The homework comes back with five answers marked. It is tempting to say, "You need to be more careful!" But look a little closer. Are these five different mistakes, or the same mistake five times?
Very often it is the second, and that is good news: there is one thing to fix, not five. This article shows how to look over work with your child the way a detective looks at clues: calmly, with curiosity and without blame.
Mistakes come in kinds
"Wrong" is not one thing. Two wrong answers can have completely different causes, and each cause needs a different kind of help.
| Kind of mistake | What it looks like | What often helps |
|---|---|---|
| The question wasn't read properly | A different question was answered; a small word such as "not" or "more" was missed | Read the question aloud; underline what is being asked |
| A slip | Your child knew how, but copied a number wrongly or skipped a line | Slow down at that spot; check the last step |
| The idea isn't understood yet | The same step goes wrong every time | Go back to objects or drawings and rebuild that one step |
| Rushing or tiredness | The mistakes pile up towards the end | A break; shorter sessions |
| A guess | Your child can't say how they got the answer | "Tell me how you worked it out" |
Look together, like detectives
- Choose a calm moment. Not straight after the work comes back, and not when anyone is upset.
- Circle the mistakes together in one or two pieces of work, using any colour your child likes.
- Ask about each one: "What happened here?" Then listen. The explanation usually shows what kind of mistake it is.
- Sort them. "Are any of these the same kind?"
- Count. Which kind turns up most often? That is the one to work on. Just that one.
It matters that your child does the finding. A pattern you point out is a criticism. A pattern they discover is a clue.
Give the mistake a name
Let your child name the most common kind in their own words: "the reading-too-fast one", "the skipped-line one", "the forgot-to-carry one".
A name puts the mistake outside the child. Instead of "I'm bad at maths", it becomes "my forgot-to-carry mistake showed up again". That is something you can do something about.
Then agree on one small habit for it:
- Reading too fast: underline the question before starting.
- Copying wrongly: touch each digit with the pencil while checking.
- Forgetting to carry: write the small carried digit before anything else.
One habit at a time is enough. Three new rules at once are usually forgotten by the next day.
What to say instead
| Instead of… | Try… |
|---|---|
| "Be more careful!" | "Which kind of mistake is this one?" |
| "You know this!" | "Show me how you did it." |
| "Not again!" | "Our old friend is back. What was our trick for it?" |
| "That's wrong." | "Something happened in this line. Can you find it?" |
The words on the right ask your child to think. The words on the left only ask them to feel bad.
Look again later
After a week or two, look at some new work together. Is the named mistake turning up less often? Say so: "Your skipped-line mistake only came once this time." Then, if you like, choose the next kind.
If one kind of mistake stays even with practice, or if homework regularly ends in tears, talk to your child's teacher. Teachers see a great deal of children's work and can often tell which step is worth going back to.
In Dologi, a wrong answer is never marked with red crosses: your child is simply invited to look again and try once more. That keeps a mistake what it should be: a piece of information, not a verdict.
In short
- Several wrong answers are often one kind of mistake repeated.
- Look over work together at a calm moment, and let your child find the pattern.
- Give the most common mistake a name and choose one small habit for it.
- Check again later, notice progress, and ask the teacher if a mistake won't go away.
Read more: My child just guesses: teaching children to stop and check