The jury’s still out on whether homework is a helpful or unnecessary exercise for children, especially those in elementary school. But while it’s still a staple, here are some strategies to make the process less painful for everyone — including parents.
Understand expectations. Find out from your child (or her teacher) how homework is handled each week. Many teachers handout a packet on Monday that’s due Friday.
Create a plan of attack. Encourage your kiddo to decide how much time each night he needs to allot for homework. Adjust homework time based on your family’s schedule, too. If Wednesday nights are particularly crazy, designate it as a homework-free night so you’re not adding more work (and stress) to everyone’s plates. Maybe your son spends a little more time on Monday or Thursday to finish everything up.
Help with time management. Help your child break long-term projects into smaller pieces. Create and post a calendar on the fridge or in the designated homework space. There’s nothing more satisfying than crossing off a task once it’s completed, too!
Create a homework center. It’s hard to focus on homework surrounded by blaring noise and confusion. Designate a spot, with your child, to set up as a workspace stocked with pencils, paper, and other supplies. Add a bulletin board, whiteboard, or calendar to track long-term assignments. If it’s used for other things, get a supply caddy and have your kiddo decorate it.
Incorporate chill time. How many adults come home from an eight or nine-hour workday and jump right into more work? Why should we expect that of our kids? Build in a break — and a snack — before you ask them to focus on school work… unless you have a kid who’s driven to knock it out as soon as he walks in the door and grabs his snack so he’s finished for the evening and doesn’t have to “think school” until the next day. Otherwise, set a timer for 20 minutes to chill, and when it rings, he knows it’s time to get the homework done.
Do your homework, too. Have bills to pay? Emails to answer? A project to finish? Why not spend your child’s homework time working on your homework, too. You can foster that “we’re in this together” mentality while modeling a concentration-based chore for your kiddo.
Create a phone-a-friend list. When you get stuck on something tricky, what do you do? Ask a friend for help, right? If your kiddo’s in elementary school, connect with parents whose kids might also have a question about a homework problem. Networking with friends and parents is a great way to clarify an assignment or puzzle out a tricky question.
Listen to frustrations. Empathize, but don’t indulge your kid when he’s frustrated. Everyone has bad days, which make it hard to focus. If homework becomes a battle, acknowledge his frustration, let him vent and blow off steam, and guide him to focus on what needs completing.
Make an executive decision. If your child is overwhelmed, doesn’t understand the assignment, or feels completely lost, you can excuse her. Have her write a note (with your help) to the teacher explaining her struggles. Most teachers understand, especially if a child does this only once in a while.
For even more suggestions on helping your children manage their homework, especially if they fall into different categories like procrastinators, forgetters, daydreamers, and whiners, check out this list from Scholastic.
Extra Credit
If your kids love learning, encourage their curiosity with other fun lessons that you choose together.
- Does your family have pets? Check out these pet-related lesson plans.
- Are you an outdoor family? Check out these outdoor learning activities.
- Is math a struggle? Incorporate math games to reinforce what your elementary kids are learning in school. Break out the chalkboard or whiteboard and invite them to teach you!
- Raising reluctant readers? Try these literacy-boosting games.
Be Positive
It’s unlikely that homework will ever go the way of the dinosaur. So, express interest in your children’s assignments. Praise good efforts. Give guidance, not answers. And exhibit a “We’ve got this” attitude to minimize that homework stress.
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