How to Instill Good Homework Habits

March 26, 2010, By Craig J. Heimbuch 1 comment

Craig J. Heimbuch

Whether your child is learning hard or hardly learning, encouraging good homework habits is essential in preparing your child for future scholastic success. Follow these tips below to help instill a love of learning in your kids.

Know Your Child’s Learning Style

Is your child an auditory, visual or interactive learner? Recognizing if your child learns better by hearing, seeing or doing, respectively, will help in determining the most effective way of studying with your child.

If your child is an auditory learner, verbal methods of studying—such as spelling out loud or oral quizzing—will play up their strengths.

If your child is a visual learner, have them write out responses and use graphics when studying.

If your child is an interactive learner, try hands-on activities like games to encourage learning.

Have a Space and Time for Homework

Designate a space in your home to be a Special Study Spot. Whether it’s a desk, a sofa or a cleared off kitchen table, having a space that promotes learning is key.

Setting aside a specific time for homework will get your child into a studying schedule.

Eliminate distractions such as television and games until after homework is completed. This will prevent getting sidetracked.

Set an Example

If you consider homework to be busy work, so will your child. Be encouraging and enthusiastic when it comes to homework time. Showing you care about their homework will show your child you’re as much invested in their scholastic success as they are.

Make sure you’re available for questions or help during homework time, but don’t force help upon them. Offer help only when your child asks for it. This will encourage them to do the learning on their own instead of depending on you to do it for them.

Make Homework Time Fun

All homework and no play can make your child dislike schoolwork. Making learning fun can be as easy as coming up with funny sentences, acronyms or songs to make things easier to remember. (For example, "Never eat soggy waffles" for remembering the directions of a compass.) Choose ways or words that will be easy for your child to remember.

For Reading, have your child retell the story to you orally or in writing. This will help them recall the story and will test their comprehension of the story. Allow them to use pictures or give them time to draw out scenes from the story to make it more fun.

For Math, have a quiz game to help learn addition, subtraction, multiplication or subtraction.

Try turning studying into a game that your kid can play and make learning more enjoyable by using flashcards or playing a game of specialized bingo using our Bingo board template. 

Specialized Bingo

What to do:

1. After printing out our Bingo board template, have your child fill their bingo board with vocabulary words, science terms, history dates, etc.
2. Create cards with the answers for the "caller."
3. If your bingo board has the match to the caller’s answer, cover up the square until someone calls Bingo.

Tip: Have your child switch and be the caller as another way to play the game.

Put a new spin on learning by creating a matching game ideal for learning new words and their meanings. All you need is a stack of 3x5 note cards, a pen or pencil and something to learn. Having your child create the game—writing down the word and definition—will be a part of the learning process.

Vocabulary Matching Note Cards

What to do:

1. Cut the note cards in half.
2. On one half of the note card, write the term on one side and then a number on the other.
3. On another note card, write the definition of that term on one side and the same number on the other side.
4. Repeat this step until all the terms and their definitions are on note cards.
5. Separate the terms into one pile and the definitions into one pile.
6. Lay out all the note cards with the wording on top and have your child match up the term with the definition.
7. After a term and a definition are chosen, flip over the card to see if the numbers match up. If the numbers are the same, the match made was correct.

Tip: Use this game for all subjects. Instead of terms and definitions, write down history dates and the event on the two halves of the note card.

Tip: If your child is a visual learner, add pictures to the note cards when possible.

Reward Success

Whether it’s hanging up an assignment on the fridge or a special recognition at home, make sure your child’s academic success doesn’t go unnoticed.

Use a simple reward system, like stickers or certificates, to congratulate your child’s stellar performance. Set a goal for bigger rewards. (For example, if your child gets ten stars, they get a bonus reward.)

Create a chart to monitor your child’s progress and hang it up around the house so everyone can see how well they are doing. For the games mentioned above, use the chart to show how many words they correctly matched each game. Seeing more matches will encourage your child to continue learning.

Tip: Make your rewards education-related, like a new set of flashcards or specialized school supplies.

Instilling good homework habits at a young age is crucial, but it’s never too late to help your child become a star at school. These tips will either help light the fire or help them shine even brighter.

Craig Heimbuch is the Editor-in-Chief of ManoftheHouse.com and the author of "Chasing Oliver Hazard Perry." He is a Barefoot Proximity employee.