Simple tools to ease the pressure at home with homework.

Do you have a regular homework time set aside in your house? Homework time can be difficult as each child will often have different expectations on how to do homework and when to do the homework if at all! Also, homework is often done at the busiest and most tiring part of the day which is around dinner time.

Here are some tips that may ease the pressure if you find the homework time challenging.

  1. Have a box of goodies set up. This means that the box contains pencils, pens, textas etc. which the child can easily access to work on their homework straight away. I have heard of some parents providing little treats in the box as they dig around for their necessary tools. This makes it fun!
  2. Set up a roster kept visible to all, perhaps on the fridge outlining homework tasks and on what day they will be done. As a family agree that they will be done on that day.
  3. Recognise at what time homework should finish as long extended time on homework is usually ineffective. Agree that if the homework is too difficult or the child does not understand, agree as a family that a discussion will be had with the teacher in the morning and no further time is wasted on it.
  4. If the child is spending too much time on a task and the parent has attempted to help unsuccessfully, the homework gives the child a sense of failure and becomes quite unproductive in building a relationship with the parent.
  5. The family should all agree on where best to do the homework. I would recommend that it is visible to the parent although too much supervision takes the ownership from the child. Settle on a place that has few distractions, is comfortable and has plenty of light. Keep the area where the child is doing the work, uncluttered as this creates the impression that homework is the focus and there is no distraction.
  6. Is it at all possible that your child does their homework in the morning slot after breakfast before school? Children are more attentive and learn more effectively when refreshed after sleep. Also, you as the parent can cope much better all round.
Six  tips that may ease the pressure if you find the homework time challenging.

Six  tips that may ease the pressure if you find the homework time challenging.