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Homework, Homework, Homework! Dear Parents, On a more serious note, how parents look at things really does rub off on children. That old saying, “children learn what they live,” has the ring of truth. Before your child goes to kindergarten, ask the teacher about what homework to expect. Talk about this with your child and keep things positive. Your little one will probably be excited to have pictures to color and things to paste. Treat these assignments as seriously as your older child’s. Learning to be responsible and reliable by doing homework is as important a skill as any your child will learn. For children from K–2nd grade, homework should not take longer than 20 minutes. If it is taking longer than that, call the teacher and discuss it. Select a regular place and time for homework. If your child swings from the school bus door at the end of the day, you can’t expect him/her to sit and do homework right after school. It starts to get dark early in the fall, so try scheduling study time when you start dinner. Kids love to be wherever you are, so let them do assignments in the kitchen while you cook. Keep things quiet and relaxed. Any younger children should know this is a special quiet time for their big brother and sister. Think how special they will feel when they are finally big enough to get their own work to do. Children in the 3rd–5th grade typically perfect the art of worrying. They worry about who likes them,being on a team and homework. Stay around while they do homework, help them study for quizzes and be their biggest cheerleader. No one ever gets tired of hearing that they are wonderful. But remember –their homework is their homework. Don’t spend $50 making a volcano for the science fair. Let them come up with an idea and let them do it. You can help – but let them be the chief engineers. Now, here comes the tough one. Your child is going to middle school, the 6th–8th grade. He/she is old enough to do homework on his/her own. You have promoted good study habits and now it is time to make homework their responsibility. If they want out of the kitchen and into their rooms – let them go. Maintain quiet and monitor how long things take. Keep a watchful eye on computer use. Computers are wonderful, but turn off distracting instant messages. You can ask if homework is done, but try not to nag.Stay involved and inform teachers that you want to know if assignments are missing or incomplete. If you do get one of those fun phone calls from school, schedule a conference right away, and include your child. Give them permission to come up with an improvement plan with the teacher. You are there to keep things safe for your child and show how much you care.
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Remember how you used to love homework. You those writing assignments that had to be exactly two pages long, so you wrote in two-inch block letters, skipped two lines between every sentence and added pictures. Well, now, as a parent, your time has come to convince your student that homework is a wonderful learning opportunity and doing it well will get him/her into Harvard one day.
High school is a world of its own. Assignments definitely belong to your child. You should be caring and involved – but they need to accept the rewards or consequences for their actions. Talk about their dreams and how success in school can be their ticket to making these dreams happen. Go to Back-to-School Night, and even drag yourself to a PTA meeting. Your involvement is the best thing you can do to give support. High school kids have trouble going to sleep and getting up. Be flexible, but set a schedule for school nights. Monitor meals and make them eat breakfast –even if it’s a power bar on the run. Keep participation in part-time jobs and sports at a reasonable level. You can’t spend four hours a day in activities and then give homework your best effort. Set priorities – but, set them together. And never forget to say what a wonderful job they are doing or remind them how much they are loved.
