Have you ever really thought about why teachers assign homework? I know kids think of it as so much busy work, designed to make their lives more difficult, but we know that’s not true.
The purpose of homework is twofold: to review the day’s lessons and increase understanding and to prepare for the following days lesson.
A reading assignment, for instance, is designed to sort of put down that first layer of understanding on what may be a new topic. Doing the reading makes you more prepared for the following day’s class.
The following night, the assignment might be to answer some questions at the end of the chapter or to do a worksheet. At this point, the homework serves to push that new knowledge deeper into the brain and to measure how well the student understands the material.
As parents of kids with ADHD, we know that homework can be a nightmare for everyone involved. Sometimes assignments that should take one hour take three, and we find that we don’t have enough time in the evening to get it all done.
To me, it makes no sense to wage this battle night after night, working until everyone is frustrated and exhausted. How much good is being done here?
As parents we have the power to say “enough”.
Teachers do not rule our lives. They are on our side. In fact, there are no sides here. Everyone is working towards the same goal: to educate our children.
What I’m saying is this: remember the purpose of homework – to increase and measure understanding.
If your child can skim through a chapter, stopping to study pictures and charts, to read headings and definitions, and if they can then reasonably answer questions about the chapter’s content, then they have accomplished what was intended – whether or not they actually read the chapter.
If, after 15 math problems, it is clear that your child understands the material, why make them spend the extra time to complete 15 more when they could be working on something else?
And the reverse is true: if, after trying for 30 or 40 minutes, your child is still not grasping how to do the math, another two hours spent on it is not likely to bring success, either. Stop. Take a break. Come back to it for a few minutes to see if it has helped. If not, a talk with the teacher and perhaps hiring a tutor are in order.
Remember: homework is ultimately about grades, but it is first and foremost about understanding and comprehension.
Keeping those ideas in mind may help to eliminate the homework wars around your house.
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