In article , Beth Kevles
says...



Arrrggghhhh! Now, I actually agree (at least in principle, and sometimes in
practice as well) with the below - but it just sets my teeth on edge reminding
me of all the "just do this, just do that", "remember the goal", "try a
different approach" stuff I'd get from teachers about my son's problems with
homework. When IMO there were more basic problems with the homework and the way
it was being assigned. I'd get a whole list of little bitty adivces that really
added up to "YOU GOTTA DEAL".

As a teacher myself (slightly older children) and a parent of
distractable boys, let me suggest the following:

Set a timer for 15 minutes. Encourage your son to concentrate for those
15 minutes. Let him work aloud if it helps him with the sentence
construction.

When the 15 minutes are over, so is homework. If he hasn't done enough,
so be it. If he wants to spend more time at it, let him have another
15-minute block later in the evening or before school in the morning,
but NOT right away. 15 minutes is the reasonable maximum for the work
he is doing, and certainly the right amount of time for his age.

I tried this. THe teacher would suggest it, and we DID it. And promptly ran
into:

1. The incomplete state of the homeworks is still of consequence! Even after
the 15-minute time discussion with me, the parent! The lack of completion would
still go into the ledger, AND - get this - homeworks were sometimes traded
between students for them to *grade each other*. Some kind of group learning
hoo ha that the teachers believe in.

2. My son's own internalized ethic that he was to finish it, and to it well.
He would know that other students *were* finishing the homeworks. He'd really
want to complete them, woudl *not* want to stop at 15 minutes, so there we would
be back at square one.

This *did* *not* *work*. Undermined by the same teacher who recommended it.

And anyway - why on earth would we want to be teaching our kids to time a task,
and blow off the undone remainder?? That's not a good thing to teach.



While he is working, do whatever you can to help him concentrate. Swing
on over occasionally to help him or praise him or re-focus him. Remind
him that his daily goal is FIVE sentences, not 20 at a time. (Five is
actually quite a lot for his age, but that's the teacher's problem.)

Make sure he first does the word(s) he's not already familiar with.
At another time, quiz him aloud on spelling and meanings of his words.

So - he's having problems getting going, and the solution is to start in on the
*hardest* part?


If he doesn't complete his homework for the week, it's not a disaster so
long as he's doing well on his tests. If he's trying hard and learning
to concentrate (don't expect success right away, of course) then discuss
the issue with his teacher. Personally, I think she's assigning too
much homework for a kid his age.

Tell the teachers that.

I agree about breaking it up (I did break assignments up for my son whenever I
could). But the PROBLEM with that was the pattern of homework assignments we
were faced with. Homework would only be assigned for the next day, and only on
Monday through Thrusday nights (Weekends Are Holy).

Lo and behold, Cub Scouts and other activities would only meet on Monday through
Thursday nights (Weekends Are Holy).

So on any given evening, the homework had to get done that evening, and there
would be only yeah much time and energy for it.

I could arrange with only ONE teacher (my son's third grade teacher, the only
male teacher he had) to get homework assignments on Friday for the following
week, so that we can follow a more reasonable schedule and divide the tasks into
doable bits. That was one of my son's best years.



Remember that the goals of an assignment like this a

1. Get in the habit of doing homework regularly. (Not really
necessary, but teachers seem to like the idea.)

My son over the years got into the habit of rushing through work to Get It Done.
Largely thanks to this kind of hassle I think. I hope to gosh this doesn't
poison too much of the rest of his endeavors. He's 15.

2. Improve concentration. (Backfires at the end of the school day, but
no reason not to try, at least.)

Only frustration. Why can't concentration be improved to the point that the
*six hours kids have in school* are of maximum benefit hmmmm?

3. Improve handwriting. (Better writing is superior to greater
quantity of writing, so make sure he's doing his best even if he
does less.)

Hah. *Did* *not* *happen*.

4. Learn to create sentences. (Do fewer, make them interesting, and
read a lot of books aloud that are just above his own reading
level. You already knew that ...)

"Make them interesting" - did you actually READ what Chookie was describing??

5. Learn the words! (Can be done aloud, especially for the words he
alread knows.)

How about - my son (and Chookie's) who clearly and evidently was picking up an
extensive vocabulary *verbally* doesn't need a painful and tedious exercise to
do it.


Spending too long at homework can really backfire. Don't let him.
Spend the balance of time reading or discussing things of mutual
interest. Or playing, or helping his brother, or helping YOU.

The timer really does help a lot of kids.

Help them what. And, without cooperation from the same teachers who talk about
15 minutes, it's simply stupid to even have brought up.

Nuttin agin you, Beth :-) Just you gotta understand these advices are very
frustrating given the whole format that parents and kids are faced with on
early-grade homework.

Banty