Homework

With the beginning of the school year comes the return of backpacks full of worksheets, textbooks, novels and take-home tests. Homework is an important part of student’s schoolwork and can be challenging for them and sometimes even for parents. When students fall behind in their homework it can be bad news for their grade, but can also have detrimental effects on their relationship with teachers, their stress levels at home and their self-esteem. Staying on top of homework takes time and energy, but the peace of mind, especially over the weekend, is well worth the effort. Here are a few tips for helping your child manage their homework and for making sure they, and you, have a stress free weekend.

• Use a planner:

This seems unrelated to homework, but is practically essential. Writing down what is due, and when it’s due, is extremely helpful for alleviating some of the stress related to doing homework. Using a planner saves time from checking for homework online, emailing teachers and having arguments over what is due. Having and using a planner effectively makes homework less of a hassle and also means students more likely to complete it.

• Set up a routine:

Make sure that there is time set aside for homework, and that it is relatively the same time everyday. Having a routine means students will know when they should be doing homework and makes it easier to plan other activities around that.

• Study hard, but play hard too

Working continuously wears the brain down and makes homework harder to do the longer one works on it. Breaks are important! Set a timer to do homework for a set amount of time, then take a break and set a timer for about half that amount of time (for ex. study for 30 min, take a 15 min break). Make sure your child stays on task and gets back to work as soon as the break is up.

• Reward!

Completing homework, especially if there was a lot, should be rewarded. The long-term rewards of education (better scholarships, better colleges, higher salaries etc.) are difficult for children to appreciate, and positive reinforcement helps them to feel and recognize the rewards of completing homework more immediately. Rewards don’t have to be elaborate: getting to pick the movie for family movie night or what flavor of pizza for dinner are rewards anyone can appreciate.