As the school year draws to a close, kids are champing at the bit for the carefree summer months to arrive. And while teachers and parents are also looking forward to a less pressured pace, they also often bemoan the loss of academic skills that students typically experience over the summer months. “Summer Brain Drain” isn’t inevitable, however, and the months before school starts again can be a time of growing minds in ways that are fun and can involve the whole family. Here are some perspectives and suggestions on homework and making the most of “downtime.”
Let’s look at the goal of home/summer work from the perspective of the teacher and then from the perspective of the parent/caregiver. Lastly we will consider the child.
Most homework is a concept that has been engrained in society as a necessity to ensure that the work of the day continues at home. Unfortunately, too much of the work that comes home with the children are drills and ditto sheets. Occasionally some creative learning mixes into the fray and both the parent and the child get excited, but that is rare. So we need to face the reality. Homework in whatever form will continue. Hopefully it will evolve especially with the inclusion of digital but, for the most part, let’s face it, it sucks. The teacher is expected to follow the homework edict as handed down by the administrator and the child and parent have to jump through hoops to get the work done.
The very word “homework” conjures up negative images as something thrust upon a child—an expectation to perform at home after the rigors of the school day. The child, in turn, feeds off the environment in the home and those who are working with him.
I suggest that we change the negative to a positive and by way of example not speech, we set up a positive connection beginning with the early years. Homework creates a strong work ethic, sets in place structure, repetition, and a clear path that leads to success. Homework can also be a tremendous bonding experience for the adult and child, with the adult reliving and perhaps mending his own past experiences and the child receiving much needed focused attention at the end of the day.
Yes, homework is maddening and frustrating and can create terrible anxiety which can lead to tears, fears, and possible illness, but we as parents can change all that and must make a conscious effort to do so if we want our children to develop their sense of academic self. The following are some suggestions that have worked for me:
1. Schedule/structure and continuity is a must. Give as much power to your child in the decisions surrounding his homework such as when, where, and what needs to be done. Come up with a schedule together and make sure to keep to it. My son and I agreed to 15 minutes of downtime before work. We stick to this even on days where sports interfere with our schedule. We have learned that compromise is a must and that there are consequences for our decisions.
2. MOVE MOVE MOVE!!!! I can’t stress enough, especially with boys, the importance of physicality embedded in academics. With anything that is not written, my son has the freedom to do whatever he wishes with his body. I am the one who has to make up for the lack of creativity in the work by being creative in the implementation. He runs laps while learning math mechanics, tosses a ball back and forth while memorizing vocabulary, and he cherishes the 15 minutes I try to give him of a football throw in the front yard as a reward for completing his homework. By the way, we both look forward to letting everything go, feeling the fresh air, and even this old mom gets a pretty good workout.
3. To hire a tutor or not to hire a tutor, that is the question.
When frustration is at its peak and the child and parent are both banging their heads against the wall, it’s time to consider if there may be other factors at play besides the typical childhood growing pains. I have seen too many parents, due to the easy access and abundance of tutors available, hiring someone to work with their child. It is important to weed out academic issues versus character and personality traits unique to your child. If you sense weakness in particular subjects, turn to your child’s teacher first. Get a true perspective of what is going on in class and then make your decision accordingly. I speak from experience when I say that I considered a tutor for my child after several particularly gut-wrenching nights. I conferred with the teacher and we agreed that academics were not the issue. Armed with this information, and wanting the best for my child, I thought about our personality conflicts and that perhaps someone else would be better suited to working with him. To my surprise, he dissolved in tears when I mentioned a tutor and begged me to continue working with him. Lesson learned: younger children already feel the stigma attached to “having a tutor.” My child was concerned that his needing help would signal to his friends that he was somewhere deficient; he also felt a sense of disappointment. I was “giving up” on him—ironic, when I was trying to help! I suddenly saw homework from a new perspective and was determined to create a new environment around the work.
4. Creativity: Sing, dance, rap, draw…whatever it takes to get your child excited and engaged. I am trying to strike a balance between love of learning and the responsibility of homework. I use his love of NFL football stickers as a math lesson that includes placing a valuation on the sticker, tallying how many he has, giving him a price point for earning the stickers, and letting him search eBay to determine the best “bang for his buck”!!!!
5. Rewards/Incentives: This particular positive reinforcement and reward system most likely will work on a 5-9 year old, but the concept can be modified for all age groups. Together with your scholar, select several school-related assignments to be completed during the course of vacation/ school year. Write these agreed-upon tasks on the front of several cards. On the back write a corresponding reward, either decided together with your child or throw a few fun surprises in the mix that you think your child may enjoy. Each day (the goal is at least two to three times a week) your child rummages through the pile of cards, completes the written task and receives the corresponding reward. He/she then “collects” these rewards to be used whenever. Resulting in great motivation and less arguments, this activity has equal success with household chores or behavioral/emotional and social goals. Author’s note: to ensure academic success, only select tasks in digestible increments: 15 minutes is more than enough for a young child; for an older child half an hour is reasonable.
No, homework will never be greeted with joyous shouts of rapture, but maybe if we change our perspectives we can help our children alter theirs as well.
Annette Simmons, or Ms. “K” as she is affectionately called by her students, is an early childhood consultant, academic interventionist, and Kindermusik educator. A well-seasoned veteran of the NYC Department of Education, Mrs. Simmons brings her firsthand experience to her presentations, workshops, and events. She prides herself on bringing innovation in education to neighborhood schools and centers. Her most current initiative is seeing Neural-Based programming in the classroom.
By Annette Simmons M.Ed
