Homework is a fact of life    

[SEPT. 12, 2005]  Ask the Learning Advisor : Ideas for Raising Successful Children

Q: My daughter does not like to do her homework. She gets easily distracted and other activities always seem to take priority. Homework is left until the very end of the day. Every school year it’s a battle. How can I help her get more organized and develop some responsibility and discipline about her homework? I’m determined to have this school year be different.

A: Kids grumble about it, but homework is a fact of life, and it’s important that you set some basic rules at the very start of the school year. It’s also important that you do this together with your daughter. Have her take some ownership.
Decide when your daughter will do her homework. It may be right after school, or it may be after some outdoor play time or an activity. Once you have decided—and both agreed—on homework time, stick to it! Your daughter will be more likely to be responsible about completing homework if she has a regular routine.
Next, evaluate your daughter’s activities. Does she do homework after she has been to soccer practice, girl scouts and a music lesson? Make completing homework a priority. Consider eliminating an activity if necessary.
Here’s how you can help your daughter take more responsibility for homework:
• Help her find a way to track assignments. She can use an assignment notebook or a large calendar in the kitchen. Encourage her to make a daily “To Do” list. She’ll have a great sense of accomplishment when she checks off each item as she finishes it.
• Create a homework spot. It may be a desk in your child’s room or the dining room table, but make it your child’s regular homework spot. Then stock it with paper, pencils, a dictionary and other needed supplies so she doesn’t have to keep getting up to find things.
• Eliminate distractions such as telephone calls, television or even family members walking in and out of the room. If she has a TV in her room, remove it!
• Monitor her backpack. Get in the habit of having her empty it as soon as she comes home. Have her show you her assignments, papers that may need to be signed and other items from school. Ask about her day as you do this. Then have her make a schedule for doing her assignments. Once the homework is finished, have her put the homework papers in her backpack and put the backpack by the door (or in another regular spot) ready to go the next morning.
• Try a kitchen timer. It sounds like your daughter procrastinates. Set a kitchen timer for 10 or 15 minutes. Expect her to work until the timer goes off. Then let her take a break. Gradually increase the time you set.
It will take some work to get organized, but you’ll start to see results. And the skills your daughter learns for organizing her schoolwork and her homework will work just as well throughout her life.
—For more information about helping children learn or to submit your own question to The Learning Advisor, go to http://advisor.parent-institute.com. All questions will receive a prompt answer by email. Copyright © 2005, The Parent Institute.