Homework With Your Children

"I don't love studying. I hate studying. I like learning. Learning is beautiful." - Natalie Portman

   So the end of the week finds The Wife and I trying to hide our enthusiasm to dig through our eldest's backpack in search of her test scores. Specifically, the two that are regular are a spelling test and a timed reading score. I can only compare it to a scratch off lottery ticket, with the excitement building. However, this is where we win every time. Our 'Lil Miss is very competitive, but also LOVES her play time. We've had to try difference things to keep her interested in homework and study time.

   We crashed and burned when we let her come home and play first. Disaster! We'd always run out of time and she never wanted to stop playing to do it. I felt like I was taking my first dog to the veterinarian.

TIP: We tried a old tried and true method of getting some homework done right after school.

   It works great. With the knowledge that she can play after and not have to stop again to work on her words or reading, she powers through. At one point last week, she actually asked if she could finish the remainder of her homework so that she could go straight to playtime after school. The Wife and I were beside ourselves.

   Some additional resources:
 - The U.S. Department of Education - General Homework Tips for Parents
 - Circle of Moms - our friends over at the circle have and article, "7 Fixes for the Homework Battle"
 - Scholastic - The article is "Homework for Kids", and point #2 is our play. Oh, and look! There's a dad helping with homework in the photo. Go dad!

   The the quote at the top sums up my own personal experience. I really hated studying, but LOVED learning. Try to figure out how that works for you children with their homework. Instead of repetitious math problems on paper, I poured out the change jar and we worked on our 1s and 10s with pennies and dimes.
   You can do it.

J.