Homework starts, and ten minutes later your child is in tears. So you make it smaller. Fewer problems, easier words, a shorter page. It feels like the kind thing to do. Still, a quiet worry stays with you. Are you helping, or holding your child back? If that sounds like your kitchen table, you are not alone.
Common questions from parents
What are the 7 principles of learning?
Should I make homework easier when my child is struggling?
Does “individual differences” mean teaching to my child’s learning style?
Is the Learning Difficulties Analysis a diagnosis?
Lowering the bar feels kind. The 7 principles of learning say keep it high. Teach the next small step.
What does this infographic say, in plain words?
The 7 principles of learning come from a 2010 OECD book. It is called The Nature of Learning. The OECD is a group of countries that studies schools. The book gathered what learning science says about good classrooms. It sums that up in seven principles.
- Learners at the center. The child takes an active part in the lesson.
- Learning is social. Children learn with and from other people.
- Emotions matter. Feelings are part of learning, not a side issue.
- Differences count. Each child starts from what they already know.
- Stretch every learner. Hard work for every child, without overload.
- Feedback guides the work. Clear goals, and checks along the way.
- Make connections. Link subjects to each other and to real life.
This infographic picks the ones that matter most at home. Keep the bar high. Put safety first. Then find the exact step your child has not built yet, and teach it.
Keep the goal where it is. Make the next step small enough to reach.
Laura Lurns · Learning Success expert
Why not make the work easier?
Making work easier feels kind. But a lower bar teaches less. The infographic asks for something else. Keep the goal where it is. Make the next step small enough to reach. The OECD calls this stretching every learner, with hard work and no overload.
Say the math sheet has twenty problems and your child freezes. You could cut it to five easy ones. Or you could keep one real problem and do the first step together. The second way still teaches the math.
Struggle isn’t the sign that something’s wrong. A child who gets through a hard step has done it once. The next hard step is easier because they have done it before.
Safety comes first. The OECD book names emotions as one of its seven principles. We see this with families again and again. A child who feels safe will try the hard problem. A child who feels ashamed shuts down. So protecting your child’s confidence is part of the teaching. It is not an extra. Here is more on why emotional safety comes first for a learning brain.
Key takeaways
- Keep the goal, shrink the step: A lower bar teaches less. Keep the goal and make the next step small enough to reach.
- Safety comes first: A child who feels safe will try hard work. Protecting confidence is part of the teaching.
- Find the exact spot: Watch where the work stops. Teach that one step directly, starting from what your child does well.
What should I do when my child gets stuck?
Find the exact spot. Watch where the work stops. It might be one sound in a word. It might be a number fact. It might be holding a sentence in mind while writing it down. Name that one step.
Teach that step directly. Show it first. Do it together. Then let your child try it alone. Don’t wait for it to click on its own. Here is why clear, step-by-step teaching helps a struggling learner.
Build from what they already do well. Tie the new step to something your child knows. A child who loves baking already knows about halves. Start there for fractions.
A note on “differences.” Some people read this principle as “teach to your child’s learning style.” That idea was tested. Pashler and colleagues (2008) found no credible evidence for matching teaching to a style. A 2024 Frontiers meta-analysis reached the same result. The difference that matters is simpler. It is what your child already knows, and which step comes next.
You don’t need a credential to be the most important teacher your child will ever have. You already are one.
The OECD’s seven principles ask teaching to notice each learner’s differences, starting with what that learner already knows. (Dumont, Istance and Benavides, eds., The Nature of Learning, OECD, 2010)
Protecting your child’s confidence is part of the teaching. It is not an extra.
Laura Lurns · Learning Success expert
You do not need anyone’s permission to help your own child. The old habit says make the work easier and wait. Waiting has never taught a child to read. Teaching does. Try our free Learning Difficulties Analysis. It asks what you see in reading, math, writing and focus. Start the free Learning Difficulties Analysis.
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Your school district must evaluate your child free of charge if you ask in writing, whatever your income and whatever the outcome (US, 34 CFR 300.111 and 300.301(b)). That route takes time and answers a different question than you do. This one starts today, from what you already know.
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A screener is a starting point, not a diagnosis. If your child might need formal accommodations (an IEP or 504 plan), or you suspect a vision, hearing or medical cause, pursue a professional evaluation too. That is the only route to those supports.
References
- Dumont, H., Istance, D., & Benavides, F. (Eds.) (2010). The Nature of Learning: Using Research to Inspire Practice. OECD Publishing, Paris.
- Pashler, H., McDaniel, M., Rohrer, D., & Bjork, R. (2008). Learning styles: Concepts and evidence. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 9(3).
- Frontiers meta-analysis on learning styles (2024).
