Does Your Child Remember What the Assignment Is?

This used to drive me crazy. At least one of my kids would come home and know he had an assignment, but he couldn’t remember what it was. One thing I did when this problem happened over and over was to insist my children get the phone number of several classmates in their class. Then we’d have someone to call to see if they knew what the assignment was.

 

Homework buddies:

Every year your child should have a few homework buddies, friends they can call for assignments. At the beginning of each school year I asked my children to get the names and phone numbers of three classmates so they could call them if they need to find out what their assignments are. If you are new to the school your child is attending, you can ask the teacher for help with this. If you have tried everyone you can think of and still can’t find out what the assignment is, call the school and leave a message for your child’s teacher so he/she knows that your son/daughter made an effort to do the work. Chances are likely that your child’s teacher will give them an extra day to get the work done.

 

Homework Assignment Trackers:

Many school now have ‘time trackers’ or ‘binder reminders’ for the students to write their homework assignments in. If your child is one of those students that has trouble writing their assignments down, arrangements can be made with the teacher to initial their assignment notebook letting you know that they have all of their assignments written. Many teachers stop class a few minutes early so the students have time to write down the homework assignment. Some teachers have the students flash their homework notebook to them when they are walking out of the classroom, then they know the students all have the assignments.

 

Assignments On-line?

Some schools now have the teachers post the class homework on line. Then you can just check the schools website. I find this is happening more often in middle schools.

 

Hope this is helpful.  Be sure to ask a question…and don’t forget to go to www.bonnieterry.com/blog and sign up for FREE homework and teaching tips.

 

Bonnie Terry, M. Ed., BCET