Homework and establishing a good routine

When is the best time for a child to start their homework? Perhaps the very moment they get in from school they should begin, so they can have the evening free for their own activities. After a long and arduous day at school however, the last thing a pupil may want to do when they get home is start another round of work and study. The work must be completed though, and every parent will probably have their own system, a routine that ensures their children get their homework completed.

With my children the most important thing was routine, a schedule we stuck to throughout the term. Once they arrived home they could relax, and after dinner they had twenty minutes more leisure time, then they had to hit the books. At the weekends Saturdays were free, but from midday on Sunday it was homework time. Before we settled upon this successful system, my wife and I struggled to establish a schedule that proved effective. For about a year we insisted our children begin their homework immediately after their evening meal, but we eventually discovered that they were a sluggish and tired as they digested their food, and weren`t really up to doing any schoolwork for about an hour. We also made the mistake of trying to get them to start their homework the moment they arrived back from school. Our thinking was that it was best to catch them in `work mode,` before their attention waned. This also proved a mistake, as we realised they really needed a break before studying.

A lot of trial and error led us to set up a designated study area, a place the children knew was a place of work, where they would be free from distractions. Of course not all homes have the luxury of a spare study room, and your children`s bedrooms may be too small to accommodate a desk; and if you have children sharing a room things can get even more complicated. If you are able to set up a communal area that is conducive to schoolwork, this can be really helpful. Perhaps the kitchen, or living room can be set up as a homework area in the evening. All the necessary study paraphernalia should be kept close to hand - pens, stationary etc - and of course it should be quiet enough for work to be done.

Younger children may need some help getting started with their work - unless you are lucky enough to have a child who is so autonomous as to get on with their studies unaided, you will probably need to go through the beginning of their work with them. Once you can see they are proceeding unaided you can leave them to continue by themselves, and check in on them after a period of time to see if they are having any issues.

Another important rule my wife and I insisted upon, and which we found helped was this: no breaks! Once homework began that was it, there could be no `little rests` or `tv breaks.` Just before they started their studies they were told to go to the toilet, then get a snack, as they were to be working without interruption.

If your child needs help with their work you should of course be there for them, but it`s important that you are not completing all the work yourself. You should try to see yourself as a teacher, not just an encyclopaedia which they can use to do their thinking for them. If they are stuck you should try guiding them in the right direction. Ask them questions, such as `this looks a little similar to the last problem, what method did you use to solve that?` By adopting this strategy you will help your child, with just a little assistance, to learn to solve problems for themselves.

My next piece of advice would be to limit as many distractions as possible. If your child is working in the living room or kitchen you should keep these areas as quiet as possible. Make sure there is not a television in sight! Even the most boring TV show will be more interesting than whatever piece of homework your child doesn`t want to complete.

My children went to school in the days before the internet and mobile phones, so it was obviously a lot easier to keep them from being distracted. I really don`t feel qualified to give advice on how to ensure your children aren`t spending their work time watching You Tube videos - I can only speculate as to how parents make sure their children are using their computers for study, and not pointless web browsing. I believe there are ways of `whitelisting` certain websites, which would allow you to choose which pages your children are able to visit. For those children old enough to have their own mobile phones I would suggest there be a rule that they are turned off during the time spent doing homework. We really are living in an age of distraction and procrastination, with every smartphone being a pocket video player, walkman, and game machine. Parents and teachers alike are faced with a whole new set of challenges that previous generations never had to contend with.