The new school year is upon us. Your kids are likely to have at least a little bit of homework to do after school. Many parents find it difficult to convince their children to sit down and do their homework. One thing that can make the situation a little less stressful, and more productive, is to set up a homework space.
How to Setup a Homework Area
It is easy to see why kids and teens don’t enjoy doing their homework. They just spent their whole day at school trying to learn things that are new to them, working on projects and papers, and practicing the social skills that will enable them to make friends (and keep them). That’s a lot of work!
After a day of hard work, people tend to want time to take a break and do something fun. This is true for both children and adults. If you boss started requiring you to take work home with you, without offering any additional benefit, you would probably resent it. That’s how children and teens see homework!
Setting up a designated homework space won’t make your child suddenly enjoy doing their homework. Instead, it provides some consistency and routine. Your child goes to school and knows to sit at a certain desk to do work. The homework space is that “desk” outside of school.
Baby Center has some excellent advice about how to make a homework space for your child. One important thing is that the homework space must include a desk, or a table, that your child can sit at. Make sure it is the right height for writing. They note that kids who do their homework while lying in bed can get distracted or fall asleep before they finish their homework.
Ideally, you want to create some “quiet time” while your child is doing homework. This can be part of the routine. Come home from school. Eat a snack. Go to the homework space and do homework. Many kids find comfort in routine. They know exactly what to expect. Parents can go around the house and turn off TVs and other “noise” during the time that their child is in the homework space.
This might sound obvious, but it is important. Make sure the homework space has pens, pencils, erasers, paper, and all the other school supplies in it. If you child needs a pencil sharpener, more paper, or a dictionary, and it isn’t in the homework space, he or she will get up to find it. Once the child leaves the homework space, he or she is more likely to become distracted away from finishing homework.
Image by Catherine on Flickr.
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