Homework Schedules

[kinntj]

I said other. DD's school sends a homework packet home on Friday that is due the next Friday b/c many students have afterschool activities. We do most of it on the weekend and study for tests as needed b/c DD dances 3 days a week.

Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade are like this at our school. I have a DD going into 3rd grade and they get new stuff every day. I love getting the Friday packet for the kids to do. They had everything done by Monday to bring in. I have one going into 1st grade, so we'll have Friday packets for another 2 years with her.

 

[mjkacmom]

Snack, then homework. We usually have 3 - 5 activities each night starting up at 4:40 or so (with some at 5, 5:30, 6, 6:30, 7, 7:30 - everyone coming and going). Ds14 does it when she wants - she usually goes out after school with friends, but they tend to go somewhere to start homework, like starbucks.

 

[mhsjax]

My 3 do theirs after a snack. We can't wait, they all have activities and they start later in the day. After that and dinner they are too tired or it is too late for them to do homework. So after they comes home from sports, they can eat, shower, and then just chill out for about an hour or longer before bed.

 

[MaryAnnDVC]

I expected my kids to get their homework done. I didn't dictate when they did it, as long as they got it done. When there was an occasional issue with that, I'd get a little more involved in when they did it (earlier after school rather than later). I pretty much never helped them with their homework...struggling a bit is all part of the learning experience...it can't always just come to them easily. For the most part, they did it ASAP after school or after school activity, because they felt better getting it over and done with.

I have 3 kids...oldest DD will be 22 next week and just graduated from college, 2nd DD will be 20 next month and is a college junior, DS is 17 and a HS senior. All very independent, and extremely capable of time management. So it worked for us.

 

[NHdisneylover]

I voted other because (like a couple of other posters) my kids have different ways that they function best.

MY DD13 likes to get things done ASAP. She often gets her homework done on the train ride home. If not she finishes it up as soon as she gets home--sometimes having a snack while she works. Often after dinner she will pull out mini index cards and make herself flash cards for French or biology. She reviews them in bed before sleeping, first thing in the morning and on the train to school.

DS11 needs to decompress a bit before he can handle more work. He comes home and has a snack and chats with me for about a half hour before doing work. On the days that he goes to therapy after school he is really drained and does homework right after dinner.

 

[LilyWDW]

My mom never said it had to be done at any particular time. She left it up to me for the most part. What worked for me as a kid was coming home from school, having a small snack (cheese and crackers or apples and peanut butter) while watching TV to unwind, then starting my homework. Dinner was usually about 6ish unless I had soccer and then it was actually closer to 7. I would aim to get my work done before dinner so I didn't have to worry about it. 95% of the time I had it done with no problem.

My dad was a police officer so sometimes dinner was just me and mom... those nights we would eat in the living room and watch Star Trek The Next Generation. We have some wonderful memories of those nights.

(and OT, but my dog is watching The History Channel really intently... apparently he enjoys shows about hurricanes.0

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

DS14 and DD10 do theirs after they have their snack and we talk about school. Then they have to do their homework.

Otherwise it wouldn't get done. They'd start goofing around and I'd have to argue with them all evening about it.
I found by making the rule of doing it right away, there's no arguing.

 

[Magic Mom]

Different kids, different schedules. DS needed to do his right after school or he would never get it done. DD can do hers whenever it suits her and she does better on it if she has a break. There are times when she gets lax at getting things done and I have to be more strict with her, but for the most part, she sets her own homework schedule.

 

[PollyannaMom]

...However her "official schedule" is to come home, chill until 4pm, then work on her homework at 30 minute intervals with a 15 minute break in between each 30 minutes....
I have to say it is a pretty good system and it works for her because she came up with it.

I think DS would do best with something like that as well - except that at this time of year, the break part would be outside, so it would be hard to get him back in after only 15 minuntes. (He's younger, though, so would have less homework than your DD, and it might still work with longer breaks.)

I agree that it's good when they "own" the schedule somewhat. I did try to involve him last year, but he had trouble settling on one plan and sticking to it. I think this year might be a little easier, as he changes buildings, and will actually get home earlier. (We'll see how much the homework increases, though.)

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I think DS would do best with something like that as well - except that at this time of year, the break part would be outside, so it would be hard to get him back in after only 15 minuntes. (He's younger, though, so would have less homework than your DD, and it might still work with longer breaks.)

I agree that it's good when they "own" the schedule somewhat. I did try to involve him last year, but he had trouble settling on one plan and sticking to it. I think this year might be a little easier, as he changes buildings, and will actually get home earlier. (We'll see how much the homework increases, though.)

You know what, she can get her homework done 75% of the time in the first 30 mins.

It is amazing how quickly and efficiently she can work when she is not over stressed. That was the big deal with her and something we needed to figure out. I kept insisting she do her homework RIGHT AWAY!

