Q: My daughter takes a long time doing homework after school. She’s in the fifth grade, and her teacher says the assignments should only take 45 minutes to an hour. My daughter’s at the table for upwards of 90 minutes, sometimes even two hours. She does have the tendency to be perfect in everything, and I’ve seen her erase and redo math problems to get the numbers just right. The teacher says she’s capable of doing the work, but having her pour over her work for so long is really eating into her play time and other activities. Help!
—Trapped in Homework Land
A: It sounds like your daughter needs help learning how to manage her time. If her teacher says the work shouldn’t take her longer than an hour, then that should be the amount of time allowed to complete the work. Set a timer for an hour when your daughter starts her homework. Tell her that when the timer dings, she is finished with her homework, whether the work is complete or not. Yes, that might mean she doesn’t get a good grade on that assignment, but she needs to take responsibility for her own homework. Part of homework is learning how to manage your time, and only your daughter can figure out how to get her work done in the allotted time.
One final thought: Let the teacher know you are trying this approach and that you expect the teacher to give your daughter the grade she deserves on the homework turned in, whether it’s completed or not. You certainly don’t want the teacher to give your daughter extra time in class to finish what should have been done at home, or that will defeat the purpose, which is to help her with time management.
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