10 Ways to Stop the Homework Hassle
When I was a teacher, I assigned kids homework and expected it finished the following day. I honestly didn’t know what a nightmare homework could be until my daughter started elementary school.
The crying. The anger. The emotions! All over a couple of math problems? What is this?!?
I used these 10 strategies in my house to stop our homework hassle. Now after school, my daughter sits at the kitchen table and completes her homework. No drama. Here’s how we did it. 
A big thank you to CVS Pharmacy for providing me the school supplies and some of the snacks seen in this post!
Agree on the terms
Kids crave routine and are able to better manage their emotions when they can easily predict the next activity. Same with homework. In addition to your usual back to school routine, ask your child the following questions and come to a mutual agreement.
When do you want to do your homework? Everyone is different. My daughter likes to first have a snack and then start on her homework as soon as she comes from school.
Where do you want to do your homework? Designate a place.
Where do you want to keep your homework supplies? Agree on a specific drawer or shelf where your child can always find a pencil, colored pencils, and scissors.
Where will you put your homework when its done for me to check it? This was a problem for me. My daughter would leave the table with the contents of her backpack exploded across it. I had no idea where her homework was or that she was even finished with it.
Have a Distraction Free Homework Area
In our house, it is our kitchen table. I find that it is central enough for me to help my second grade daughter when she needs it and yet close enough to toys and entertainment for my two year old son. The most difficult part is keeping this area distraction free. We can’t turn on the TV, play with anything interesting, or do anything fun. That’s life with a six-year-old. Instead, I pull out paper and crayons for my two-year-old son so can “do homework” too.
The next tip changed our after-school bad moods immediately!
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These tips are great! I especially liked the part about keeping only 1 pencil, and prompting your daughter to find her own mistakes. My son is entering first grade and I think he will have homework this year, so I will be using all of your tips. Thanks!
Thanks Lauren! I hope these tips help!
I esp like how you give her positive reinforcement when there are mistakes. My 10 year old is a perfectionist and extremely dramatic at the moment. If I point out a mistake she will say things like “oh so I got every single thing wrong!” Or “I told you I was horrible at__”, even if she got 99 out of 100 correct! This gives me a new strategy to help her feel successful. Great post!
Oh 10 year olds… I was once a fifth grade teacher so I know. I really liked that age in the classroom but kids are so different at home than at school. Good luck!! Let me know if it helps 🙂
I am in love with all of these tips! My oldest son just started kindergarten, and he has homework every night. He has to write his name 4 times. He always gives me attitude that he’s not going to do it, and threatens to erase all of his other work he did at school. I can’t wait to make a homework box. We already try to cut out all distractions, but my 2 year old is a force to be reckoned with ha-ha
Oh ya, Jessica. Make that homework box 🙂 Why do five-year-olds have to be so sassy? I get a lot of attitude over here as well 🙂
I’m in high school and to be completely honest, I use these tips but in a teen modified way and it works for me thus far. LOL, thanks so much!
Woo hoo! Frankly Tammy, I use these tips to be more productive while working as well 🙂
Thank you for this! I had to self-learn several of these steps the hard way, but there is so much good info. I’m going to print out the check lists and that homework box will be such a time saver!
Happy to help Rachelle!
Thanks for these great tips! My son just started Kindergarten this week… so he shouldn’t have too much homework this year. Whenever the homework does start for him though, I am anticipating a battle… so hopefully implementing these tips will make the process go a little more smoothly for both of us!!!! 🙂
Thank you Kristin! If you run into any problems, come let me know 🙂 In fact, I have a great facebook group of moms! Come join us here.