How to Help Your Kids Overcome Homework Battles
If you’re tired of homework squabbles, CanCan Mom has nine A+ strategies to help your kids overcome homework battles and put more harmony into your day.
CanCan Mom’s creative routines and schedules make motherhood easier and more fun. Interact with love and laughter more often than impatience by incorporating my unique Quick Steps into your daily family life!
-CanCan Mom, Cheryl L. Butler
Moms Crushing It with CanCan Quick Steps
My nine best tips for overcoming the homework blues and creating more homework harmony:
- Regroup with a Set Schedule
- Get Organized
- Figure Out the Best Time of Day to Tackle the Assignments
- Create a Buddy System List
- Maximize with Your Kitchen Timer
- Have Extra Textbooks on Hand
- Talk It Up
- Homework Clubs
- Show Positive Support
Homework Habits Reinforced
In the new school year, we are in tune with the rhythm, or lack thereof, of our children’s homework habits.
I know that in my family, we usually start out strong with a solid back-to-school homework routine. However, once the new school year gains momentum and my kids become involved with their sports, music, and other extracurricular clubs, keeping on top of homework gets increasingly more challenging.
My Homework Battle Plan includes:
Tip 1: Regroup with a Set Schedule
Most kids function best with structure. During those first couple of weeks of school, we have wonderful intentions of getting organized every night for the following school day by getting backpacks ready, choosing outfits, making lunches, having an earlier bedtime—oh, and staying on course with homework assignments.
Then we hit the ground running with trying to weave in our kids’ new after-school scheduled events and activities and our own work commitments, on top of keeping our household in order.
Whether you started the new school year out strong but are simply floundering now, take a deep breath and regroup.
Your entire family will benefit from knowing that a certain time every day is reserved for studying and doing homework. Call your kids together tonight and tell them you want to help ease their homework frustrations by sticking to a particular time each day for homework and studying.
– CanCan Mom, Cheryl L. Butler
Even for kids who are not easy to cajole into getting their work done, the predictability of a schedule keeps distracted kids in a routine. It will also minimize you from losing your patience and sanity because you will all be working with these set expectations.
See Also: 5 Important Ways Routines Will Create Balance in Your Home
See Also: 6 Simple Tips to Create Effective Daily Family Routines
A committed homework schedule keeps the whole family in sync!
Tip 2: Get Organized
One helpful tool my children’s schools provide is a yearly planner. If your school doesn’t provide a homework planner, invest in one of your own.
The key with a planner is actually using it! This means, as a parent, carving out 5-10 minutes at the beginning of each school week with your child and reviewing what was assigned. Our schools post nearly everything on the schools’ websites, so I visit them frequently if I have any questions or if one of my kids seems confused about a particular assignment.
For many distracted children, deciding what to do first during homework is a major source of tension. Encourage your child to prioritize assignments in the order in which they should be done before beginning his homework session. He should start with one that’s not too long or difficult, but avoid saving the longest or hardest assignments for last
– CanCan Mom, Cheryl L. Butler
Tip 3: Figure Out the Best Time of Day to Tackle the Assignments
After a long day of school, possibly after-school extracurricular activities or sports practice, coming home from school to dive into a couple of hours of homework can be overwhelming for a kid and sometimes impossible.
We faced this scenario in our family more times than I can count, so we finally tried changing it up, and three of my kids decided they’d like to do homework in the early morning before school rather than at night. This requires discipline on the student’s part as well as the parent’s. Please Note: This schedule doesn’t necessarily work for all assignments, such as lengthy book reports or time-involved science projects. But for routine chapter work and things of that nature, it can offer certain learners some advantages.
For instance, my kids who like to study early in the morning can come home after their sports or music practice, unwind with dinner and a hot shower, watch a favorite TV program, and then head to bed early. Getting to bed early gets them the sleep they need, and they are more focused in the early morning to tackle their homework.
When you figure out the best time to tackle homework, it’s a win/win for the whole family!
