Back To School: Homework Essentials

Here in Belgium, school starts again in a week. What? Yes. One more week and the deliciously long summer break will be over. In fully Back To School season I thought it would be appropriate to do a little series on some important school topics. Today we're kicking this series off with a post dedicated to Homework Essentials. Are you a parent looking for what to stock up on to make your child's homework experience just that little bit easier? Then this post is exactly what you need. Over the next week or so there will also be a post on Lunch & Snack Essentials, Teacher Essentials and Healthy School Night Habits.

Teacher guidelines

Usually at the beginning of the school year there will be lots of messages from the teacher to the parents communicating how everything works. Most of the time there will even be an initial (group) parent-teacher conference to all get to know each other a little better. Most teachers will give you guidelines about the homework system in their school or class. When will your kids have homework? (our smaller students get Wednesday afternoons and the weekends off with no  homework!).  Are there tasks that require a parent's help? How do assignments need to be turned in (handwritten, printed out, written in pencil ...)? Etc. So if you have any questions regarding homework, this would be the perfect time to ask.

No more forgetting your pencil case

When I was in primary school myself we used to have one pencil case both for class and at home. We would take it home with us every night in our schoolbag. And sometimes the next day you would realize the pencil case was still at home and then you'd have to borrow someone else's spare pen. And the teacher would not be pleased. But a lot has changed since then and nowadays schools in Belgium provide the necessary tools for the classroom: pens, pencils, erasers, glue sticks, colored markers, etc. So no more lists of things to buy for the classroom provided by the school. Although I remember I very much liked the shopping and getting ready for school part, I think this is a large step in the direction to free education, which I totally support.

Must have homework tools at home

So although everything in class is provided by the school, everything at home is not. And since you cannot take any of the classroom tools home I advise the parents of my student to prepare an at home homework pencil case. Here are the essentials your child will need throughout the year:

+ Pencil
+ Eraser
+ Blue pen (standard)
+ Green pen (for corrections)
+ Crayons
+ Colored markers
+ Ruler and/or drafting triangle
+ Pencil sharpener
+ Glue stick
+ Scissors

+ Empty notebook for making little summaries of things they need to study, practice spelling and vocabulary, etc. A notebook is better than loose papers because everything stays together, you can watch the progress as the year goes by and your kids don't need to go looking for paper to write on.
+ Index cards/flash cards to write things to memorize.

Homework space

Having the proper writing and coloring tools is step one in making homework easier. Step two is to provide your child with a proper homework space. This space doesn't have to be a desk in their room, it can be the dining table, the kitchen table or your own desk. Best is to search for a quiet space somewhere in the house with lots of light and the smaller your kids the closer you'll want to place them to where you are so they can ask questions when they're stuck. Having their own homework space, your kids will know just where to sit when it's time for homework and this will make it less of a fuss each day until it becomes a habit. It also prevents your child from forgetting homework at home because you can just check that one space every night/morning before school.

Hope this post was helpful for all of you who are in full back to school season/stress! Do you have a specific homework routine? If you do, tell me about it in the comments or talk to me on Twitter @aheartyhome!

love,

Margot