8 Tips for Managing Homework

For many parents, the start of a new school year brings with it concerns about homework. If last year’s academics turned into a battle of the wills, tear-filled moments of frustration, or worries about self-esteem, you’re not alone! Even the smartest students can feel overwhelmed at the thought of sitting down to complete nightly projects, assignments, or test prep.

To help ensure you’re doing everything within your control to manage homework and lessen the pain for your child, we’ve assembled some tips. Implement these ideas to develop routines, remove challenges, and prepare your student by maximizing their learning potential. With a little guidance, your student may find that this is the best year yet!

1. Assess their cognitive skills. 

Cognitive skills—which include logic & reasoning, processing speed, memory, attention, and visual and auditory processing—are the foundational tools we use to think, read, remember, pay attention, and learn throughout life. They can be measured, targeted, and trained with personal brain training. Before you can create accommodations to help ensure that external factors affecting homework are minimized, it’s essential to first ensure that your student isn’t struggling with homework due to an underperforming cognitive skill. A Brain Skills Assessment can provide parents with insights into the strength of their student’s cognitive skills. The test only takes about an hour and the results can be illuminating! If it’s determined that one or more of the student’s brain skills is holding them back from learning at their full potential, a cognitive skills expert can recommend customized one-on-one brain training to help boost those skills. Once cognitive skills are strong, learning is faster and easier in ANY subject! 

2. Ensure their homework space is comfortable and ergonomic. 

Whether your student works at the dining room table or a desk in their room, it’s vital that their homework time isn’t being impeded by physical discomfort. If the room is too hot or too cold, the chair is uncomfortable or the desktop computer isn’t at arm’s length and at proper sightline, homework time could soon become a battle. 

3. Remove visual and auditory distractions. 

While a quiet constant background noise—such as a dishwasher or soft music—probably won’t distract from learning, the same can’t always be said for a parent watching TV, siblings playing video games, or even pets traipsing across the table. As much as possible, enlist the commitment of family members to help make homework time one of quiet, focus, and support. 

4. Create a routine.

Although changing schedules for sports, music lessons, part-time jobs, and other extracurricular activities can make scheduling homework difficult, the key is consistency. One factor in creating a homework routine may also be your child’s energy and interests. A student who loves to spend time outside may need to come home from school and play while it’s still light out, making after-dinner homework a better option. For students who get homework over the weekend, consider maintaining a weeknight routine on Fridays. Getting weekend homework done on Friday offers two advantages: the material is still fresh in your student’s mind and they’ll have the entire weekend to relax.

5. Keep them hydrated and fueled.

We know the brain needs water and fuel to work at peak performance and yet we’ve all fizzled out on energy and focus due to dehydration or hunger at some point in our lives. The same happens to children and teens if they try to do their homework on an empty tank. Prepare a high-protein, low-carb snack and provide a full water bottle to keep within arm’s reach when they’re working on mental tasks. 

6. Develop a solid sleep routine.

Developing brains need sleep to function at maximum capacity and you’ll need to not only set earlier bedtimes before school starts, but also routines that help your student unwind before bed. Warm baths or showers, reading, meditation, and calming sleep apps can help, but avoid using technology before bed, which can heighten stress and prolong the time it takes to fall asleep. 

7. Build independent organization. 

While younger kids may need some initial assistance with organization and scheduling, you can build independence by teaching the skills needed to keep them on task and on time. Wall calendars, digital reminders, colored folders, and to-do lists are a good start, but be sure to discuss prioritizing, breaking down larger projects into smaller tasks, and chunking studying into blocks in the days or weeks leading up to a test. 

8. Lean into praise and rewards.

Kids and teens build confidence through their own successes, but sometimes outside praise and rewards provide extra motivation. Not every student is going to get straight A’s, so focus on rewarding effort and student-specific successes rather than only on outcomes or peer-compared achievements. A student who struggles with math but studies hard and puts the effort into flashcards to raise their grade from a C to a B should feel very proud of their accomplishment. Praise their hard work and determination to let them know you’re proud of them for taking the initiative to learn.