Homework Strategies for our Teens

Below is an article that one of our high school counselors, Mrs. Townsend, passed along to me as a guide to help parents manage and support teens with their homework. Enjoy!


One of the hardest things in parenting is helping kids stay focused while doing homework because of all the internal distractions, like dread of working on certain tasks, or the desire to check in with friends, and the many external technological distractions that live right on the same device they are using for homework. In a study by research psychologist, Larry Rosen, he found that “students studied less than 6 minutes before switching to technological distractors.” In this same research, he found that students who had study strategies were able to stay on task longer.

After looking into research on the topic, and working with my teens on this, here are some suggestions for helping your children stay focused while doing their homework.

1.      Spend several nights validating how hard it must be for children and adolescents to stay on task when doing homework given all the various tech distractions like Snapschats, texts, games etc. right on their homework device. Acknowledge that it is hard for you to stay on task when you are doing your work, taxes, etc. online because the pull of more fun activities is just one tab away.

2.     Ask your kids what has worked for them and what has not?  Help them understand that you are not concerned about the short term of tonight’s homework, but how this is an important skill that will serve them well throughout their life.

3. If they own a cell phone or other personal device besides the screen they are working on, talk about how important it is to put it out of site for extended periods of time. For my teens, they try to make a habit of putting their phones in another room during study time and then they check it about every 30 minutes for a break. I know many adolescents will be very opposed to not having their phone by their side. Try an experiment with them—have them keep their phone nearby and study for 15 minutes, and then have them put the phone in another room for 15 minutes and study. Then, talk about the experience.

3.     Use a timer. This can be very effective—an old-fashioned kitchen timer is ideal. Have them set a goal to study uninterrupted for a certain amount of time on a subject, 15 minutes for example. A set study interval lets the brain know an end is coming.  This can help increase motivation to delve into a subject. The timer can be set for even 10 minutes or less.

4. Encourage them to start their homework with their most dreaded assignment by saying to just spend five minutes on it. It may be that after the five minutes they want to continue. My son took an online course called “Learning How to Learn” where he discovered that the brain experiences the thought of doing work it does not want to do as physical pain. That's why it feels relieving in the moment to distract yourself with something else—otherwise known as procrastination. However, just a couple minutes into starting the feared task, that sensation of pain dissipates.

5. Breaks—spend time talking about them. In Daniel Pinker’s book, Drive, he writes about how breaks were traditionally frowned upon in high performing work settings, but are now seen as critical to productivity. Breaks are particularly effective when they contain these elements: movement, fresh air, social interactions  (so checking in with friends via social media counts for this—but ideally it would not be the only break students go to).

Spring Student-Led Conferences

On Thursday, April 12th, our Freeland Middle School students and parents will experience their second student-led conferences of the 2017-2018 school year.

In preparation for the student-led conferences this year, our teachers have put together several helpful documents so that our students and parents understand how these conferences are structured.

If you are interested in a snapshot of what our student-led conferences look like, please watch this video which is a great example of how a student walks his/her parents through the conference to showcase strengths and weaknesses throughout the grading period.

For our second student-led conferences, the focus will be on transitioning to the next grade level. Students will complete a transition and reflection goal sheet prior to the conferences to provide them a guide for talking about their progress this marking period as well as goals as they transition to the next grade level. Additionally, on the night of conferences, they will utilize a student-led conference checklist to make sure they do not miss anything that needs to be discussed with parents. Finally, included in the student-led folders will be top ten lists for 8th grade and Freshman year to prepare for success in the next grade level.

This year, we have also created parent preparation documents to help all of our parents better understand their role in the conferences, and to help prepare for how they can support students as they walk parents through their work. We ask that parents review the parent checklist for student-led conferences prior to April 12th to better prepare for how to help your child with the student-led conference process.

We are once again excited to partner with parents and students throughout the rest of the year, and hope that you enjoy the process of student-led conferences as we begin to talk about transitioning to the next grade level. If you have any questions in regards to the conferences please contact Mrs. Wulff at wulffr@freelandschools.net or 989-692-4032.