End the End of the Year Homework Struggle!

Homework can be a nightly struggle for many families and at no time of the year is that more apparent than the weeks leading up to summer vacation. Kids are ready to have carefree days and chances are good parents are too! However, it’s important to still keep your child on task and following through with their school needs.

What’s can you do?

There are no magical fixes, and we all know teachers will continue to assign coursework until the very end of the year. Here are some suggestions to put a stop to the nightly battles at the end of the year, and in years to come.

Motivate

Remember when you were in school? You probably didn’t understand (or maybe even care) about the ramifications of not completing your homework. Your kids likely feel the same way! Homework is just one more burden to tackle after they’ve sat in a classroom all day. Yelling and lecturing won’t change their mind. Instead encourage them with positive reinforcement and help them set a schedule, break up their assignments and be sure you also remind them to eat well and take breaks.

Choice

While some parents swear by sitting their kids down as soon as they’re home from school to complete their work, you may want to reconsider. Longer daylight in spring months means more time to be outside and doing other activities. Discuss with your child when they feel most able to tackle their homework. Would they like to have an hour or two after school to enjoy playing with friends outside or participating in some other activity? Maybe they’re not ready to focus until after dinner. You may need to try different times on a few different days to find something that works best. Once you have stick with it. If you child is allowed to have more control over when they’re completing their work, they likely will be less reluctant to work on it.

Schedule

Once you’ve come up with a good time for homework, schedule it in. Make sure you’re reminding your child daily and checking their assignments or assignment log on a nightly basis. It can be tempting to put off homework when your schedule begins to fill with spring and summer sports, but making homework a priority for you shows your child it should also be a priority for them.

Environment

Every child is different. Does yours need to be alone and in the quiet to concentrate? Do they prefer to listen to music while working? What type of workspace do they need? With so many distractions at the end of the year paying attention to creating the best working environment becomes even more important. Whatever it is, the place where your child does his homework should be set up to be a comfortable spot. This may help encourage them to sit down and get to work. Set aside a space preferably a desk or table where your child has some snacks, drinks, and a favorite chair (maybe buy a special chair, like a beanbag chair, for the purpose).

While you probably won’t be able to completely put a stop to the end of the year homework blues, these tips may help make those final weeks a little more tolerable!