Max breezed through his homework this morning. This is pretty typical. I’ve mentioned before how early morning is the best time for him to get it done.

How does your child do his homework?

Experts say some of the best ways for children to do their homework is to:

  • Find a quiet place where they won’t be distracted. As we all know, children can get sidetracked very easily.
  • Turn off the television. Similar to the previous statement, they will end up watching instead of doing.
  • Make sure they have everything they need including paper, pencils, and books. Maybe even a cold drink if they tend to wander into the kitchen over and over again because they are thirsty.
  • Be available for help if your child needs it.

Here are some other suggestions to motivate your child to do her homework.

How does Max do his homework?

My son has a set plan. He gets up in the morning, eats, showers, and gets dressed. After that he sits on the couch in the living room and does his work. The television is off and there is no music so it is very quiet.

In the meantime I am in the kitchen washing leftover dishes from the night before and setting up for breakfast and the rest of the morning.

At the same time my wife is in the basement doing laundry. She also feeds and cleans up after the cats. Then she makes sure Max’s backpack is ready for school.

We have been lucky so far. Max loves school and can’t wait to get there every morning. He also loves to learn so we don’t have to bribe or threaten him to get his homework done.

But he likes to do it quickly. From the time he sits down until he is finished it might take him 20 minutes.

If he has any questions he calls my wife in. She walks him through the problem he is having and allows him to come up with the correct answer. I think she would make a great teacher but her disabilities have kept her from pursuing this as a career.

When he is done he brings all of his homework to his Mother for review. If she finds any mistakes she will again help him figure out how to correct them.

But sometimes, like this morning, in his haste his work will be unreadable. In instances like this he will have to copy over his homework so that his teachers will be able to read it.

And don’t get me wrong, it is not always easy. Sometimes if Max finds that he has made a mistake on something he thought was perfect the meltdown starts. Usually we can circumvent it but when we can’t a timeout will result.

Generally it is completed without a fuss. It gets stored in his backpack. He is now ready and waiting to be picked up.

So, how do your kids do their homework? Do they have a structure set up? Do you use any other methods to make sure it gets done?

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