Strategies and Solutions to Common Homework Issues

Homework issues often have more to do with lack of effective organization, study and time management skills that a lack of academic ability. Parents can help their children to be more responsible, independent and successful students by working together to reduce distractions and to facilitate more effective use of homework and home study time.

Reduce Distractions

• Enforce a family “quiet time” to reduce distractions.
• Create a special homework area away from distractions.
• Discover your child’s learning style and preferences to help with problem-solving.
• A drink and healthy snack after school, before doing homework, can improve concentration.
• Children who take medication to help with focus may need a later dose of meds to help with focus during homework time too.
• Some children are able to concentrate better if they have a little time to play before beginning their work.

Teach Organization Skills

• Teach your child that everything has a place and help your child to come up with a system to keep organized.
• Work together to create a specific folder for homework and/or color-coded folders for each class.
• Keep a set of necessary materials for school work in a convenient location.
• Consider purchasing a second set of text books to keep at home.
• Come up with a back-up plan to get assignments after school hours.
• A study-buddy and/or a bookmarked link to classroom website with homework assignments can help set your child up for success.

Facilitate Study Skills

• Teach your child how to break a task into steps.
• Help your child to set specific goals for study times.
• Teach your child to use graphic organizers to plan a writing assignment, and/or how to plan a special project.
• Use color-coded sticky notes and Post-It notes

Promote Time Management Skills

• Specific guidelines, expectations and consistency help children to improve time management at home.
• Checklists, timers and/or an available adult to help when/as needed can help a child who works slower than others to complete their work in less time.
• Working for a pre-determined minimum amount of time on homework, regardless of the assigned task, can help motivate fast workers to slow down.
• Provide choices for the child who finishes work early such as checking work, going above and beyond with an assignment, working ahead on assignments/projects, and/or reading a book/topic of interest.
• Some children are not aware of how/when they are on/off task. Gentle reminders and positive specific feedback can help build awareness.

Establishing open communication with your child’s teacher is another important step toward helping to prepare your child for homework success.