In grade school, I thought I was going to give my mom a slap on the cheek (shocker). But I never did. Mainly because I was too scared and there was that whole respect thing. But, every night I wanted to slap my mother because I hated doing homework. She would yell and I would get so upset with her. Even today, with my own children, I notice that how I learned a subject, is not how my child is learning it. So clearly, I understand what her frustrations were at that time. I have now learned how to help my kids focus on homework. Let me just say I love my mother and I would never actually slap her unless it was for 2 million dollars. I’m kidding.
5 Tips to help you survive Homework Time
- Don’t yell– I hated when my mom sat down to do homework with me and she yelled at me out of frustration. Now that I am a parent, I see why she was so frustrated. Yelling only makes a child shut down; so it’s best not to raise your voice. Even though this is something I’m working on now.
- Ask For the teacher’s assitances– listen, if you don’t know it, you don’t know it. Just put your pride to the side, send the teacher a note, and ask for tips in helping your child at home. Shucks, just tell her to send you the answer key…too much?
- Choose a good time to do homework– The days when my son has homework, we don’t do it as soon as he gets home. I believe he needs time to decompress from the day, just like anyone else. We start homework after snack but before dinner. So as soon as I get home, I prepare a snack and then start homework with my son. Find a time that works for your family.
- Opt for a tutor– Listen I’m not the smartest person in the world. But I am wise. If I don’t know what to do, I simply call for backup. The beautiful thing about learning is that it is always evolving. Just because we don’t know what the heck it evolved into, doesn’t mean someone else doesn’t. Seek help.
- Stop being too hard on yourself- It’s just homework and in most cases, it’s not graded for the answers, but for completion. You are doing the best you can by being involved and that’s what counts. Homework is a time to assess if your child needs more help in school, not to be hard on yourself. If they need more help then refer to tip number four and get a tutor.
What Do Teacher’s Know about Homework?
Teachers are now realizing that homework doesn’t even need to be a thing. My son does not get a lot of homework in his present class. And as a parent, I’m thankful for that. His teacher realizes that the bulk of learning happens in the class and the only thing that needs to be worked on at home is work they didn’t finish. Homework is needed for those who may be having a hard time with the work given in class. Now don’t get me wrong, I still make my kids brush up on their skills by reading and doing other fun learning activities. But now homework seems to be less stressful. I do believe homework is helpful for parents who may not be good at setting aside learning time. My best piece of advice to surviving homework time, is to be cool, get it done, and drink wine when it’s over.
