Homework dilemma

My girls are in 3rd grade and very different students. They also are in different classes. Basically they have the same homework each week, though sometimes on different days, or in a slightly different form. Holly loves to read (she is on the 4th Harry Potter book since early Jan) and is very good about getting her homework done, and on time, she actually gets upset if it isn't done right.

My dilemma, report cards came home and for the most part they were fine. Holly's was interesting, since she had already exceeded most of what the report card reported on last term, but I was expecting that. Cassie on the other hand had improved in many areas, but had fallen in two, one slightly and one more drastically. What were they? Presents neat and careful work, and Completes and returns homework. The homework one is the one that her 'grade' dropped more drastically, last term she had a '4' which meant that she was consistantly completing the task, to this term '2' sometimes completing the task. This is a problem for me. I knew that in the past week, she had 'forgotten' her homework at school or was unable to find it. So I talked with the teacher who said Cassie isn't putting the homework in her folder, or is putting it somewhere other than the folder so when she gets home she doesn't have to do it.

What we are trying is a sticker chart, she gets a sticker each day that she puts her homework in her folder and in her bag in the morning, and another for putting it in the folder at school so it comes home. This is our first attempt so I'm wondering if anyone has any ideas on what else could work, how I might be able to tweak this to make it work better.

Its hard because she is really just a kid who doesn't like to do homework, or to take time to make it neat and complete, and her sister (like her mother :FIFblush: ) wants to make sure its done and done right the first time...or during revision.

 

one of mine was really bad at "forgetting" to bring his reading book home because he doesn't like reading the stories and "dropping" the english worksheets out of his folder on the classroom floor so that he wouldn't have to do them at home. he would also forget to write down assignments on purpose. we emailed his teacher and asked her to please have him do any homework that he "forgot" at school or that wasn't completed neatly & correctly (also a problem for him because he wants to hurry and get done so he can watch tv or play computer games) at recess instead of playing. he didn't believe us when we told him that was what would happen from now on. he only "forgot" to write his assignments and bring them home 2 more times because both times he had to sit out at recess and do his homework and tell his friends who kept asking why. it cured the problem for us.

 

I was going to ask about her preferences and mention what was described above. I have also heard of a teacher who makes the child sit out of recess but doesn't allow them to complete the work until they are at home - makes it harder on you, but my one son has sort of just assumed recess is like study hall since he likes to work slowly and doesn't get too upset if he misses recess. It takes a lot of diligence to see what works for each child. Does yours school have an agenda or other home/school communication tool you can use? Maybe she would like to have more control over it? Sometimes it is surprising what works...GL, since I know it can be tough, especially when they have such different styles and motivators!

 

My 3rd grader is very much this way. He is so smart but hates doing homework, loves playing with friends, and often 'forgets' homework. He is always saying (in a super whiny voice) that, "I puuuuut my work in my foooooolllllddddeer, I dooooon't knooooooow what happened to iiiiiiit" We've taken to teasing him when he says this - telling him that he must have little fairies that live in his school bag and eat his homework or throw it out while he is riding home on the bus. Really, I just want him to take responsibility for his work and make it up when he forgets. His teacher and I try to email once a week or so. She lets me know of assignments that he has missed and I make sure my son asks for the work the next day. I try to find something to withhold over the weekend as a consequence for not turning in his work. It's usually sufficient to do something like not allow him to play with a friend for an afternoon or play any video games or something like that. It's not perfect, but I think he IS becoming more responsible. I want him to understand the lesson that it is much easier to do the work a little bit at a time, as it is assigned, than to cut into your free time on the weekend making up assignments! It's a good lesson!

 

We had a little trouble with this, but found a great solution.

We have 1/2 hour of "homework time" at the same time every day. Sometimes it has to vary because of other activities... but we try very hard to keep this appointment. If they don't have actual school homework, or if they have less than 1/2 hour's worth, then I assign homework. I assign some kind of homework-like activity that might be computer based (we use an online math program), or could be a special project I assign (like a report on a topic of my choice), spelling words, etc.

This did several things for us.

1) There was no point in "forgetting" they had homework, or not bringing it home, etc. as they had to do the 1/2 hour of homework time anyway. They might as well do their actual homework and get credit for it at school instead of the other "homework" that I assign.

2) It stopped the whine about it. It became a habit and a normal part of our schedule.

3) They stopped rushing their school work because they had to do 1/2 hour anyway.

4) When they had an assignment that was not due for a while into the future (like a book report, or a homework packet that they had 7 days to complete), then they didn't procrastinate. They started working on it the first day it was assigned.

Hope this helps ~

Kat