If she thinks about everything she has to do she gets overwhelmed and cannot think.

We discovered that she is a person who has to "plan" and cannot do things "last minute".

DH, older DD, and I are "last minute people" and can work faster under time crunching. She is opposite and "shuts down".

 

[powellrj]

I voted other. DD is in high school now and usually my kids never had a study hall, but this year, DD could find nothing open for 4th hour so she has a study hall. I have to say, its kind of nice! She is busy this year with golf, choir and church and its just one less thing to do!

 

[clori]

School hasn't started yet. My oldest has religious school on Wednesdays from 3:45 to 5:30. By the time she gets home from school, has a snack etc she doesn't have much time to do school work before leaving. Usually she eats dinner around 6 and then starts homework. Last year (4th grade) we both realized that dd seemed to resist doing homework in the afternoon but no problem at all after dinner. We switched to that and it worked great for us. The occasional night we had plans dd easily did her work earlier.

 

[aprilgail2]

I picked "other"- I am not a fan of homework but its something she gets so she has to do it.... it gets done while we are not doing other things...its up to her when she does it as long as it gets done- sitting up doing it till 10 at night or getting up early the next morning to do it- its her responsibility to get it done and I don't feel like I would be doing her any favors to be scheduling her to do it- I won't be there in college to say "ok honey now do your homework". She manages to get it done on her own- some nights she has play rehearsals from 4-8pm so she will take it with her and do it there while her scenes are not being rehearsed, other days she will come home sit down and knock it right out, some days she goes home with friends on their bus or friends come home on her bus and she will do it later after they are done playing. We are just not that scheduled here LOL....sometimes dinner is 4pm and sometimes its 9pm...whenever we get around to things LOL.

 

[Kathi OD]

My kids are grown now, but I was an "other" mom and also a teacher.

I always felt that the kids were in school all day and needed some down time before starting in on more schoolwork. So in our house the kids came home from school, had a snack and had free time until dinner. They could watch TV or go outside and play, or do their homework. The only rule was that it had to be done before bed, and even that changed as they got older (high school) and were involved in activities that ran late into the evening. Then they might finish in the morning before school.

I think that each family needs to figure out what works best for them and their children. Like some PPs said, it could be different for each child.

Kids and families are all different. Not everyone is going to work best w/ the same routine. Good luck finding the routine that best fits your family and children.

 

[lemondog]

My kids need a break when they get home from school. We get home around 3:20-3:30, they have a snack and decompress with some TV. It gets turned off at 4:00 and that's when they do homework.

 

[nmmom95]

My kids get home at 3:00. They will have a snack and relax a bit, but we start homework by 3:30. They are usually finished by dinner. Well, DS7 always is, DS12 will occasionally run later, especially if he has several tests to study for.
They will start 2nd and 7th grades in a few weeks.

 

[Rora]

I don't have kids but I can tell you what I did:

I had a snack, watched 30min of TV (my FAVORITE show was on right after school), and then got to my homework. I understood 100% what was expected-- the TV went off right after the show finished, and that I had to start and finish my HW before dinner (if possible). No complaints on my end.

 

[golfgal]

We tried it a bunch of different ways when the kids were little but it works best to do it right after they get home. They eat a snack while doing their homework and then they have the rest of the evening to do whatever they want. Imagine being at work all day, coming home to "decompress" for 3 hours and having to start back up again with work. I would rather just get it done while I am in the zone of work/school and so did the kids. Now that they are in high school they do their homework when they can depending on activity schedules. Because they got into good study habits early, we never have to police homework.

 

[marcyinPA]

For our family, it totally depends on the after school activities and the child.

My DS15 gets out of school at 2:20. He comes home, hangs around, usually watches Ellen (LOL), and then starts his homework around 3:30 or 4:00. It depends on his work load, but he will work on it until dinner, and then go back to it. If he has a particularly busy afternoon with other activities, he will do his homework right after school. Sometimes, he's up until 11pm doing homework, and other times, he barely has any. And sometimes the teachers give them time in class (their classes are 90 minutes long...). He's the type of kid to procrastinate, so unfortunately, I have to be more on top of him than I'd like to be. We let him dictate how he was going to do things one quarter last year and it was a DISASTER.

My DS11 has always come home from school, had a snack, and done homework immediately. However, this year he'll be in middle school, so I'm anticipating the work load to be more than it was in fifth grade. He's the type of kid though, who likes to get it done and out of the way.

 

[mtemm]

my kids are young, 3rd and 1st grade this year, but so far we've always had homework packets. during good weather I usually let them play at the playground with their friends for 20 minutes before we head home (I usually pick them up), they have a snack when they get home, then they do homework, then they are free to play. sometimes they will be ambitious and finish the packet in one day, then they just have reading the rest of the week. definitely before dinner or activities!