I am not a teacher, but an awakener.
Robert Frost
Both parents and children often view homework as a chore, with many learners feeling that they do enough work at school and do not need to be sent home with more.
So, what do you do when you feel that you have too much homework?
Read on! We’ve put together some tips for you to manage your workload and your time.
How Much Homework is too Much?
Your child may come home and say that they been assigned too much homework and you might not believe them. A teenager, as opposed to a nine-year-old, will be in a better position to figure out, more or less, how long it takes to complete homework and find the fastest way to finish homework.
No doubt, the amount of homework you receive, on average, will be dependent on your age and level.
So, how much homework per grade could your child expect?
Grades R and 1: homework will not likely be more than 20 minutes per day.
Grades 2 and 3: not more than 30 minutes.
Grades 4 and 5: a maximum of around 45 minutes a day.
Grades 6 and 7: homework shouldn’t exceed an hour daily (and shouldn’t be given every day).
Grade 8: an hour (also not every day).
Grade 9 and 10: homework on some evenings of around 90 minutes.
By grade 11 and 12, and college: at this level, learners could face between 90 minutes and 2 hours of homework, but not every day.
Besides the demands of university, school-assigned homework that falls outside of these figures, could be regarded as too much homework. This may be true, but, then one also has to consider whether there is a more effective way to complete it. There are several ways to cope with the workload.
Be Pro-Active
Don’t wait for your teacher inform you that there will be an exam or a test. One of the best ways to stay ahead of the ‘game’ is to revise your lessons daily. This will help to memorise what you have been taught better.
Preparing study notes after each lesson, will have the benefit of the information being fresh in your mind and may help you to clarify any misconceptions that you may have.
Here are some more tips to help motivate your child to do their homework.
Use the Weekend to Plan for the Week Ahead
One thing you can be sure of, as a student, is that there will be homework during the school week and, maybe even, over the weekend. Plan to do your homework on time.
This will only put additional pressure on you. Get ahead of the game with planning, discipline and a bit of help from family and friends.
If they know your routine, they will plan their interaction with at a time when you take a break.
Make sure that you make good use of the time that is available to you. For instance, everyone tends to want to relax, come Friday afternoon. However, that is a great opportunity for you to get some, or all, of your homework done, instead of taking a first look at it on Sunday evening. That’s when you should simply be checking that you have everything you need for the start of the school-week.
If you start on Friday, you can complete any little bits on Saturday morning and then the rest of the weekend is free for you to relax and enjoy. This will also see you starting your school-week in a relaxed, confident frame of mind.
Homework too Much? Play Catch Up
If a child feels that he or she has too much homework, it may be that they are spending too much time getting started on it or thinking about it. This may be because he or she does not actually understand the subject matter.
Every child is different and may is very rare for a child not to encounter some or other difficulty with subject content. If a learner does not have a solid understanding of Maths, by grade 10, it may be too late for them catch up. Also, as the amount and complexity of the work picks up, they may fall behind even further.
A good idea may be for them to start working with a private tutor, during school holidays, so that they can target problem areas, without experiencing the pressure of new classwork. In this way, they may be able to doing a fair amount of catching up, before the new term commences.
Make Contact With the Teacher
If you find that you’re working long hours to help your child with homework and get the feeling that too much is being assigned, make contact with the teacher.
Of course, first find out how much homework is the norm or average per grade. While homework is important, if it’s becoming a source of frustration, impacting on your child’s self-confidence or resulting in them falling behind in particular subjects, you have to raise the issue with the teacher.
If, for example, you have spent 30 minutes studying Science vocabulary, but nothing seems to be going in, your homework load may be too much. A number of studies have proven that, while homework benefits learners, at some point, the advantages become negligible.
You could, then, provide your child with a note for the teacher, explaining that all efforts came to nought. The teacher would then know that the child did actually attempt the homework and that the child is not just taking an easy way out.
Do, seriously, consider getting a private tutor to assist with homework. In some cases, it helps to get a fresh perspective or approach, especially when the person drawn in is an expert at assisting kids with homework.
Also, it is imperative for you to advise the teacher if your child is encountering any learning disability. A full day at school will be extremely tiring to such a learner. In a case like this, less assigned homework may help the child to learn more, because he or she has to contend with less. Your interaction with the teacher would be a major step towards helping your child to cope and do better at school.
Is the Problem the Approach?
Sometimes learners may feel overwhelmed because of the way they approaching a particular task.
For example, if you are instructing your child to copy down words and, after numerous attempts, they are still not successful at spelling them, it may be the approach that’s wrong.
Mix approaches up, using some of these suggestions:
Work Consistently
As an athlete trains for an event, regular practice will provide positive returns. Doing a bit of work every day is far more impactful than sitting for an extended period once a week. Homework isn’t only about completing classwork. It is important to review your lessons and make study notes every day without distraction. You won’t remember anything if you’re trying to review a lesson with your cellphone in your hand or while wearing headphones.
Of course, you're not expected to start homework the very minute that you get home. Have something to eat and drink, while taking a short break, and then settled down to your homework feeling refreshed. A 30 minute to an hour’s break from your studies will help you feel more focused when you eventually hit the books again.
These tips should help your child finish their homework on time confidently. They may find, after some practice, the fastest way to finish homework.
If you feel that your child needs assistance with schoolwork or homework, reach out to one of the skilled private tutors on Superprof. They offer homework help and academic support in various subjects, and are based in South Africa and abroad.
Private lessons can be conducted online, face-to-face or in groups. Each of these methods comes with distinct advantages, but each may also have a particular disadvantage. You have to consider carefully what your budget is and choose the option which best suits you.
One-on-one tutorials have great benefits, because the lessons can be designed to match the learner’s level and learning style. Since the tutor works with the learner exclusively, this kind of tutoring tends to be the most expensive, especially if the teacher travels to your home.
A cheaper option would be if the tutorials could be conducted online. These lessons are great for academic subjects, revision, study skills and homework help, not so much for hands-on, practical subjects.
Group tutorials are the option of choice for the constrained budget. While the tutor won’t be able to provide individualised attention to each learner, this form of tuition becomes affordable because all the students share the costs.
A wonderful plus is that most tutors of Superprof offer the first hour or lesson free of charge. You can try out more than one tutor because of this offer and, ultimately, decide on which tutor you would like to employ. Once you’ve made your choice, you can engage with them directly.
No stress, no fuss, homework done in a jiffy! Good luck!
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