Children and homework

Hi, I have four children, 3, 6, 13, 16. We've always had a minimum requirement of a B average for them to be able to play any sport, computer games, or just plain hang out with friends. Our local schools only require a D average to play sports which I think is just silly. Our oldest maintains a high A average, and our 13 year old maintains a 3.5 or better most of the time. We've always made it clear to our children that we go to work, and that school is their 'job'. On occasion we have also instituted an early bedtime rule when grades dipped a little too low during mid-term reports, and that certainly got their attention! Kris

Homework is the bane of my life. I'm still learning, lol, so reading this & other posts for ideas...

This is the way I did it which I found very effective in all of my children. As soon as they are home from school, I let them rest awhile. Then, I ask them what they want to eat. After having had a good meal, I ask them about what transpired in school for the whole day. If there are some assignments, I'd tell them that we'd better start on them early. And then, off we go with the assignments. I am always around and thus I coach them how to go about with the various assignments. I believe that parents' participation in school work make the children more interested in doing them.

By encouraging your kids to get good grades. Just pay them a small amount per "A" a little less for a "B" and see if that encourages them to get good grades. It makes them happy, and by the time they don't care about the money they get they will already have good study habbits. Maybe like 5$ and "A" and 2$ a "B". Then once they get to high school they will realize it's not much but they will be in the habbit.

I luckily don't have that problem with my girls...praise God. See, if they don't have their homework prepared and ready to turn in when they walk into the classroom, they have to move their clip and lose some recess time. In case you don't know what the "moving the clip" thing is, let me explain. Each class has some type of level system. My youngest daughter's class has a bulletin board in the front of the class. There is a cloud on it. Each child has a clip in the shape of a bird with their names on it. They all start each day with their clips in the clouds...which is a good thing. If they do things such as not following rules, not turning in their homework, etc. their clip is moved down to the tree on the bulletin board and they will lose 5 minutes of recess for that day. If they don't straighten their behavior up, their bird is moved onto the ground. My kids are a lot like me when I was in school. I didn't want to get into trouble...so I always did well in school. Sorry I rambled.

I find it really amazing how many kids have homework in elementary school even. When I was in grade school, I NEVER had homework, but my friends did all the time. I didn't have homework (other than projects) until high school. I always thought my friends were just slackers...turns out I was a bit of a keener! My son isn't in school yet, but I have a step-daughter and a niece who are. The best ways I've seen to get them to do their homework are to make learning fun, do it together - or at least sit together, do a crossword or something with them, be supportive and patient, and have homework done before the fun of the evening begins. Once they get too tired then it's harder, and taking them away from fun to do homework upsets them, it's better to give them something to look forward to.