“Mom, I need poster board for school.”
“When?”
“Tomorrow. I have a project about Abraham Lincoln due.”
Deep breath. There are laws that prohibit you from wringing your child’s neck for not telling you this sooner. The project was assigned three weeks ago and he decided to tell you the night before?! As a parent, you cannot let your child fail, so you know that tonight you will become an expert in Abraham Lincoln’s life while you work for hours with your child to create the poster board that should look like it took weeks to complete.
This is an all-too familiar scenario that can be avoided. Follow these tips to avoid the last-minute homework crunch.
1. Use the agenda book. Most schools provide a handbook complete with a daily calendar for this very purpose – for your child to write homework on its pages. However, many students do not use the agenda book and many parents never check it. Get your child in the habit of writing down homework each day. Ask to see the agenda book when your child gets home. If the pages are empty and all you hear is “I don’t have any homework,” ask your child’s teachers to initial by the subject they teach so you know there are no pending projects or homework.
2. Make contact. Calling a teacher to explain that you don’t trust your child to tell you whether he or she has work to do can be intimidating. However, as a former teacher, I sincerely appreciated when a parent told me they wanted to check up on their child. It was just good parenting. Call or email your child’s teachers and find out what work is due. Many schools and teachers have classroom Web sites where they post information regarding upcoming projects. Make it part of your daily routing to check these information sources so you can avoid the last-minute emergency.
3. Establish a routine. I was a successful student because every day when I got home I set up shop at my kitchen table and started my homework. I did all of my homework immediately upon coming home so I could have the evening to relax. My dad looked over my work and we had dinner. This was an ingrained part of my routine from elementary through to college. If your child does his or her homework in the same place and at the same time, it establishes a basic routing for you and your child. You can easily monitor what is being done and ask questions about what is happening at school. Just be sure your child has a quiet place to work for at least 30 minutes a day.
