I thought I had one that will work but it didn't due to distractions

[Mom2Brendan]

Home at 2:30

Homework 3:30

Distraction Friend and her little brother wanting to coming over 10 minutes into homework

4:00 break

4:30 time to get back to homework

The other friend showed up at 4:33 and Brendan spent time talking to him til 5pm not liststening to anything I was saying just jabbing away so dinner showed up.

So after dinner he didn't even touch anymore of his homework and he was starting too at 3:30 til the first friend interupted him and then he never really touched any other homework.

It's disappointing as he was getting a good start and it was like if he's a mover easy to bore I wanted him to get breaks in between homework.

Only three rows of cursive words with two rows messed up.

I don't get it he was actually starting to do it Three rows of doing something was an improvement than do nothing and then nothing got created after first distraction.

[mary934]

Education is a process , things take time. We could cps the problem of distractions -  possible solutions 

doing homework with friends , being proactive in having friends over or going to them in our daily schedule 

[transylvania_mom]

How old is your little guy? He looks very young. Does he have to do homework every day?

[BellinghamCrunchie]

It takes a while until the neighborhood kids get used to the schedule and know not to come over until after homework time. Its better to answer the door and tell them yourself. It might take a week or two. 

[Mom2Brendan]

Eight years old homework M-Th . Schoolwork that's not finished is usually given Fri to finish over weekend

[mary934]

Another option is to educate teachers and schools about the negative effects of homework - see Alfie Kohn's - the homework myth 

some parents focus on preparing kids for  tests and do the kids homework and that reminds me of -  teacher - david , did your mother help you with homework  David - No , she did it all herself 

[transylvania_mom]

It might not be what you are looking for, but I would find ways to limit homework. I limit my ds's homework to 3 nights a week, 30 minutes each time. No homework on week-ends and vacations.

After 7+ hours at school or on the school bus, they need some time away from everything, just to enjoy playing and being kids.

I always communicate with the school and give the teachers a heads up that ds might not finish his homework. I wouldn't be too happy if, after a day of work, I had to bring work home every night and on week-ends, so I don't see why my ds should.

If he doesn't do his homework to your liking, let him take responsibility for it. His teacher might do a better job in showing him what he did wrong, or it might not make a difference anyways (sometimes the teacher doesn't correct all the kids' homework). 

Homework is a battle that I would try to avoid; it might make your ds hate it, or hate school.
 

[marsupial-mom]

I'm against homework but if my kid has it he has to do it.

I agree about you answering the door. Don't allow interruptions from friends.

Breaks are good but you only need ten minutes break for each hour. Maybe a little playtime after school before homework starts.

A schedule is good too, like weekend homework waits til Saturday morning so he has Friday afternoons/evenings free or something like that.

[mamazee]

Around here, dad or I answer the door until homework is done. We don't get distracted. We just say, "She is doing her homework but I'll have her come over when she's done."

[One_Girl]

If this is all homework only because it wasn't completed in class I would be strict about nothing being done before homework is done. My dd would do a few questions then shove her work in a random folder and rarely turned work in while attending a charter school. When she transferred back to public school there was weekly accountability and this is what I did to help her get over her bad work habit. It took less than a month to erase the two years of bad habits and her grades have been significantly better.
Edited by One_Girl - 1/31/13 at 8:13pm