Homework Time - Years 0 - 2

My son is in year two.  At his first day of school he came home with a reading book, and thus homework was born in our house!  It was a bit of a shock at first, and in hindsight, I took it all a bit too seriously.  However Homework is here to stay, whether I am really convinced about it or not (see the end of this post).  So how to approach it?  Here is what I have learned via trial and error, applicable to years 0, 1, 2, as that is all I have experience with.

1.  Skew the homework toward the start of the week. Energy levels (his and mine) flag as the week goes on, so we try and get the bulk of the homework done early in the week, leaving minimal or no homework for Thursday and Fridays.

2.  Be organised.  The homework 'equipment' is kept in one spot and kept together so that homework time is not spent hunting for the pencil etc.  For practicing writing and number knowledge we have an exercise book kept at home and dedicated to homework.

3.  Start with the least favoured activity.  This is usually numbers for us.  We start in a way that is easy so as to build confidence and a sense of mastery.

4.  Mix it up.  Some ideas:
Sunny day?  Why not get out the chalk and practice the Alphabet on the fence or driveway!
Bounce, skip, march or dance as the facts are learned.  I am no expert on Kinaesthetic learning, except to know that it works.
Use games, educational puzzles etc.
Make a jig-saw puzzle with number facts, timestables etc.
Be on the look out for good resources - articles, games, etc whereever you go.  Toy Libraries and Scholastic catalogues are useful in this regard.
Play shop to practice numeracy.

5.  Engage Technology
Prior to my son starting school, we avoided technology for our kids as we figured they would spend enough of their lives in front of computers.  We soon figured out it was time to enter that world.  An old Mac computer has lots of free educational games on it (CBS Kids is good).  And then there is the iPad.  Well hello happy homework time!!!!!!  Here are some of my favourite iPad educational apps for this age group, in order of usefulness and popularity.

•  Spellosaurus.  You type in the weeks spelling words, and away they go.  The app helps them learn them, and tests them on them.  After two sessions they are usually 'stuck' in his brain.  Awesome.
• WordBingo and MathBingo.  He enjoys both of these.  There is a Junior Bingo too that Miss Three likes.
• Pirate Jack.  An incentive to get homework done, and a bit of fun, with a bit of education thrown in.
•  Hungry Fish - fun way to learn addition, subtraction etc.
• Motion Math - handy timeline.

6.  Educational Activity Books.  These are a useful alternative to technology and another way to mix things up.

7.  Know when to give up.  A teacher friend once told me that, at this age, homework is mostly a chance for your child to show you what they can do (especially reading).  I have mixed feelings about that, as many children NEED to be reading with an adult at home in order to make progress at school.  However overall I believe it is about having a culture of learning at home, tuning into your child and acknowledging that some days they have given their all at school and need downtime at home.

Personally I'd like to see more of the challenge based homework assigned in some schools.  Some weeks or days, it is best to throw in the towel on homework and do our own challenges instead.  Some baking (numercy and literacy), some gardening (maths), some inventing (creativity, literacy), etc.

Do you see the value in homework?  Here is an interesting segment from Radio New Zealand National:

"Two Australian academics have reviewed all international research on homework and have found that for primary school children, it has little or no academic value.

From Morning Report on 25 Oct 2012"

http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2536504/is-homework-good-for-you

More Time for Cuddles in the Morning

Getting my kids out the door in the morning is like herding cats. There tend to be dramas about what daughter wants to wear, and son seems magnetically attached to his bed. I thought that only applied to teenagers, but he is six!  Of course there are some mornings when he rockets out of bed, either because he has a creative project or just because it is the weekend. He loves school, but he just has so much going on in his head that the tasks and timing requires to get there on time are not a priority. And it takes them both about an hour to eat breakfast!

So what to do to avoid yelling, threatening and still being late?  I found that starting the day slow, with cuddles and a chat seems to lubricate the rest of the morning. That luxury requires organisation ahead of time. Here are some ideas:

1.  Make lunches in advance. 
We need seven lunches a week, two days of pre-school for daughter, and five days school for son. In my mind it is as easy to set up a mini production line and make seven as to make just one or two. Thanks to a Tupperware addiction I have enough of their sandwich keeper boxes for seven sandwiches. There are cheaper alternatives, just a matter of preference really. So I whip up seven sandwiches, pop each into its own box, and into the freezer they go. Thus on school mornings, I just pull one out, add some morning tea, and lunch is done.

2. Put the washing on timer

If you like to get your washing dry outside (and why wouldn't you), then hanging it out in the morning is key when you live in a not so warm climate. So I your washing machine has a timer, use it. Put the wash and the rest in the night before, set and forget. That is one less job to remember in the morning.

And of course all the usual suggestions you already know.... Especially the one about getting to bed earlier!

Give it a shot and let me know your suggestions for other tips.