Secrets for Making Sure Homework is Done Efficiently and Effectively

Reading is Essential

It's back to school time. So let's talk about homework. Homework is about more than academics. It teaches children how to manage time. 

It reinforces the priority of learning and ensures that home and school are working together toward this goal. It's also your chance to find out what your child is studying in school and observe how he or she works and learns. 

Since children think and learn differently, it helps to customize a homework plan for your child. 

To get you started, here are 6 tips to help you to overcome homework hassles.

1. Consider giving your children an hour or so of relaxing playtime after school before they begin homework. Some children really need this time to unwind after hours of concentrating at school. Yet be sure that the kids know homework must be completed in a timely fashion.

2. Let your children sit at the kitchen table doing homework while you prepare dinner. That way, if they have any questions, you are right there to help them. Another way would be to organize a homework hour after the evening meal. Children can still sit around the kitchen table to do their homework. 

3.Set aside a "family homework hour" when your child sits at the table and does her schoolwork while you also sit at the table and pay bills or catch up on your reading. You're available to help or answer questions.

4. As children become teens, they need a quiet place to study, usually their own room. Some preteens develop more efficient homework habits if given their own private place to study. Other children regard homework as less of a chore and more of a family activity if they're allowed to do homework with you close by to encourage and help. 

5. To complete homework tasks efficiently, store needed supplies in a convenient place, easily accessible to all. Doing math problems is frustrating when it takes fifteen minutes to find a pencil with an eraser (yes, pencils and erasers). Stock up on poster boards, report covers, markers, and crayons to avoid last-minute runs to the store when special projects are due.  

6. If your child is struggling with a certain subject, take a special field trip or turn it into an arts-and-crafts project to make what's in the book applicable to real life. Many children drudge through homework because they don't see its relevance. Help your child make connections between schoolwork and the world around him. 

By regarding homework as a family activity rather than a chore that interferes with quality family time, you reinforce that learning is an expected priority and that it can be fun. It's up to parents to point this out. 

Although some parents complain that their children have too much homework, statistics show that most children spend more time watching noneducational tv or playing video games than doing productive homework.


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