I want to share with you two tips to help you with the homework situation at your house. Now, if you're anything like me, the first thing that you ever wanted to do when it came to homework with your kids was get them to do it immediately. That way, it was done, you had nothing to worry about after dinner but think about it like this. When you get home from work, what is the first thing you want to do?
Usually, it is not clean the house, do the laundry, make the dinner. It's, I need to decompress, I need to have some time just to chill out before I focus on the next thing that I have to do, and kids are the same way.
They actually need some time just to chill out from the day, their brains have been going at 100 miles an hour, all day long, and now they just need some time to decompress too. So don't always force it unless there's a reason where you just have to be somewhere, they have a lesson or something that they have to go and do.
Then obviously they're going to have to get that homework done sometime, but if there's any way possible, give them a little bit of time just to breathe before they jump right back into their homework. Number one, their attitude is going to be better. And number two, their brains are going to be operating on a whole lot more cylinders than they would be otherwise.
The second thing that I want to share with you is a tip that I learned in the classroom and with my own kids. And that is timers. By far one of my favorite and absolutely one of the simplest things you can do when it comes to homework or anything else for that matter. Think about it like this. When you have a friend call you out of the blue and they say, "Oh, I'm going to be around your house in 30 minutes.
Would it be okay if I stopped by?" Well, of course, we're going to say, "Yes, I'd love for you to stop by." The problem is you look in your house, looks like it's been hit by a tornado and you're thinking, oh my goodness, I only have 30 minutes to clean this house up. Well, you probably get more done in that 30 minutes than you would with an entire day dedicated to cleaning the house because of course you have to check Facebook and you have to check Instagram. And there are all these other things that get first priority.
Meaning you'd, really just are wanting to put it off. Again, kids are the same way. You give them a time limit and you say, okay, all you have to do is work really, really hard for 10 minutes. And then at the end of that 10 minutes, we're going to do something fun. All of a sudden they're super focused on the fact that, oh, I don't have an endless, unending amount of time of homework I have to do. It's going to take 73 hours to do my homework.
I think I've probably heard those exact words from my own kids. Instead of that, they're thinking, okay, I can handle 10 minutes, 10 minutes isn't bad. So you can actually set a timer for them for 10 minutes, get them to work hard as they can for that 10 minutes. Then if they've done a really good job, say, "Ooh, do you think you could beat that 10 minutes and actually do this in 9 minutes?"
So now you're doing two things. Number one, you're getting them super hyper-focused for a short amount of time. And then number two, you're using that timer to actually help them beat their best time. Now it can go either way. If you have a super competitive kid, they may be all in, saying, "Yes, I just want to beat my best time." But then you may have kids that it just stresses out.
My oldest was absolutely competitive, yes, I want to beat my time. My youngest, as soon as I would go to set a timer, he would freak out, going, I can't get this done. I can't do it. So we had to break it down for him. So a couple of different ways you can use those timers. And of course, you can use stopwatches, your cell phones, microwave timer, oven timer.
You can use any timer in the world, but a couple of things that you want to consider are one, your child, which you know your child better than anyone else. Number two, do you think that timing would help them if you break down their subjects?
Eliminate Homework Battles
Now, if you say "I'm going to give you 10 minutes to get all of your homework done tonight," they're going to have a heart attack because they probably have at least 30 to 45 minutes of focused work that they're going to have to complete. And so 10 minutes is going to freak them out.
But if you say, "I'm going to give you 10 minutes and I'm going to see if you can write your 5 spelling words 3 times each and see if you can beat the clock." You can do that. Or you can say, "You know what? It looks like you're really stressed out right now about all of that work that you have to do.
How about we just do this for a little while?" And help them focus in on that one specific topic or subject, especially the one that they hate the most. And say, "You know what? Let's work for 10 minutes and I'm going to be right here in case you need me."
Then they're going to say, "Okay, I think I can do 10 minutes." And it's going to be much more likely that they're going to be cooperative as opposed to fighting you tooth and nail about homework. So that's my two tips for you. Number one, don't force it. First thing when they get home, give them a little bit of time.
Even if it's just to eat a snack, to play outside just for a few minutes, let them decompress, just like we need to do after work. And number two, use timers to your advantage. Remember, you can use them a variety of ways. You can do it as a beat your best time. You can do it as let's just break down what would normally take us three hours? Let's just break it down into 10 to 15-minute increments, or you can say a little combination of all of them.
All right, let's see how much you can get done in ten minutes. Now, can you do it in nine minutes? And those are my suggestions to help you and your child make homework a little less stressful.
If you like to know more about these series, check it here: https://www.learningsuccesssystem.com/tips/nmhb
Key Takeaways:
Do You Need help with a Learning Difficulty?
Our simple online analysis will help you get to the core of the problem and find the right solution for you.
Understanding how to help someone with a learning difficulty starts with understanding which micro-skills are affected. When you learn which of the micro-skills is the problem, you will then be on your way to solving it.
You'll also learn how to:
- Build confidence
- Enhance Learning ability
- Eliminate avoidance
- Build grit
You can get this analysis for free by filling out this simple form. This will help you get to the bottom of a learning difficulty and provide you with a solution. If you are ready to put this problem behind you click the button below and fill out the form.
