When’s the Best Time to do Homework?

Posted by Susan Epstein on January 3rd, 2011 at 06:51pm

Getting kids, no matter what age they are, to sit down and do their homework without some battle or meltdown can be a challenge in most families. Try this tip this week…and let me know how it worked.

Agree on specific times for doing the homework ahead of time and then stick to it. In our home, our kids came right home from school, got a snack and we pulled the homework stations up to the kitchen table. (I had a rolling cart with everything that they needed). After that we would have dinner. As the kids got older they had to go back to their studies after dinner.

After school programs:

Now, you may have your kids in sports and they stay after school, this may be a little more challenging for you. It is important that their homework gets done and they get to bed on time. Post the hours that homework will get done and stick to it (barring illness or other things when life happens to you.)

Make an agreement with your child:

Write down your agreement, “we do homework between the hours of 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. in our house’”. Use the worksheet provided in this manual and hang it on the homework station or on the refrigerator. When your child says to you, “Mommy, can so and so come over?” You can say, “Well, we are not going to do that because our agreement is that homework gets done between 4 and 6.”

“Well mom, I finished my homework and its 4:30; now can my friend come over?”

“Absolutely, you’ve done the homework first, now you can have a friend over or you can go out to play.”

Remember:

• You are a helper, not a doer
• Praise their efforts, not the end product or how smart they are
• Insist that homework is your child’s responsibility, not yours
• Chunk out the homework into bite size pieces using the timer
• Consider getting a tutor, if necessary
• Agree on specific times for doing homework and post that agreement in a place where you both can see it

Tags: agreements with teen, child, Children, consistent parenting, family contracts, homework, Parenting advice teens, Parenting Calm, parenting powers, susan epstein, teen, tween

Under Teens/Tweens