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 What's the Buzz on Homework?Beginning in September, Monday through Thursday, your child will bring home a book club bag each night. These books have been leveled to differentiate reading abilities. To increase vocabulary development, reading fluency, and reading comprehension, it is best if this reading time is shared with an adult. Please remember to PRINT THE TITLE OF THE BOOK on their slip. The children use this slip to look the book up on the computer when taking their Accelerated Reader quiz the next morning.
Math homework will come home in a math folder. This helps distinguish homework from other papers. Both sides of the math page should be checked by an adult and any needed corrections should be made. Math homework is due the next morning. Please encourage neatness. I will not send math homework home on Friday.
Try These Helpful Homework Tips 
Parents Do Make A Difference!
Hot Homework Tips for Parents
Ways to Minimize Our Nagging
and Maximize Their Learning
by Michele Borba, Ed.D.
michele@parentingbookmark.com
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"Homework time" in many families can be very stressful and tension-filled for both child and parent. Research clearly says doing homework enhances not only children’s learning but also essential skills they will need to succeed in school and in life such as organization, problem solving, attention span, memory, goal-setting and "stick-to-it-ness" Here’s just a few tips to make homework time more successful for your child and you.
- Recognize your role is helper not doer. Sometimes in our quest to help our kids succeed, we may get carried away providing too much help. Make sure he’s doing the work--not you! One of the best self-esteem enhancers is recognizing we’ve done a job we can be proud of. Offering too much help robs your child of those powerful, "I did it!" moments, and he just may be saying to himself instead, "Mom did it for me."
- Do praise his efforts and not just the "end product." Kids needs to learn the importance of hard work and effort and homework provides a great opportunity for you to reinforce his perseverance. You might start a family motto such as "Never Give Up!" or "Don’t quit until you succeed" or "In this family, we finish what we start," Perhaps the most important trait doing homework instills in our children is perseverance. And the only way they’ll learn to value effort is by our steady emphasis of "it’s not good enough just to start; you have to finish."
- Insist homework be her responsibility not yours. Resist the temptation of always sitting next to her and offer your help only when it’s really needed. If your child is having difficulties, help her understand the work by making up similar problems and showing her step by step how to do it. Then watch her try to do one on her own. That way you won’t be doing all the work for her. Asking her to show you her completed work at the end of each row or section is another way to ensure she’s following the directions correctly but not relying on you for every detail.
- Section the assignment in smaller chunks. Chunking assignments into smaller chunks is often helpful for kids who have difficulty sticking to a task, have shorter attention spans, or are overly concerned with making sure "everything’s right." Then tell your child to do "one chunk at a time" You can even take a short break after completing each chunk. Gradually you can increase the size of the "work chunks" as your child’s confidence increases.
- Consider a getting a tutor. If you do find homework battles increasing, you are doing most of your child’s work or your child is having a difficult time mastering the subject despite your help, consider hiring a tutor. Ask your teacher or other parents for recommendations including even a high school student. The goal of homework should always be to enhance your child’s learning abilities and confidence while at the same time preserving the relationship with your child.
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Agree together upon specific times for doing homework ahead of time and then stick to it. You may want to even post your agreement in a visible place and then sign it. Many kids need a break after school, while others like to delve right in. Find your child’s best time work time and consistently reinforce it. Drawing a clock face that shows the set homework time is helpful for younger children.
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