As we head back into another school year the dreaded homework will start all too soon, if it hasn’t already begun! We asked our parent audience for tips on how to make homework shorter and keep you and your child happy, ensuring evenings are more pleasant for everyone! This article is in association with CleverBooks, creators of STEM Augmented Reality for Education.

#1. Have a Dedicated Homework Space

This is the top tip from parents. That way when your child gets home from school, they can go straight to their workstation and get going on their homework without having to look for paper, pens, rulers and anything else they may need.

#2. Use Technology

Using technology such as the educational apps developed by CleverBooks that brings boring school subjects “to life”, can help shorten homework time as children can see, hear and touch the knowledge. Parents need to use technology strategically to benefit kids by choosing quality digital content with strong academic relevance to provide quality screen time and effective learning outside the school hours.

CleverBooks have 3D augmented apps that enable children to interact with learning in a fun educational way that helps to embed that knowledge. From maps, to science and math to reading, children can learn through a fun, engaging and discovery process.

IMAGINE IF HOMEWORK TIME felt like this and
transformed KIDS LEARNING through MIND BLOWING EXPERIENCE

Using augmented learning at home supplements the school curriculum and engages kids in learning more independently through seeing, hearing and doing.

This method of immersive learning helps kids to improve test scores by up to 33%, increases information retention rates by up to 100% and helps them acquire necessary for the 21st-century skills by having access to the cost-effective resources that top private education institutions use worldwide.

Visit www.cleverbooks.eu to find out more about their fun, educational technology.

#3. Have a Homework Routine

I know every day is different and children often have after-school activities to attend, but having a homework routine in place is one of the best ways to make the time spent on homework shorter. It cuts out arguments over when to do homework and as with any routine, once you have it started it becomes second nature for both the child and their parents.

Depending on the age of your child, agree it between you at the start of each year. For some it may be coming home from school and getting on with their homework, for others it may be a snack, half an hour of down time and then homework, just decide what works best for your situation and stick to it!

#4. Have a Homework Box

Create a homework box with spare copies, pens, pencils, craft glue etc. This will avoid the “I don’t have a pencil or ruler” excuses! Replace items as they are used during the year and this will speed up time spent looking for replacements.

#5. Avail of Study

As your child moves into 2nd level education, the school will often offer supervised study time after school. This is a great way to get homework done and finished before coming home from school. It makes homework time shorter too as children have no distractions and can always ask for help if they get stuck on a question.

#6. Take Away Distractions

If you don’t have room to create a dedicated homework space for your child, ensure that distractions are kept to a minimum. So no mobile phones, radio or TV on in the background.

And try and distract younger siblings with other activities or homework of their own! This will help your child concentrate on the job in hand and will speed up time spent on homework.

#7. Hold Back

It can be very tempting to jump in and ‘do’ your chid’s homework when you see them struggling with a particular problem. But try to hold back and only help when they ask for help.

It is a good lesson for them to get it wrong sometimes too and this also allows their teacher to see where their weaknesses lie so they can teach the children to work on those areas. Knowledge that they have to look up or work through to gain the answer will be retained better by them too rather than you offering the answer.

If your child is struggling consistently with any subject, it is best to set up a meeting with their teacher or year head and work together to deal with it.

#8. Time Limit

If you feel that your child is spending all their home time doing homework, you could try setting a time limit on it. Before doing this, check with their teacher or year head to see what they feel is an acceptable time limit for homework and work from there.

It could be that your child is spending too much time on particular areas and giving a time limit helps focus the mind. It will also set them up well for exams, when there is a time pressure. If you have talked to their teacher beforehand, it will be less of an issue if they don’t have all their homework done on a given day.

Over to you now. Have you any clever ideas to help make homework shorter? Please share them with us in the comments box below.