Dread homework? The more you dread it, the harder it will be. Kids feel what we feel.
Yet, there are ways to troubleshoot homework time, figure out where things are going right or wrong, and make it a smoother process.
Make It a Routine
Homework should be viewed like eating and sleeping. Don’t make a big deal about it, make it part of the daily schedule, and hopefully you’ll all find it easier. Get home from school, relax, eat dinner, homework, relax/play, bedtime routine. A schedule makes it a no-discussion part of routine activity.
When homework seems to take too long, it’s a good idea to set up a time to speak to the teacher. Most of the time homework takes longer than it should because the child doesn’t understand the work being taught (either the teacher isn’t teaching it well, or they need extra help) and at homework time, your child is basically learning it from scratch.
Let Them Work Independently
As children grow, you want to give them the skills to be able to do homework on their own. During 1st and 2nd grade you should sit and guide them. As they transition to older grades, you should take more of a role of supervising the homework and letting them do it on their own. Check in to see if they need help. Ex: “Go review the spelling words, and I’ll test you.” They won’t learn if they don’t think for themselves and make their own mistakes. Parents can help with directions and make suggestions. But it’s a kid’s job to do the learning,
Have a Special Spot
Set a specific homework spot. Part of routine is having the same place to do homework day in day out. After dinner, we use the kitchen table as the homework spot. It’s easy for me to supervise while the older kids walk in and eat.
Have All the Supplies You’ll Need
My sister Miram shared this tip with me: Have a supply box handy with a sharpener and pencils or anything else they may need to do their work. Then, they won’t need to take out their own supplies from their backpack and accidentally leave things at home.
Praise Their Effort
You can give a reward, such as “You get to go to bed 10 minutes later for doing homework nicely,” or you can say, “I’m so impressed with the hard work you put in to get homework done fast.” “Abba, can you believe Yossi does his homework without being asked or Yossi reads so beautifully.” Grandmothers are also a great person to call to talk about your child. “Bubbie next time you come to visit you must hear Sarah read to you…” Positive feedback goes a long way.
What happens when your child doesn’t want to do homework? In some cases you may need to say to yourself, I need to choose my battles and this isn’t one of them. Instead, discuss with the teacher consequences she can institute if your child doesn’t do homework. It then becomes her battle to fight and you can continue a positive home atmosphere and focus on brushing teeth and going to sleep on time.
On Test Taking
When it comes to test taking, you should be aware that knowing how to study and take tests is a skill. Some kids have that skill and some need to be taught. If you don’t have a clear way of teaching it, you may want to ask the teacher to give you some tips on how your child can learn to study for a test.
Great tips!
Thank you for sharing.
Great tips!
But…to get on my soapbox for a minute because homework is a real pet peeve of mine….I think homework is out of control. Kids sit for 8 hours a day learning, with 15 minute breaks to eat snack and a 30 minute lunch break. They come home after a full day tired, hungry, and needing to decompress.
How much educational benefit are children getting from doing 40 minutes of homework at 7 pm?
Would our children be better served if we spent the time after school having dinner together, hearing about their day, and (gasp!) letting them decompress and play/color??
I don’t think every minute of a child’s day after school needs to be allocated to a “task”. Between homework, dinner, shower, and bedtime routine there is just no space for downtime.
Imagine after putting in a full day of work, you came home and every minute of your evening was accounted for—after dinner, you had to continue working until bedtime—how many of us would burn out??
All this is aside from the fact that parents are EXHAUSTED from putting in a full day’s work themselves and don’t have the energy to police homework….and they shouldn’t! Parents have such limited time with their kids during the week…this time should be positive, not stressful!
I can’t be the only parent that feels this way…I wish collectively, as a community, we could change our homework mentality. It is not a necessary evil—there can be a different way.
I agree. Homework should be banned.
Homework for 40 minutes for kids? Our 1-5th grade don’t have more than 10 minutes of homework. Older kids yes, however they do that on their own.
These are great tips. As a mother, I appreciate them greatly. As an upper grade teacher (who gives minimal homework on principle – never written work) I took offense at the following: Instead, discuss with the teacher consequences she can institute if your child doesn’t do homework. It then becomes her battle to fight and you can continue a positive home atmosphere and focus on brushing teeth and going to sleep on time.
Homework shouldn’t become the teacher’s battle to fight. Trust me, we have enough to deal with working with close to 30 students every day, caring for them in myriad ways. Homework is there as a tool to help your child grow. I think very carefully about the homework I give and often skip nights – if homework is not working for your child, let’s talk, but please don’t phrase it as homework becoming the teacher’s battle to fight. Let’s fix the problem together, not dump battles on teachers.
Sorry it came across that way. Perhaps battle is the wrong word choice. I clearly wrote that it should be discussed with the teacher. Sometimes a consequence in school for homework is easier to enforce than a consequence at home.
My experience was that when i gave up battling with my kid to do his homework, the teacher kept him in at break to do it, and after that he knew he had to do it at home, and it became his responsibility, not mine. This method works!
There is a website that lets you pick the tutor of your choice it’s called tutors4yoo.com. They have a wide range of tutors and they have references for every tutor.