Tip 4: Create a Buddy System List
One of my favorite tips from a teacher was to set up a buddy system list at the beginning of the school year. This list would contain the names and phone numbers, and emails of a few classmates my kids can call on when they forget an assignment.
– CanCan Mom, Cheryl L. Butler
If your child can’t find a particular worksheet or information for what should be studied on a quiz or simply forgets which chapters she’s supposed to read for class the next day, your child can reach out to someone on her buddy list and get the necessary information.
I can’t tell you how many times this system has saved one of my kids from wasting precious hours of time and worry.
Tip 5: Maximize with Your Kitchen Timer
Suppose you have a procrastinator in the mix like I do (actually, I admit I fall into this category myself). In that case, you may need to take other measures to motivate your child to get started on his first assignment of the night.
For this purpose, I love the kitchen timer. (It’s more fun than the alarm on a cell phone.) Once your child has all his work materials ready, make a game out of getting started by racing against the clock. Set your kitchen timer for ten minutes and have him see how much he can complete before the timer goes off.
– CanCan Mom, Cheryl L. Butler
Just be sure to remind him that although it’s a fun race, you expect his work to be neat and of good quality.
Tip 6: Have Extra Textbooks on Hand
Two of my kids are extremely forgetful. Although we review their homework planners and routinely have written and other reminders on hand, they both seem to struggle with remembering to bring certain textbooks and study guides home.
Having a spare set of textbooks at home can improve your child’s homework habits and studies. Reach out to your child’s school team to see if you can obtain an extra set for the school year so your child will never be without them.
– CanCan Mom, Cheryl L. Butler
Tip 7: Talk It Up
If you have a child who doesn’t like to share too much information, you may need to get yourself into the habit of asking supportive questions that can help your child think through an assignment and break it down into small workable chunks.
Ask your child specific questions so that you know she understands the assignment and what is expected of her, such as:
• Do you understand the assignment?
• What help will you need to complete it on time?
• Do you have everything you need to complete the assignment?
• How can I support you with this assignment?
Be available for assistance and to help when needed, but establish early on that you will not be doing the homework for them.
Sometimes it’s simply helpful to have a parent in the nearby vicinity of where your child is doing his homework so that he feels supported and not alone.
One of my sons does much better with homework when I’m in the kitchen making dinner because it gives him a sense of comfort. Also, I can reinforce to him that he’s doing a good job. “You’ve finished two chapters and only have one to go, son. Keep at it. You’re doing a super job.”
Tip 8: Homework Clubs
If your child’s school has an after-school homework club, take advantage of this opportunity.
Our school offers a homework club three days a week, and a late bus is provided as well so that parents who work don’t need to worry about transportation home for their child.
Homework clubs offer a structured environment in the school setting with a teacher on hand who can help answer questions and keep them on track. This also helps to eliminate parental struggles at home if the assignments or bulk of them can be done in school rather than at home.
Tip 9: Show Positive Support
It’s important to show your kids that you think homework is important.
There’s no question that homework each night can become a burden, especially when parents have had long days keeping the household going or running home after a day at work, and now dinner has to be made, pets need to be cared for, and carpools need to be run.
If your kids see you acting frazzled about homework, they, in turn, will feel uptight as well.
For kids with learning disabilities, it is even more difficult to help them stay on task without getting frustrated at the end of the day when all of you are tired. When you do implement your child’s homework routine, do so in a calm, encouraging manner to keep unnecessary anxieties at bay.
Also, be in contact with your child’s teacher on a regular basis and not just until grades come out to discover there is a problem. If there is difficulty with a particular subject, stay in contact with that teacher and devise a plan to assist him or her throughout the semester.
– CanCan Mom, Cheryl L. Butler
When your child knows you are communicating with the school, he/she is more apt to give his/her studies a more serious effort, and the school will know you are all on the same page.
Homework Strategies Can Restore Harmony
Tailor these tips to each of your children as you know them best. Finding routines that work for them will make their school year more successful and their home life more harmonious.
How do you handle homework in your family? Please share your thoughts in the comment section below:
