Winning the Homework Battle

For students, homework is a fact of life. Teachers assign out-of-class projects to help learners cement concepts, practice important new skills, and review previous ideas. Homework also helps children develop independence, time management, and research skills. It builds responsibility and follow-through. Homework is an important part of education.

Students, of course, often disagree. It seems like homework is a curse designed to interfere with free time and create conflict with parents. Homework seems burdensome and unnecessary. Given a choice, most students would love to see it eliminated from education.

This difference of opinion is quite often a source of conflict in families. It doesn't have to be this way, though. Parents can resolve the conflict with just a bit of planning, effort and consistency. Students can come to realize that while homework is not their favorite pastime, it is necessary and desirable to get the tasks done as requested. The secret to peaceful accomplishment of homework lies in attention to four areas: attitude, environment, monitoring and behavior management. Parents can easily take charge of all four areas to ensure that homework is accomplished efficiently and with a minimum of fuss. As students mature, parental responsibility shifts gradually onto the shoulders of the student as he or she becomes an independent learner, ready for the challenges of college or employment tasks. It's a natural progression, and follows logical steps.

Four Strategies to Ease Homework Conflict

The place to begin defusing homework battles is in the area of attitude. Before addressing the students' attitudes, it's very important to analyze your own. Your views on homework will profoundly impact how the students in your family manage their out-of-school tasks. If you feel that homework is a waste of time or an interruption of family routines, that will come across to your student and there will be matching attitude problems from the child. If you feel homework is burdensome or too difficult, it will shake your student's confidence and make it difficult for him or her to work independently. Check your own attitudes and realize that your behavior is reflecting what you believe about homework. You might need to mask your true feelings, or take the necessary steps to convince yourself that homework is truly important. Make a plan to accommodate homework tasks in the family schedule, even if it means giving up something that you want to do. Provide the necessary materials and environment to ensure your child's success. Supervise and monitor the homework tasks, no matter what your person feelings may be. Chances are very good that your child's attitude will change when yours does.

It is simple to manipulate the environment. Children are not adults, and so they may need more structure to accomplish their homework tasks. You can assist with this process by making sure that there is a quiet place in your home that is free from distractions and then insist that homework is accomplished there. Keep common supplies on hand so that your child doesn't have the excuse of "I couldn't find pencils" or "We were out of paper" to interfere with completing homework. It's also your job to provide structure in scheduling homework time. Work with your child to pick a time to start and a time to end homework. Make sure the family schedule is not allowed to interfere with this high-priority task. Enforce rules about television watching or socializing before homework is completed. Help your child learn to judge how much time will be needed for daily tasks and for long-term projects, and then provide the necessary guidance and structure to accomplish them.

Parents are also responsible for monitoring homework tasks. For younger children, check book bags or homework folders nightly. Provide reminders and enforce homework routines. This is the time to build good habits that will eventually turn into self-regulation in this area. As children grow, make sure that assignments are being completed in an acceptable manner. Check homework after completion to make sure it is finished properly and in accordance with the child's ability. You don't need to correct the homework, just make sure it reflects the student's best effort. If there seems to be a major misunderstanding of a concept, it's all right to try to help the child with the ideas, but be sure to send a note to the teacher as well. If a child consistently brings in work that is 100% correct, the teacher may not realize that there is a problem until test time.

For older students, this monitoring can shift to the student's shoulders IF academic success is being achieved. A student who consistently earns A's may not need much monitoring. A student who continually struggles to achieve C's or D's may need as much supervision as a younger child. In short, when your student shows responsibility about homework, you can back off and shift the control onto his or her responsibility.

Another aspect of monitoring homework is to notice when things don't seem to be going well for your student. This can take several forms, but most common are poor homework grades and inordinate amounts of time needed to accomplish homework tasks. If either of these situations arise, it's time to talk to the teacher and perhaps seek outside help.

Finally, parents can implement behavior management systems to help their children learn to be responsible students. Behavior management is simply the manipulation of conditions and outcomes to make sure that the desired behavior is the most rewarding one. No matter what behavior is interfering with completion, you are in a position to manipulate the outcome and so influence the behavior.

Proven Techniques to Change Behavior

If a student is neglecting to bring home assignments or necessary materials from school, try assigning your own "homework." Set aside an appropriate amount of time each day, and insist that your child do school-related tasks. If assignments come home as they are supposed to, then schoolwork is done during this time. If no assignments come home or if the student neglects to bring home needed supplies, then your "assignments" are done. You can supply worksheets, workbooks from the variety store, print outs from internet sites that address skills to practice, books to read, letters to write, or even research or writing assignments. Your student will quickly learn that neglecting to bring home assignments or supplies is not a free pass out of doing homework.

It's also easy to foil a child who hurries through homework assignments without getting the correct answers. If you are certain that the child understands the task, set a goal of an acceptable percentage correct. Check the work at the end of homework time, and if the goal has not been achieved, extend homework time. Also, do not allow a child to complete work sloppily or haphazardly. Insist that the substandard work be redone until it is acceptable.

If your child dawdles and wastes homework time, try setting a timer to allow a specific amount of time to accomplish a small part of the task. For example, it might be reasonable to ask the child to complete five problems in fifteen minutes. Set the timer, and reward the student who completes the requirement with praise and perhaps a short break from homework.

You can take charge of the homework battle, and you can ensure that homework is completed on time and in an acceptable manner. In fact, it's a parental responsibility to do so. Education is one of the most important tasks that families take on, and one of the things that profoundly impacts an adult's opportunities for success. Take the bull by the horns and set high standards for your student in this area. In this competitive day and age, you can't afford not to.