What can I do to make homework less of a battle ground?

Adults hate doing work at home after spending all day in the office, so it's no real surprise that children hate doing homework after spending all day at school

However, if you want your child to get the best possible education, you need to find a way to make them do it, and do it well. There are many ways to achieve this goal, with some children responding better to some techniques than others. But in general, the four main areas to consider are as follows...

Routine
Developing a routine for your child is the key to avoiding homework problems. By setting aside a particular hour of the day for homework, it encourages you son or daughter to sit down and do their homework properly.This also prevents your child from doing her homework at the last minute, a practice which invariably produces poor work. However, it is important to agree a time that suits both you and your child. Imposing a homework period on them will simply cause a daily argument.

Help
As a parent, you should be available to help your child with her homework when she needs you to. Often, she will learn more from you in ten minutes than she would from a teacher in ten hours. You know better than anyone how your individual child's mind works. A few minutes each day helping her with homework can really help improve her knowledge. But remember, don't do the homework for her. She has to learn to do it by herself.

Quiet area
Children are easily distracted and have difficulty concentrating for any substantial length of time. They need piece and quiet to do their homework, away from television, computer games and other people.

Encouragement and support
Criticising your child's homework will usually prove counter productive. Children respond more favourably to praise for good work than criticism for bad work. If you encourage you child, and take a genuine interest in her homework, she is more likely to try her very best, and ultimately produce better work.

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