What Questions Should Parents Ask About Homework?
The right question at the right moment can do more than any explanation. Here's a practical bank of questions, organised by the moments parents actually face at the homework table.
9 min read
When your child is stuck, the instinct is to explain. It feels faster and kinder. But an explanation asks your child to listen; a good question asks them to think. And thinking is what makes an idea stick.
Why questions work better than answers
Three things happen when a child answers a well-chosen question. They retrieve what they already know, which strengthens memory more than rereading or being told. They explain, which exposes gaps they didn't know they had. And they reason — connecting the question to what they know and deciding what to do next.
Questions also change who owns the work. If you explain every step, your child learns to wait for you. If you ask, they learn that they can get themselves unstuck. We explore the learning science behind this in why asking questions works better than giving answers. Below are questions you can use tonight.
Before starting homework
A minute of questions here saves twenty minutes later. You're helping your child picture the task before diving in.
- “What do you have to do today, and which one is due first?”
- “Which one looks easiest? Which looks hardest?”
- “Where do you want to start?”
- “What will you need on the table before you begin?”
- “How long do you think this one will take?”
That last question builds planning skills quickly, especially if you compare the guess with reality afterwards.
When your child doesn't understand the question
Often the problem isn't the maths or the science — it's the wording. Help your child decode the question before worrying about the answer.
- “Can you read it to me out loud?”
- “What is it asking you to find, in your own words?”
- “Which words in the question are important?”
- “Is there a word you don't know?”
- “Is there an example earlier in the book or worksheet that looks like this one?”
Decoding a word problem
The question reads: "A baker makes 48 muffins and packs them into boxes of 6. How many boxes does she fill?" Your child says, "I don't get it."
"Tell me the story in your own words. What's the baker doing?"
"Putting muffins in boxes… six in each. Oh — so how many sixes are in 48?"
When your child is stuck
Being stuck is different from not understanding. Your child knows what the question wants but can't see how to get there. Aim your questions at what they already know.
- “What have you tried so far?”
- “What do you already know that might help?”
- “Have you done a question like this before? What did you do then?”
- “Could you draw it, or try it with smaller numbers?”
- “What would be a sensible first step, even if you're not sure?”
"Try it with smaller numbers" is one of the most useful questions in maths. A child who can't see 348 ÷ 12 can often see 24 ÷ 12 and discover the method from there.
When your child makes a mistake
Resist saying "That's wrong." Instead, ask questions that let your child find the mistake themselves. The goal is self-correction, not your correction.
- “Can you walk me through how you got that?”
- “Does that answer make sense? Is it about the size you expected?”
- “How could you check it a different way?”
- “Which step are you least sure about?”
- “Read that sentence out loud — does it say what you meant?”
If you're reviewing a finished page, our guide on checking homework without doing it for them shows how to flag mistakes without fixing them.
When your child says "I don't know"
"I don't know" can mean many things: genuine confusion, tiredness, fear of being wrong, or a habit of waiting for you to fill the silence. Your questions should lower the stakes.
- “If you did know, what might you say?”
- “What's one small thing you do know about this?”
- “What's your best guess? It's fine if it's wrong.”
- “Is it the whole question you don't know, or one part?”
Lowering the stakes
A child is asked, "Why did the character run away?" and says, "I don't know."
"What's your best guess? We can check it in the book afterwards."
"Maybe… because she was scared of getting in trouble?" Now there's something to work with.
If "I don't know" keeps coming up, read what to do when your child says "I don't get it" for ways to find the real blocker.
When your child wants you to give the answer
Children ask for the answer because it's the fastest way out. Stay warm but firm, and offer a smaller step instead.
- “I'm not going to tell you, but what's the first thing you'd do?”
- “What part do you want help with — starting, or a specific step?”
- “If I gave you a hint, what kind of hint would help most?”
- “What would your teacher say if you asked her this?”
Asking what kind of hint would help is surprisingly effective. It makes your child diagnose their own problem — and often, naming it is enough to solve it.
After completing the homework
This is the moment most parents skip. A couple of reflective questions help the learning settle and build your child's awareness of how they learn.
- “Which question was the trickiest? What did you do to get through it?”
- “Is there anything you'd like to ask your teacher about tomorrow?”
- “What did you learn today that you didn't know yesterday?”
- “Did it take as long as you thought?”
A few habits that make questions work
Wait longer than feels comfortable
After you ask, count silently to five or ten. Many children need that time to think, and filling the silence with another question or a hint takes the thinking away.
Ask one question at a time
Stacking questions — "What's it asking? Have you read it? Did you look at the example?" — is overwhelming. Ask one and wait.
Avoid disguised answers
"Don't you think you should divide?" is really a statement with a question mark. Ask about their thinking instead: "What operation would help here?"
For questions tailored to a particular subject and grade, the Parent Question Generator gives you prompts you can use straight away.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best question to ask when my child is stuck?
"What have you tried so far?" is a strong first question. It shows you where their thinking is, avoids repeating what they've already done, and signals that you expect them to try before asking.
What if my child gets annoyed by all the questions?
Ask fewer, better questions and leave silence after each one. If your child is tired or upset, pause the questions and take a short break. Questions work best when a child still has some energy to think.
Do I need to know the answer to ask good questions?
No. Many of the most useful questions — "What is it asking?", "How did you get that?", "How could you check?" — work without knowing the answer. Your child's explanation often reveals whether they're on track.
Are some questions unhelpful?
Yes. Questions that hide an answer ("Don't you think you should multiply?"), rapid-fire questions with no pause, and "Why can't you get this?" tend to shut thinking down rather than open it up.
How do I stop asking leading questions?
Ask about the child's thinking rather than the correct step. Replace "Is it 12?" with "How would you work it out?" and "Should you carry the one?" with "What happens in that column?".
Keep a few questions in your pocket
You don't need to memorise all of these. Pick two or three for the moment you face most often — maybe "What have you tried so far?" and "How could you check?" — and use them until they feel natural. Your child will start asking themselves the same questions sooner than you'd expect.
For question-by-question prompts on your child's actual homework, Homework Together creates a coaching guide that tells you what to ask, what to listen for, and how to respond.
Turn tonight's homework into a coaching guide
Paste the homework, snap a photo, or upload the PDF. Homework Together gives you what to say, what to ask, and how to respond — question by question.
Generate a coaching guide