Homework, when do they do it?

**YankeeMom** · 12-16-2010, 03:57 PM

Do you make your children do their homework right when they get home or let it wait?

I ask because as soon as my niece & nephew get home, SIL has them at the table doing their homework.

My nephew (the one I have custody of) goes to public school and I let him wait until after dinner to do his homework. I just feel he spends 7hrs at school doing school work he needs some downtime when he gets home.

How about yours?

**Momto5RN** · 12-16-2010, 04:12 PM

well until they hit about 6th grade when i let them decide on their own and they do their homework on their own ( and learn repercussions for their decisions) its after school.

they come home - get changed if they want to and have a snack and do homework . no TVS etc on until its done

after dinner the last thing i want to be doing is worrying about school work . By that time of night i neeed to relax a bit and in cool weather i am not feeling too hot with my fibro .

i think for my kids, it feels like school has attached itself to the whole day if they still do school stuff after dinner .
This way the rest of the day is theirs .

its easier organizing wise too because i dont have homework all over the dining room table until 8pm . they put it away as soon as its done.

anything that is done after dinner is quizzing the youngest for a test, which i usually have dh do when he gets home from work so he has some involvement in their homework.

i started it this way with the oldest and the rest just followed thru and most times even in high school, they still do it that way . The girls have tried it the other way found they didnt like it and went back .

i know alot of kids, once they are out of that school mode cant get back in so they end up dragging out homeowrk for hours until bedtime and it ends in tears because they are tired .

my kids usually get thru their homework within 45 min or less and then the rest of the day / night is theirs.

exceptions for having dr appts- birthday parties - if its a warm winter day and not alot of daylight hours left i will tell them to go out and play and then come inside. but sometimes they still want to do it first .

i dont t hink theres a right or wrong - just what works best for your family .

**TigerGirl1226** · 12-16-2010, 04:30 PM

My DD is too young for homework, but my mom always made me do mine right after school. I could have a snack and drink, but get right to business. I always had a ton of homework so if I waited, I would have been up too late working on my stuff.

**Nana2two** · 12-16-2010, 04:45 PM

When DD gets home, if i wait she will put it off and forget about doing it. She is 15.I told her if she did right after school then she would be free the rest of the evening. Now my daughter has my grandson 1st grade as him do it after dinner.

**PaulaMM** · 12-16-2010, 04:59 PM

I also have my kiddos do theirs right after they get home. In my mind, if they get it done and over with, they can have the rest of the day play.

**imagine** · 12-16-2010, 05:10 PM

Generally, right after they get home and have a snack.

If they haven't finished it by dinner then they put it away for dinner and pick it back up after dinner.

I'm getting really good a quizzing for spelling test and other tests while I make dinner.

What we have a hard time finding time for is the 20 mins of music practice 4 days a week that Little Miss is required by her teacher. Some weeks she saves it up and has a marathon practice day.

Like today she doesn't get out of school until 5:30 because of an extra curricular activity she is in a school.

**Jamielane** · 12-16-2010, 07:08 PM

Mine do it right away because if we put it off we would be up until midnight doing it. It takes hours some nights. Its really out of hand in my opinion. My 6th grader is still doing math work and she has been home since 3:10. My 10th grader just brought home a science marking period review due when they go back to school after new years thats 200 questions plus diagrams. Its insane.

**2ndGenGranola** · 12-16-2010, 07:10 PM

Originally Posted by imagine

What we have a hard time finding time for is the 20 mins of music practice 4 days a week that Little Miss is required by her teacher. Some weeks she saves it up and has a marathon practice day.

I tell my students to divide it up. A 20 minute requirement could be 5 minutes in the morning, 5 minutes immediately after school and the remainder after homework. It could also be 10 in the morning and 10 after homework.

**lottaLove** · 12-16-2010, 07:50 PM

DS does his right after he finishes his after school snack. He's busy doing HW while I'm busy making dinner.

**AmyBoz** · 12-16-2010, 08:22 PM

I have my kids do it as soon as they get home, and I recommend to the parents of my students that they do the same. Most homework is based on what was done that day in school, and right when the get home, it is the most fresh in their minds. I find that if they wait, they might forget something that was taught or they have a hard time getting back in the swing of "school."

I also like for them to be over and done with it so that they can unwind before bed. It stinks to be facing bedtime with school work still to do.

**Palooka** · 12-16-2010, 08:40 PM

My kids are so far apart in age, it's different and depends on the day and what it is. My DD has been taking hers to work most nights. As long as it's done way before bedtime, that's fine.

I figure they have been in school for hours so when the days are shorter they can go outside and hang with friends to unwind a bit before it gets dark and there is plenty of evening left to finish it.

**TheresaRHPS** · 12-16-2010, 10:02 PM

My nephew is in the seventh grade. He knows that bedtime is at 10pm...no exceptions. We usually have dinner when I get home from work, around 6-6:30. Most nights, he waits until I get home and before dinner is actually ready...or he waits until after dinner.

He hardly ever has homework except for his advanced math daily requirement, which I help him with. If he doesn't need help, or there's a television show/movie he really wants to watch later in the evening, he'll do his homework a little earlier.

**Sara Noel** · 12-16-2010, 10:33 PM

Ideally my kids would do it right when they get home from school, but they have activities directly after school. They do their homework after dinner. They don't get home from school until after 4pm. They don't start until 8:48am and are out at 3:43pm.

**Neeley** · 12-17-2010, 12:03 AM

Heather (YankeeMom),

I am a lot like you. I like for the kids to come home, relax, unwind, play, etc...They spend enough time in school and I wanted them to have some time to just be a kid.

**nadine64** · 12-17-2010, 01:02 AM

My kids do their homework after a brief (30 minute break) after school. At least with my kids I found that if I let too much time pass, they REALLY don't want to do their homework. So I have to them do it after a snack, checking e-mails, while their brains are still in school mode.