What Parents Can Do When a Child Gets Too Much Homework

Homework is a part of every kid’s life. And indirectly, it becomes a part of every parent’s routine too.

However, sometimes, kids end up spending hours and hours completing their homework. And this is not good.

Either your kid is spending way too much time on simple homework. Or the school is giving too much homework to your kid. Whatever the case, this blog will help.

What is homework?

Homework is the school work that the kid needs to complete at home. The basic purpose of homework is to help kids practice what they’ve learned.

What is the right amount of homework?

There’s a 10-minute rule by the National Education Association. According to this rule, every kid should get only 10 minutes of homework per night per grade.

For example, if a kid is in grade one, he should, on average, get 10 minutes of homework. And if the kid is in grade two, the homework time increases to 20 minutes and so on.

However, there is no obligation for any school to follow this guideline. So, you may find your kid’s school giving more homework as per their standards.

But if you consider the 10-minute rule, your 3rd grader kid must spend only 30 minutes on homework. And if your kid’s spending more time, there could be two reasons:

• Your kid is spending longer than required to complete the homework.
• The school is assigning too much homework.

We’ll discuss both these cases in detail.

Your kid is spending longer than required to complete the homework

If your kid is watching TV, texting friends while doing homework, time management is the issue. In this case, you need to sit with your kid and help them focus more.

How can you do that? Well, follow the below suggestions:

1. Your kids must have their separate homework corner

Lack of focus can be because of a lot of reasons. And the most common reason is “distraction.”

If there are too many distractions, even adults can’t focus, let alone kids. So, assign a peaceful, resourceful, comfortable, and distraction-free corner to your kid. And make sure that you can monitor it at all times.

2. Create a homework routine

Sometimes kids put off large assignments for the day before submission. And instead of spending 10-20 minutes each day, they spend hours to complete the task before the submission date. This is what’s known as procrastination.

However, you can prevent this from happening by creating a daily homework schedule. This way, your kid will have to spend a few minutes each day on a task which means less burden.

3. Help your Kid

Sometimes, the kids aren’t clear with the basics. Or the assignments could be new for the kids, which might be leading to them spending more time.

In such a situation, you can go through the kid’s assignments first. And then you can explain the same to your kid. You can also direct your kid to discuss the issues with the teacher the next day.

This way, the time spent on completing the homework will eventually reduce.

The school is assigning too much homework

As said earlier, the right time for a 2nd grader as per the 10-minute rule is 20 minutes. So, if you see your kid struggling to complete the homework for hours, it means the homework is too much.

Here’s what you can do:

1. Help your Kids Manage the Task

When a kid advances to the next class, the homework increases. Sometimes, the teachers might assign multiple assignments. And this can overburden your kid.

However, it’s important for your kid to embrace this transition. And you can help them by breaking the kid’s assignment into smaller parts.

2. Talk to the Teacher

Some schools have significantly increased the workload for kids. Every teacher gives different assignments which overburden your kid.

And this is when you need to intervene. You’ll have to communicate with the teacher and talk to them personally.

However, don’t just call your kid’s teacher right away. This can show you and your kid in a bad light.

So, find the right way to connect with the teacher. Although most teachers prefer face-to-face chat, some also go for email or phone calls.

Once you find the appropriate way to talk, try to be polite. Talk about how your kid is struggling to complete the assignments instead of how teachers are doing wrong by assigning more homework.

Most probably, the teacher will take feedback from other parents too. And if the teacher is satisfied, the kid’s assignment will eventually get reduced.

However, never be critical of the teacher while addressing the issue. It’s because doing this might offend the teacher. And this is something you would not want to happen.

3. Don’t Force your Kid to Tuition Classes

These days it’s a trend to send kids to tuition classes. It’s either because parents don’t have the time, or the kids need professional help in studying.

Although tuition classes help, they kind of overburden the kid. It’s because tuition teachers also give homework to kids. So, school homework plus tuition homework equals an overburdened child.

And this not only increases the burden, but the kid ends up spending the entire day doing academic tasks. So, please avoid tuition classes unless completely necessary.

If you want to send your kid for tuition, ask the tuition teacher to let the kids first complete the school work. This way, managing everything will be easy.

Wrapping Up

Too much homework is a serious issue that needs your attention. However, with the help of this blog, you can easily solve this issue.

You need first to understand the reason why your kid spends too much time doing homework. Once you do, you can take the required steps. And you’re done.