Homework is an unavoidable part of most children’s school experience. Some kids accept it as part of their daily routine, while others will do everything in their power to avoid any extra schoolwork. Unless your kid’s school is very relaxed, the chances are they will fall behind and get in trouble if homework isn’t handed in regularly, so here are three practical ways to help them (without doing the work for them).
Use Timers
Many children respond well to working with timers, particularly old-fashioned egg timers. Being able to see the sand counting down the amount of time they have left to work can be a great motivator, and demonstrates that there is an end in sight. Encourage your child to try and get all of their homework done within a set amount of time, but make sure they bring it to you to check through afterward, as you don’t want them rushing.
Support Their Study
If there is a subject your kid finds particularly challenging, ask their teacher for additional resources that you can use at home. It may also be worth having a conversation to see whether they can slightly reduce the amount of homework they set your kid for this subject—you can explain that you’ll be doing extra work on it together at home. Set aside a small portion of time (10 minutes is enough) to do some study on this subject daily, and this should boost your child’s confidence. If you don’t see results after a month, it may be worth speaking to your kid’s school to see if they can do screening for conditions such as dyslexia.
Consider Rewards
For some kids, the only thing that will encourage them to finish that homework is the promise of a reward. Whilst you don’t want to be handing out the candy or agreeing to extra screen time for every piece of schoolwork they do, it can be a good idea to set an end-of-week treat as a motivator. You could agree that if they hand in all of their homework in on time (and get good feedback on it), they are allowed an extra half hour of screen time on Friday.