Homework Box

So, I am going to climb up on my soap box for a bit and talk about homework and my thoughts about it....


To say I DISLIKE homework would be an understatement most days. I despise homework for young children and I am here to tell you why.


It's not beneficial and causes quite the problem for many households. My kids leave the house at 8am and don't get home until 3:30pm. They have put in almost full day of "work" for adults, never mind for young children.



Then when they get home I have to search backpacks and figure out how we are going to fit in homework time. Do I cut out their outside play time? Do I cut out their sibling play? Do I make bed time later? Should they not play sports? Should I not take them for a swim after school? The answer, in my opinion, is NO to all of the above questions.

When the weather is nice they should be able to play outside for a couple hours, fresh air and exercise should be at the top of the list for everyone, especially children.

When they are inside and playing imagination games with each other I don't feel they should stop to do home work.

Most children don't get the right amount of sleep, because we put our kids to bed early they do.

Sports, I feel, are a wonderful thing for children. Not only do they teach children so many life skills but they keep the kids active and with the childhood obesity rates in our country this is not something that should be cut out.

An after school swim, the benefits are wonderful for their whole being!

So, what is a mom to do? I don't know. We do our best to get it done but I will admit that there are times it doesn't get done and I won't fret or worry about those times. I do the best I can with the situation.

Homework also causes such grumpy kids, and grumpy parents! They don't want to do it. They want to play, or relax.

Then finding everything they needed for homework was a constant problem. (Insert whining..) "I need a ruler and I can't find one anywheeeeeerrrreee..." (Insert grumpy mom...) "Well did you even look for one?!?!?! There was one in the cabinet the other day!" (Whining) " I looked there and it isn't there...." (Grumpy mom) "Come on, why can't you guys just put things away so we can find them?!?!!?" Then I leave the dinner I am cooking or the child I am taking care of to search all over for a ruler.

Not fun! Here is my solution to make homework just a little easier and a little less stressful for the kids and for me.





Introducing our new "Homework Box"...

I went to Walmart and bought everything I think will be needed for homework along with this nice box.

On the inside of the lid I put a list of "rules" for the homework box along with a list of everything inside the box. The kids, and adults, have to make sure everything is back in the box before it is put away.

I am happy to say that I began this post a few weeks ago so the box has been in use for a few weeks. It is definitely helping a ton with getting the homework done with a less grumpy mom and less grumpy kids!

Now if the school will just get rid of homework all together things would really be great!