You’ve spent all summer entertaining the kids and now you get to send them back to school. Free babysitting and you to get your ME time back!
The start of the school year is an exciting time for kids and for parents, who are finally getting their lives back to normal. However, in all the excitement to get the kids back in school, we often forget about the extra work that lays ahead – homework! Initially you think sure, it’s just something the kids have to do. In reality think about how much time you’re going to spend nagging the kids to sit down and get their work done, or helping them with their projects. It’s amazing how much homework teachers end up giving parents.
So let’s look at some ways to make homework easier and more fun for everyone:
First let’s tackle Math: Math is not always everyone’s favorite subject, so make arithmetic fun. Try doing the problems as a game or draw the problems on your child’s back and when they figure out the answer, have them write it down on their homework.
Spelling time: What about trying a spelling bee? Or, let your kid’s get messy! Practice spelling words with finger paints. Yes, the teacher may not like a big sheet of hand painted words, but homework will get done in a flash.
Reading ABCs and then some: What child wants to sit and read all by themselves? Sit with your child, help read and animate the story. Try having the child read the story while you create the characters on their back. Draw pictures that illustrate what’s happening. Make reading fun and they’ll want to come home from school, sit down and get their reading done.
A little re-phrasing: It’s very frustrating when the kids don’t understand the question. Reading or rephrasing questions for your child can sometimes help the right answer to pop out.
Don’t do their homework . . . help! You want to avoid actually doing the work for your child, sometimes hard to do with those creative projects. However, that doesn't mean you can't roll up your sleeves and learn with your kids. It’s much easier on your stress level and time commitment if you just get into the homework with your child. Yelling, nagging and getting frustrated just prolong the drama for everyone.
Create less drama. At the end of the day, you're the one who's likely to have the best ideas for homework play with your child. Relax, have fun and get the homework done. So everyone can get to bed and start over again tomorrow!
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