homework

All parents want their child to be successful at doing homework. You might believe that homework is more important than all of the other skills listed in the previous Content Pages. You might want to assist your child with homework before you work on any of the other Content pages.

Before you focus your attention on homework, take a deep breath. Your first priority is to be a parent. That means that you know, love, and care for your child. Only after that can you be your child’s teacher. Successful teaching starts with all of the other Content Pages in this website. Only after that can you be truly successful at teaching your child how to do homework. This point is so important that it will be repeated here: Your child needs to have good sleeping and eating habits, know and follow a schedule, and understand and comply with rules, before your child will be successful with homework. Your child also needs to experience success at socializing, which can help them to do homework.

Your success at teaching your child homework skills will be much lower without first addressing the skills listed in all of the other Content Pages. Read the other sections on this page to understand why.

Goal

Teach your child to be successful at doing homework. This means completing homework on a consistent basis, and learning to learn independently

Objectives

Objective #1: Teach your child to gather all of the materials and information needed to do homework successfully

Objective #2: Teach your child to sustain motivation for homework and for learning, by creating a consistent place for homework, and by scheduling both the timing and the amount of time that results in the best outcome for your child

Objective #3: Teach your child to solve their own homework problems

Objective #4: Teach these skills if you and your child have mastered the skills listed above:

Teach reading, writing, and math skills
Teach academic content areas that go beyond reading, writing, and math.
Teach your child to solve their own learning problems using a variety of resources.

homework:

what additional Information do i need?

Homework is a common source of frustration for children and youth. It is also a common source of friction between parents and their children. It can become a point of contention between parents and their child’s teachers. Your first goal in reading this section should be to set your priorities straight as regards your child’s homework. Only after that should you prioritize your goals and objectives for homework. By prioritizing your goals and objectives for your child, you can avoid frictions with your child, and avoid contention with your child’s teachers.

Prioritizing your overall teaching plan

Prioritize your overall goals and objectives before your start to teach your child homework skills. Your first priority is to address your child’s well-being. This means that your relationship with your child is positive, and your child is experiencing wellness because of healthy sleeping habits, healthy eating habits, and a schedule and rules that your child can understand and follow consistently. It is much more difficult to teach homework skills if these prior Content Pages are not addressed first.

Prioritizing your plan for teaching homework skills

After you have prioritized your overall plan for your child, you can prioritize your teaching goals and objectives for homework skills.

How do I talk with my child about homework?

Stay tuned- this page is under construction!

Share your success stories! Send in suggestions for how you have spoken with your child about homework. You can write to: iepforhome@gmail.com

when do i consult with professionals?

Commonly, children who are neurodiverse or who have a disability find it hard to be successful at doing homework. They may be expending too much energy just getting through the school day. They might not have the energy needed to do homework when they get home. Here are some suggestions for you to discuss with your child’s teacher:

Does my child have the essential skills needed for doing this homework? Essential skills are skills such as reading fluency, reading comprehension, writing fluency, writing compositions, math fluency and multiple-step problems in math. These skills are typically mastered in grades 4 to 5. Many children with neurodiversity struggle with these essential skills for learning. They may need to use homework to keep on building those skills, instead of building knowledge. If your child is struggling with homework, maybe the focus of homework should be to build these essential skills for learning.
Is my child supposed to build content knowledge with this homework? If the goal of homework is to build knowledge, and not build skills that are essential for learning, then maybe the homework can be done some other way. E.g. maybe your child needs to watch videos to master content, or have books read aloud.

Whatever the homework plan, make sure your child’s teacher knows that your child is struggling. Create a homework plan that will help your child feel successful- and that provides meaningful benefit. It is not a good idea to ask your child to do homework or schoolwork every day when they cannot see themselves as successful, or when they are not able to make good progress.

Next steps

You have reached the end of the last Content Page of the IEP for Home. I hope that your journey has been informative. I also hope that you will keep coming back to the Content Pages, the Stumbling Blocks Pages, and to the Resources pages. The IEP for Home will continue to be useful to you as your child progresses through school. Whatever you and your child are not able to master now, maybe you can master next year. Keep reviewing the goals and objectives. Enhance your child’s skills. Help your child reach their potential and their fullest independence. And, send suggestions: iepforhome@gmail.com