I think most homeschooling families can empathize with a parent’s complaints about homework. It’s hard enough to get a kid to do “school” work when they are fresh early in the day; tackling it at the end of the day when everyone is tired and cranky must be especially tough.
So, knowing that most kids will naturally chose to do just about anything than a workbook page or book report, I came up with some ways to help parents make homework less of a daily battle. I hope this list of steps that published today on Alpha Mom helps some frustrated parents out. Believe me, I’ve been there.
But, when you homeschool, you can’t really implement the last step, which sometimes really sucks.
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Totally disagree! Read my comment there, or just pick up a copy of Ending The Homework Hassle by John Rosemond. It’s worth every penny. And I adapted it for homeschool use.
Respectfully disagree, that is.
Here is what I wrote on Alpha Mom:
Hi Suburban Correspondent, I appreciate your comment, but, doesn’t that assume that most kids will understand the importance of homework from the start? I stand by my thought that parents need to set up a “homework-friendly environment” for their kids. If a child is told to “do your homework before bedtime” but is then enrolled in sports, classes, etc until 7pm, it’s very hard for them to see homework as anything but an afterthought.
I’m not saying the homework should be a parents’ responsibility, but, like making sure my child eats well, gets enough sleep and brushes his teeth at bedtime, I think I need to oversee things and make sure they get done, especially when dealing with younger kids.
Once kids are a little older, I can see moving straight to #5, but from the get go? I respectfully disagree.
I said it over there but I’ll say it again here; nice post and I agree with you.
I am a believer in homework being partially a parents responsibility, just as much as forcing them to wear a bike helmet is. Yes, teaching them to think of it themselves is important. But that’s a hard skill to learn and it takes years to get it. Until they graduate HS, it’s partially my job to force them to do it.
ps. Love the timer idea.