WASHINGTON — Any parent familiar with nightly homework knows that where homework gets done can become just a much of an issue as when it gets done.
The best place for homework depends on the child. Some kids love the hum of a busy area such as the kitchen table. These are the kids who will probably love to set up their laptop at Starbucks when they’re older. But some need a quieter place — maybe the dining room or the home office.
And they may need more than one place. Some kids are more attentive when they can switch locations from day to day. If this is the case, your child can stock up a shower caddy or a shoe box with the supplies they’ll need for homework so that it can be portable. And remember — your child has been sitting at a desk for many hours, so it could be that the sofa or even the floor may be more productive.
There are lots of places to do homework, but for as long as possible, I would avoid the bedroom, especially if your child is easily distracted. By nature, the bedroom is inherently more distracting.
Supplies
We often think of things such as pens, a calculator and a ruler as crucial homework supplies, but I think one of the best things kids can have is a timer.
Timers are excellent tools for students to get started. By setting the timer for only 10 minutes and sitting down and getting to work for this short amount of time, kids often realize that the task isn’t so overwhelming after all. They find that once they start, they can keep on going. My favorite is called the TimeTimer; it has a red disappearing disc to show elapsed time.
A good study space also has an analog clock to help kids develop their time management abilities. Digital clocks do a great job of one thing — telling time. But good old-fashioned analog clocks help understand three things — how long they’ve been working, what time it is, and how much longer they have — the past, present and future.
Limiting distractions
Distraction is the most common obstacle parents face, especially these days, when most homework is done online. I often hear from parents that their kids don’t have that much homework, but they take forever because they’re not focused. I call these kids ‘Super Bowl’ kids.
The Super Bowl is on for four hours, but they only play the game for an hour. Some kids have an hour of homework, but drag it on for far longer and then stay up too late trying to get it done.
If that’s happened in your house in the past, it’s perfectly fine to have a “stop time” in your household this school year — a cutoff time for when everyone stops homework, gets offline and goes to bed. This alone can reduce procrastination, because kids are forced to take responsibility of getting started earlier.
Ann Dolin is the president of Educational Connections Tutoring.
