This poor woman is up to her eyeballs in frustration. How often do you end up looking like this when you need to get your kids going on their homework? There ARE solutions. One important strategy is to build a “homework habit.”
Be Consistent with the Homework Habit
One reason that kids protest homework so mightily is that the tactic often works.
Counter this by standing your ground, each and every day, and insisting that time be spent on improving academic skills. Schoolwork, of course, has first priority, but if there is not enough schoolwork to fill the them, then grab some of your own back-pocket ideas and get the kids moving on them.
If you are consistent with your expectation that the kids WILL be working on academic pursuits for a certain amount of time each and every day, then the protests will quickly dwindle down to nothing. Just like they protested brushing their teeth mightily back when they were toddlers, but you stood your ground and now that they are older they do it automatically, the same strategy will work with homework.
Make It a Daily Homework Habit
How much time SHOULD kids be spending on their academic pursuits each day? This is a great place to use your own judgment but several notable professional groups (like the National PTA and the NEA) recommend approximately 10 minutes for each year of school. So first graders should spend ten minutes daily, third graders should be working for thirty minutes, and so on up to twelfth graders working approximately two hours.
The important part is that word, daily. It’s not “only if the teacher sends homework” or “only on school days,” or “not over vacation days.” DAILY means DAILY. Now, you can negotiate a day off here or there, especially as a reward for consistency or for a job well done on a project, but for the most part, if you enforce the DAILY habit, the kids will quit protesting.
And if you are having more headaches than you like when it comes to homework routines, be sure to sign up for the webinar coming up on Tuesday, July 26, 2016 at 7 PM Eastern Time: How to Eliminate Homework Hassles in 30 Minutes a Day. Click HERE to grab your spot for this free webinar!!