Our System to Get Homework Done

Having trouble getting Homework done at your house?

Here is a way we found to motivate my daughter to focus and get her homework done.

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We now have our first few weeks of school behind us and we are getting the hang of our new schedule. No more lazy weekday mornings to linger over breakfast or hours to play outside in the afternoon. With school and sports, our schedules are pretty full. As we lean into new routines and expectations for the school year, we are discovering how to make the most of our time afterschool.

Up until this year, my daughter has not had much homework. As she has more homework expectations this year, I want her to start good habits and stay motivated to get her expected tasks done. The first two weeks of school, I noticed very quickly that she was getting into the habit of asking to watch a show or play with an IPad as soon as she walked in the door. I knew we needed to shift this before that became her habit.

Establishing a Productive Homework Habit

Since I wanted to establish a new habit, I wanted to make sure that I had everything in place for it to be successful and enjoyable for her. I first thought about what would motivate her. I think seeing progress toward a goal is always helpful and holds you accountable. I decided to create a simple sticker chart to track her progress on her homework and a few other things I felt she needed to do. Sticker charts are successful for so many other things, I thought I would give it a shot for homework.

Materials

I headed to my local Lakeshore Learning store to stock up on materials. Lakeshore Learning is a store I relied on often as a teacher. They have great quality products that are educational and fun. I selected book bins for them to store their folders and materials in so they can easily see what they have in their bins. You can see the purple, green, and blue bins on their table in the picture below. I also discovered that two of these bins fit perfectly between their car seats and can hold books, their Boogie Boards (for writing and drawing), and some snacks (shown in the picture below).

If you don’t have a Lakeshore Learning near you, I encourage you to check out local teacher stores, local toy stores, or even places like Target for educational games and materials. We also have a Container Store where we have found great organization bins to contain their materials. Here are some options for bins and caddies.

For sticker charts, these are super simple to make too. Above is one I made simply using Microsoft Word.

In order to set up my daughter’s homework system, I purchased a pad of charts, small stickers (in colors and patterns she likes) and a bin to keep it organized. My son, while only 3, loves to be like his big sister so I purchased a bin for him to use too.

On one of our back to school shopping trips to Target, my daughter selected these whimsical folders. She hadn’t needed them for school but she was so excited about them that I knew they would be perfect for this. We used one folder to keep her charts so she could look back at what she accomplished. I love that she added the labels “finished” and “still working” to the pockets.

Earning Her Stickers

Each day she is expected to do:

* her school assigned homework (which takes her 5 minutes to complete right now),

* 5-15 minutes of word work with me

This may include flashcards of the high frequency words she is working on, high frequency word games, a making words activity, or other word work practice.

I recognize that my daughter needs practice with handwriting so I found a site where I can enter in her spelling words for the week and a sheet is generated that supports handwriting practice. This can be considered part of her word work time and it helps her practice her spelling words. As the other part of her word work, we are loving playing tic-tac-toe with her spelling words. This typically occurs with bath crayons as she takes her bath before bed. I call out the words and she writes them in the squares and then we play. As she writes, I ask her to spell the words out loud. She is also expected to read the word aloud when she crosses it out or circles it during the game. (This is adapted from one of the games shared in my Word Game Guide. You can grab yours by signing up below).

* Read a book (I try my best to sit side-by-side with her so that I can hear how she is reading since she is still an early reader)

* Listen to me or another adult read. For more information about the benefits of reading aloud, check out this post: Why Reading Aloud is Good for Your Child

When I first presented her with the chart, she asked why there were empty spaces. I told her if she really wanted to fill them, she could read another book, listen to another book, write in her journal, write a story, or do more word games to earn another sticker. She liked that idea so we included “extra” boxes.

At the end of each week, if she has filled in most of her stickers, she receives a reward (at our house that is always a book she is excited to read). Currently, her reward is the next book in the Owl Diaries Series by Rebecca Elliot. She is loving these books so much that she is even more motivated to earn her stickers.

This homework system is working really well for us right now. We will continue to see how it goes and make adjustments, as needed.

I love that we have found something to motivate my daughter to get her homework done without me having to nag her. I also love that we have found something that will hold us all accountable for making reading and writing a priority.

There are many other parents who have some fantastic homework organization systems. If you want to learn more about what works for them and get some great tips, check out these posts:

Mommyevolution’s 4 Tips to Stop Homework Power Struggles:

https://mommyevolution.com/4-tips-to-stop-homework-power-struggles/

Simple As That’s 5 Tips for Stress Free Homework Time:

https://simpleasthatblog.com/5-simple-tips-stress-free-homework-time/

Cult of Pedagogy’s Reading Homework Tips:

https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/reading-homework-tips-for-parents/

What have you found to be a great motivator or reward for your child accomplishing their goals? Please let us know in the comments. It is always great to hear ideas from other parents.

If you want more ideas about the word work activities and sequence we are using, let me know in the comments or send me an email at erin@literacydoc.com

Thanks!!