Homework Hound launches new digital learning platform to assess and improve English and Mathematics skills

Gold Coast, QUEENSLAND  -  Tuesday 17 April, 2018 - Homework Hound, an online learning platform for Australian children, today announced the launch of its English and Mathematics digital learning tool for primary school children.

Developed by owner and founder Trish Morgan, Homework Hound offers students a new platform that is designed to build confidence and make homework fun for children. Tasks are automatically assigned each week and assessment results are automatically generated and forwarded to teachers and parents. Parents, teachers and students can instantly receive feedback based upon the completion of the tasks. Parents and teachers can see how performance varies between Australian states and territories. Some Homework Hound features include interactive games that are prescribed based upon weekly results, a positive and motivational reward system, a customisable learning portal, personalised printable worksheets that target areas for improvement and music and songs to assist learning. Students can even create their own avatar and customise backgrounds.

"The vision for homework Hound came about when my triplets were separated into different classes in Year Two. We noticed that the homework varied dramatically between classes where one daughter received no homework, another received little homework and our third daughter could spend an hour or more on homework. It did nothing to motivate and encourage the girls and it didn’t highlight any areas for us to work on," said Trish, who used to be a primary school teacher.

"I went looking for an online educational tool that will allow me to track my children's learning progress, but most of them were based on either the American or British curriculum. There was nothing that was catered to the Australian Curriculum or anything that provided quick accessible and useful weekly reports. As a busy family, I felt that we deserved a better system and I knew that teachers needed a system that would give them the feedback they needed to effectively plan for the classroom. It was for those reasons that I decided to embark on the journey of developing Homework Hound," she added.

Trish mentioned that the idea took four years to develop with the help of other primary school teachers who knew the Australian Curriculum well. The teachers went on to craft 25,000 plus NAPLAN style questions that were aligned to the Australian Curriculum to guarantee relevancy, she added.

"We felt that we needed to build a system in the key learning areas of Maths and English that would make homework fun for every child. It was essential that the platform would pinpoint specific educational issues that teachers could then easily address in the classroom. As a parent, though, I needed to be kept informed of my child’s progress and to be given a clear explanation of those areas of Maths or English which required further development. We wanted to provide useful worksheets, but only in those areas that kids were finding challenging. So we only provide each child the worksheets that will specifically target their individual needs," she said.

Trish said that Homework Hound is particularly useful for parents who are homeschooling their children.

"Since the platform is based on the Australian National Curriculum, homeschooled students will have access to NAPLAN-style English and Maths assessments. The learning platform provides parents with a clear insight into their child's level of performance. You can see if your child is performing at standard, below or above standard and also compare results with the national and state average. Each week, Homework Hound provides kids and parents with a certificate that includes feedback on their three strongest areas for the week as well as those that have proven most challenging, and we prescribe the games and worksheets that can help to improve those more challenging areas," she explained.

She added that Australian expatriates who are working oversees or returning home can also utilise the platform to stay up to date with the Australian curriculum whilst away and ease their children back into the Australian education system on return.

"Transitioning from one school system to another can be stressful for a child. With Homework Hound, every child can enjoy learning whilst staying up to date with the local curriculum, and parents can feel confident knowing that when they return to Australia after a few years away, the transition back to the Australian education system will be made much easier thanks to Homework Hound. Since Homework Hound is online, students can access it from anywhere in the world and on any device, at anytime," she said.

Homework Hound currently costs $79 per year per student. Any additional siblings will be $25 each. For a limited time, Homework Hound is offering a free Academic report on English and Maths to every parent with a child in primary school.  For more information, visit www.homeworkhound.com.au

About Homework Hound

Homework Hound is Australia's premier online learning platform for primary school children. Developed over four years by owner and founder Trish Morgan, with a team of Australian teachers, Homework Hound is based on the Australian Curriculum and provides a fun, efficient and effective homework system and assessment tool for students, teachers and parents. For more information, visit www.homeworkhound.com.au