Another post had me wondering...

Do you make your kids do their homework immediately after school?

Personally, I never do. I feel that they are in school that many hours, so I let them veg out some at home for awhile and just relax, play, eat a snack, whatever, and then let them do their homework around 6:30 or 7:00. Of course, my 6 year old ds is fanatical about his homework and wants to do it within 30 minutes of being home, but I don't make him.

Then again, I have no problems with my children doing their homework when I ask them to. My dd(9) knows that if she goofs off, that she will sit there at the table until it's done or 9:00, whichever comes first, and she'll suffer any consequences if it isn't done. This has never happened, but the rule is there just to give her "incentive" not to goof off and to get it done right away.

I guess I know how I feel when I come from work, and I just want to rest or relax a little while, so why should our children be any different after 7-8 hours at school?

By the way, I'm not trying to debate, I was just curious. I respect others views on raising their children.

By Pamt on Saturday, October 8, 2005 - 09:29 pm:

My kids get about a 30 minute break to have a snack and chill out, then they do homework, then they can play until dinner. It usually doesn't take them any longer than 30 minutes most afternoons because they usually start some of it at school whenever they have free time. This way we have the evenings free to all hang out together as a family during dinner and then afterwards too.

By Trina~moderator on Saturday, October 8, 2005 - 09:40 pm:

I have my kids do their homework shortly after they get home from school. I've tried letting them play first but have found that once I let them loose it's VERY hard to reel them back in. LOL! They often eat snack while doing their homework. My DS gets home 30 minutes before DD. That's the BEST time for him to do his homework because it's quiet and his sister isn't there to distract him. He admitted this himself. LOL! Waiting until after dinner simply doesn't work in our house. That interferes with baths and the bed time routine, which BTW, includes reading for 20-30 minutes, which is part of homework. LOL! I like them to get written homework done first and out of the way so we don't have to worry about it later.

By Dawnk777 on Saturday, October 8, 2005 - 10:43 pm:

My kids are 16 and 13. They both do homework after supper. I know I break all the rules, since they both usually do homework, either sitting on my bed watching tv, or downstairs on a couch watching tv, but both are on the high honor role, so I think they are doing okay. They have both been self-motivated to get homework done and both get good grades, for several years already, so I don't mess with the system.

By Annie2 on Saturday, October 8, 2005 - 11:21 pm:

I have my two in elem. school kids do their work before they go out to play with friends. If they are staying in they can watch tv or play for 30 minutes then they have to get the written stuff taken care of. If I let them do it after dinner they are too tired and complain too much. I also don't want to mess around with homework after dinner either because I'm tired and want to relax.

By Kernkate on Saturday, October 8, 2005 - 11:38 pm:

DS who is in 5th grade does his homework about 30-45 minutes after coming in from school. Unless he wants to play outside with friends then he gets it done sooner.Our rule is homework done and then playtime.
I do bend that rule when we change back the clocks and its dark at 5. Then he will do it when he's done playing outside for a while after school.

By Coopaveryben on Saturday, October 8, 2005 - 11:43 pm:

Mine comes home, eats a snack and goes and plays outside until supper, we eat dinner, we go outside and throw balls and play as a family, take a bath, do homework, go to bed.

There are two reasons we do homework last, he needs to play and it's easier for him to do it when his little brothers are in the bath and bed, it keeps them from bothering him.

By Tink on Sunday, October 9, 2005 - 02:13 am:

Mine get about 20-30 minutes to eat a snack and talk about their day before they settle into their homework. Three days per week, Seth's therapist is here for an hour and a half so he does his homework after dinner on those nights. Those nights end up so much more hectic that it just reinforces the right after school routine even more for me.

By Jackie on Sunday, October 9, 2005 - 07:19 am:

When my 6 yr old comes home, I let her have a snack and watch tv. During this time Im putting the baby down for a nap. I nomrally come back down stairs within 30 minutes, and let my 6 yr old finish watching what ever show she is watching(Always a 30 minute show)and then its homework time.In 1st grade, the homework may take 10-15 minutes.Its nice because, its quiet when baby is in bed, and my 11 yr old isnt home yet. When my son gets home, he has a snack and does his homework right away. I never tell him too, he just does it.

By Colette on Sunday, October 9, 2005 - 08:54 am:

Right after school during the week - usually on Sundays on the weekend.

By Bellajoe on Sunday, October 9, 2005 - 10:34 am:

I pick her up from school and we walk home together. We usually stop at hte playground to play for 15 minutes so she can unwind after school. I let her rest for about a half hour , then she has to do her homework. It only takes her about 10 minutes to do it, she is in first grade and only gets 2 pages to do.

