Homework Routines

I’m not sure if you’ve heard this out of the mouths of your child(ren), but at school we are working on routines and procedures. It seems monotonous at times. It can be downright annoying to practice how to line up, how to move quickly and quietly through the room, and how to use the materials in the classroom appropriately, but there is a research based “method behind the madness.”

By practicing these routines, we make sure that everyone understands the expectations and has the opportunity to be successful. The playing field is even–there isn’t a secret handshake that someone does not know about. We break it down step-by-step. Annoyingly so, if you ask some of the kids. However, this takes the mystery and guesswork out of our expectations. It becomes muscle memory.

I have been teaching for a long time at this point. Mrs. Meehan would remind me that it’s not a VERY long time yet, but I’m getting there. It only took me until my oldest child turned 9 to realize that the very routines and procedures that work in the classroom also work at home. 

Let’s use cleaning your room as an example:

How many times do you say, “Clean up your room,” and you walk into a mess that seemingly they do not see?

It takes multiple parts of your brain to activate to work in a systematic way to clean a room. Children’s brains do not come that way–they are taught to think this way! Here is what we have found is successful, stolen off of multiple blog posts, conversations with friends and family, and too many sources to possibly name:

1. Take a trash bag with you. Get all the trash and throw it away.
2. Put all the books on the bookshelf
3. All dirty clothes in the hamper.
4. All clean clothes hung up or folded in the dresser.
5. All toys off the floor

Breaking down this task allows a child’s brain to see all the different parts of cleaning a room–cleaning is not 1 task, it is 5!. This makes it easier to be successful. (PS–we take the trash bag TO the room because we don’t leave the room until it’s clean…otherwise we might become distracted by something else.)

Let’s apply this theory to homework:

• Have a designated homework spot. It doesn’t change. It is the same everyday.
• Have a designated homework order (Math first, then any written work (i.e. grammar, handwriting, etc., and finish up with Reading).
• Have a consistent place for all the materials to go–and teach them how to put everything back together. Pictures of how it is supposed to look when it’s finished really help!
• Who checks to ensure that homework is completed? Do you have to sign off on a homework sheet or assignment book? Or should you ask for your Middle School student’s Google Classroom login (which they SHOULD share with you) so that you can see the homework board posted each day?
• Where does homework go after they finish? A certain part of a folder or binder? How do you know when you’re finished?
• Where do your packed up backpacks go so that they are ready to grab in the morning without forgetting everything?