory
• target the root cause of learning challenges, like difficulty paying attention
• focus on long-term improvements in thinking, learning, and studying

How does that apply to homework help? 

While tutoring can be helpful with specific subjects, learners may find themselves dealing with the same struggles when completing homework on their own.

Through brain training, students can hone their aptitude for independent learning. When they improve on their skills, they can draw on them again and again: in the classroom, at home completing assignments, and throughout their lifetimes.

How Brain Training Makes a Difference

When students of any age face challenges with homework, it means they might lack a foundation for time management, problem-solving, focus, or independent learning strategies. These are all abilities that can be targeted and honed through brain training.

With the right training and support, our minds are capable of endless possibilities. One-on-one training can unlock those abilities and skills. In the same way that targeted personal training can help to develop muscle groups, intense and focused brain training can work on cognitive abilities.

Brain training from LearningRx starts by identifying each student’s existing abilities, as well as the areas where they struggle. After an in-depth Brain Skills Assessment, we’ll then build a unique training program for each learner.

Students work through drills, exercises, and activities, motivated by the one-on-one support of their dedicated brain trainer. Brain trainers can provide immediate feedback and encouragement, helping learners to hone their abilities purposefully.

As students progress through the program, they can tackle new challenges, develop their skills further, and discover new strengths.

Providing Homework Help for All Ages

From elementary students to college-aged students, brain training can provide homework help that learners rely on time and time again. Through our programs, learners can:

• Identify successful strategies for goal-setting and task completion  
• Build skills for planning, prioritizing, and time management
• Cultivate effective study habits
• Break down problems or assignments into manageable tasks  
• Work on improving confidence, self-esteem, and persistence   

Drawing on over three decades of cognitive research and practice, brain training has been shown to deliver results*. In previous studies, elementary and high school students reported improving study skills and academic performance after completing their LearningRx program!

Find the right homework help for your student! To get started with brain training, schedule your Brain Skills Assessment with LearningRx by calling 866-BRAIN-01 or visiting us online.  

* Results based on research and/or surveys of past clients. You or your child may not achieve the same results.