homework

[fallon]

I need help I sat down with my daughter yesterday to do her homework and ended up crying. The whole thing was so freakin' frusterating. She wasn't paying attention AT ALL...I seriously almost lost mind. I need ideas my friends, we are only in Kindergarten here and homework should result in both of us crying

[Kaytee]

calm down!! lol I have no suggestion from experience obviously. I would say make sure there is absolutly NO distractions in the room with you. Hopefully ones with kids yor

[fallon]

well we sat at the kitchen table and I turned off the TV in the livingroom so she couldn't even hear it. Logan was napping and the house was quite as could be. I have to missing something...lol I felt like the worst parent ever by the time it was all over

[1dayatatime]

Ya I have nothing. I'm sorry it was so frustrating. When I'm trying to explain something or teach something to DD and I feel myself getting frusrated and she's not listening. I tell her I feel like your not listening. Then I stop whatever we we're working on and come back to it later. Sometimes it works sometimes she still doesn't pay attention. As much as I hate rewarding something you should be doing anyway....what if there was a reward for finishing the homework?

[Kaytee]

sorry I never finished the post I was typing lol. I meant to say hopefully someone with experience will be able to help.

Maybe a small reward is good. Something like when you finish your homework you can have a sticker. That way its nothing big but just something little.

[fallon]

I'm thinking for a while anyways there might have to be a reward system. Yesterday I took away all that is fun until the homework was done so she just took a nap on the couch.

[Trina]

Former K teacher here, and BTDT with both my kids. WHEN are you trying to do the homework? Is your DD tired or hungry at that time? Through trial and error, I've found that it's best for my kids to do homework shortly after getting home after having a snack. However, some kids need time to blow off steam after school, and may do better with homework after dinner. I tried that with my kids, but it didn't work. It was very hard to reign them in to settle down to do homework after letting them loose. LOL!

Also, what type of homework? What subject? Perhaps the teacher is expecting too much. There shouldn't be tears involved, especially in Kindergarten. Perhaps that particular subject/activity is difficult for your DD for whatever reason. Don't push the issue too much or it could turn your DD off to school. Talk with the teacher to see is he/she has any suggestions or if a different assignment or approach would be more suitable.

[PreSchool Mama]

It helps to know that a lot of kids are the same at this age. What are you teaching her that's so frustrating, actually? That might point to why the two of you are getting so frustrated. I used to be a kindergarten teacher, maybe I can help.

Try out fun ways of learning that don't involve sitting in one place, and going over what she's picked up at school.

If it's word recognition, take a few cards and write a word on each card. Pick common words that have a single beginning sound like door, window, ball, bed etc. Don't use words like "cat" which they can confuse with the "k" sound. Stick these cards at the appropriate places around the house - the "door" card on the door, the "window" card on the window, and so on. Leave them for a week, and keep pointing out the cards and identifying the words through the week.
At the end of the week, remove the cards, and write down the words on a sheet of paper. Asker her to match the cards with the names in the list. The trick with kids of kindergarten age is to mix learning with playing. Learning shouldn't seem like a chore, and it certainly shouldn't seem frustrating.

If it's number recognition that's frustrating, use the same card trick - place a number of these on the floor with a single number on each card. Play a game of Twister with a twist - ask her to keep her hand on the "7" card, foot on the "4" card and so on.

You could also try the bucket game. Line up 10 food buckets, and number them from 1 to 10. Collect 55 items from around the house - regular stuff, pencils, spoons, plastic bowls, her toys, whatever. if you can find 55 pieces of the same thing, like spoons, even better. Ask her to place the required numbers of items in each bucket. By the time she gets to 10, there should be no items left. Add one more bucket for "zero" - this is a nice time to teach her that the value of zero is "none" so she can't put anything in that bucket.

I hope this helped. If you need more such learning games, let me know. I'd be glad to help.

And please, don't feel like the "worst parent." We've all been there LOL. Just keep in mind, learning HAS TO BE FUN! And at this age, they can find fun in the simplest of things, which makes it easier.

[Kaytee]

those are great ideas thanks!!

[PreSchool Mama]

You're welcome,Kaytee. Maybe you can begin using them when your little girl starts kindergarten.