Cheri Lucas, a journalist in the San Francisco Bay Area, is a writing aide at Corte Madera Middle School in Portola Valley, California.
After a sun-drenched summer of family trips and dips in the swimming pool, students may find themselves in a slump come September. Your child may not be motivated to undertake a new weekly schedule, especially one with homework each day. So how can he make the transition into a new school year? Here’s how:
- Don’t Ditch the Fun. Making a big deal about going back to school – from shopping for supplies to buying new textbooks – implies that because summer is over, fun and freedom must come to an end. Try a different mentality: don’t make too-drastic changes in your child’s daily schedule. Allow her to continue to relax as she’s done in the summer – just limit her playtime a bit. Bottom line? You can’t – and shouldn’t – switch her abruptly into study mode simply because the seasons change.
- Say Goodbye to “Homework.” “Eliminate the word homework from your vocabulary,” suggest authors Chick Moorman and Thomas Haller, who maintain www.uncommon-parenting.com. Replace homework with the word “study,” for instance. Engage in “study time” instead of “homework time,” and work at a “study table” instead of a “homework table.” “This word change alone will go a long way towards eliminating the problem of your child saying, ‘I don’t have any homework.’ Study time is about studying, even if you don’t have any homework,” say Moorman and Haller.
- Study Outside the Box. Create a quiet, comfortable homework space in an unusual location in the house. Sitting behind a desk may feel uninspiring — what about reading in a papasan chair on the patio, or plopping down on the floor in a cozy corner with a laptop tray, which doubles as a table? If your child is forced to sit upright like a stiff board, she won’t get comfortable when doing her work.
