Homework

Children need reminding to bring their homework home from school. An organized system should be in place to help children remember their homework.

Good Home Study Environment

• Study at the same time each day
• Quiet area with good lighting
• Desk or table
• Pens, pencils and sharpener, crayons, markers, colored pencils, and erasers
• Paper (binder, construction, and scratch)
• Scissors, glue, stapler, and tape

Homework Time

How much homework assigned by the teacher usually depends on school guidelines. The question remains how much homework is appropriate. Only the parents can ultimately answer this question. Children spend all day in school, and, therefore should not spend all night doing homework. Sometimes, too much homework may be assigned. Other times, a child may be struggling and be spending too much time on a particular task. Either way the child should not spend all night doing homework.

Talk to the teacher calmly if you feel your child is spending too much time on homework. Ask the teacher if other children in the class are also spending too much time. Determine if your child is having problems with a particular skill. If so, ask for more instruction at school including tutoring. Accomodations need to be made for the child having difficulty. Excessive homework will only compound the problems. Homework is designed to reinforce concepts not teach them.

Below is a sample calculation to determine the maximum amount of time your child should be spending doing homework each day:

• How much time does your child have between the time he or she gets home until the time he or she should go to bed? Most elementary school children should be in bed by 8-9PM.
• Take the above figure and subtract dinner time and time getting ready for bed.
• Divide the above number by 2. This is the maximum amount that should be spent on homework. The remainder time should be spent as down time and with the family.