By Kate on Sunday, October 9, 2005 - 11:27 am:

My DD does her homework whenever she feels like it, there is no specific homework time. It usually ends up being after dinner.

By Vicki on Sunday, October 9, 2005 - 12:00 pm:

Like Trina, I have found it best to have her do it as soon as she comes home from school. She usually has a snack while doing it. It is so much easier for her to do it them while her brain is still in thinking mode. LOL We will do reading or Spelling words later in the evening, but the bulk of it is done right after school.

By Conni on Sunday, October 9, 2005 - 02:19 pm:

I have one ds that does homework on the bus on the way home, then he practices his instrument when he gets home, does reading at bed time???? He has all A's so I guess its all good.

Another ds that will walk in the door from school, open his books up on the table to his homework pages, grab a drink and a snack and sit down and do his homework without me ever saying a word???????? He hates to practice his instrument and so I leave that up to him. If he fails a song test then he is old enough to know that he should practice more... I dont think he will remain in band next yr anyway this is his 3rd yr and he is tired of it. He is more of a *shop* or *Ag* guy.

They are both old enough that they have *projects* due fairly often. They do the work on this when they feel like it. (weekends, the night before its due or whatever! lol) They always get it turned in tho so I dont say alot. I have been known to lock myself in the room with my oldest at 9pm and we will sit there writing, cutting glueing, drawing, labeling, whatever- until its done. We have fun working on things like that. Thats when he spills his guts about everything... ha

All the way thru elem school we did the homework right after school while eating a snack. Then they have the rest of the night to do whatever... Sure there were times that they had a bad day or their HW was really tough and we would take a break from it and work on it later...

You have to do whatever works for you family.

By Cat on Sunday, October 9, 2005 - 02:26 pm:

Mine have always done theirs after dinner. It's really hard for them to do homework right after school since I've still got kiddos here until about 5:00-5:30. Then we usually eat dinner between 5:30-6:00. The nights we have karate we leave right after daycare kiddos leave so there's no time then, either until after dinner. Even if I didn't have kids here I'd let them unwind a bit before tackling homework.

By Debbie on Sunday, October 9, 2005 - 03:01 pm:

I tried having my oldest ds do his homework right after school and it just didn't work out. He was too wound up and really needed some time to run around for awhile. Now, he comes home and we go through his backpack, he has a snack and then goes out to play. He comes in at 5:30 and does homework while I cook dinner. He does it at the kitchen table, so if he needs help, I am available to help him. He is in 2nd grade and usually has about 20-30 minutes of homework each night. He never gives me a hard time about coming in and he is ready to sit down and do his homework. This is what works best for us. I think all kids are different and you have to do what works best for for family.

By Dawnk777 on Sunday, October 9, 2005 - 06:09 pm:

When I was a kid, I don't think I did homework until after supper. We went out to play, after school. Soon enough, it gets dark at 5 anyway and you really don't get to play outside that long.

By Melanie on Sunday, October 9, 2005 - 06:18 pm:

It depends on their schedule for each day. On Mondays I take care of one of their friends until 6:00. I have them all do homework at 4:30.

On Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays we have to leave the house by 4:45 to get to football practice. We don't get home until 8:30ish and then have dinner, so it either has to be done before or in the morning (they are very early risers). I usually encourage Griffin to get it done before we leave school since he is out at 2:15 and we have to wait for Alec to get out at 3:00. Some days the kids get home from school on those days and really just need the down time so I let them do it in the morning.

On Thursdays, we have to leave at 4:15 for Griffin's art class. Again, I try to have Griffin get it done while at school. I usually take Alec and Peyton to the library or to one of the little restaurants down by the class and Alec does his homework at that time.

Football will be over in a few weeks so we can switch to the schedule I prefer, which is for the kids to do it at the kitchen counter while I am cooking dinner.

By Dawnk777 on Sunday, October 9, 2005 - 07:32 pm:

Once in a while, my kids would be too fried to do homework effectively after supper. Then I would tell them they needed sleep and I would get them up early in the morning, to finish it. It always went better in the morning and we could always get it finished.

By Jodes on Monday, October 10, 2005 - 09:02 pm:

I was one who posted that my kids do their homework immediately after school, this works best for us. Usually, we have some kind of sports at around 6, so it is a must to have dinner and school work done before that. My kids are so used to doing it this way, I don't even have to tell them, they get their work out on their own and start on it. Everyone is different, whatever works is the way to go.