Hassle-Free Homework (2)
At the end of the last episode, our mythical parent had worked through the original series (Problems as Homework) and reached a dead end. Might have found a way to make some part of the homework more palatable, but was left with other parts of the homework just as hassle-heavy as before. Unless…
Our mythical parent, P. A. Rant has returned to original objective: “I want my child to do the homework with little or no prodding.” Another job for Semi-Structured Brainstorming. The structure is in Problem-Solving is Hard: If it were easy, you would have already done it. Here I will show the questions and the answers P. A. produces.
1. Problem: What's wrong?
P. A.: Already passed that point. I am tired of the hassle in getting my child to do the homework.
2. Goal: How I could tell if the problem is fixed?
P. A.: My child would do the homework routinely with little or no prodding.
2. How do I explain my goal to anybody?
P. A.: Already done. No fuzzy words in the goal above.
3. Who will do this?
I will do these things myself:
P. A.: I will help the child develop a schedule.
P. A.: I will give the child some incentives to comply.
P. A.: I will pay attention to the child’s homework environment and see if I can find ways to make it work better for study.
P. A.: I will arrange for some way to know that the child is on schedule in time to intervene before it is too late.
P. A.: I will pay attention to the child’s study practices and see if I can suggest changes that may make them more effective.
2. I will get somebody to do these things.
P. A.: Who? Child. I will get the child to work out a schedule. How? I will work with the child on this and I will provide incentives for the child to get it done.
P. A.: Who? Teacher. Teacher. I will ask the teacher for a weekend forecast of the homework for the next week and for guidance as to how I can tell when it is done properly. How? I will offer to help with internet arrangements as needed. Examples: provide a scanner to the school, offer to set up a blog, website, or e-mailing list to distribute the forecast to all parents.
P. A.: Who? Child. After the child and I have worked up a schedule, I will ask the child to agree to take responsibility for meeting the schedule. How? I will provide incentives and a rationale to support the child’s efforts to meet the schedule.
Where do I start?
Who could tell me about how other people handled the problem?
(To be continued.)
Our mythical parent, P. A. Rant has returned to original objective: “I want my child to do the homework with little or no prodding.” Another job for Semi-Structured Brainstorming. The structure is in Problem-Solving is Hard: If it were easy, you would have already done it. Here I will show the questions and the answers P. A. produces.
1. Problem: What's wrong?
P. A.: Already passed that point. I am tired of the hassle in getting my child to do the homework.
2. Goal: How I could tell if the problem is fixed?
P. A.: My child would do the homework routinely with little or no prodding.
2. How do I explain my goal to anybody?
P. A.: Already done. No fuzzy words in the goal above.
3. Who will do this?
I will do these things myself:
P. A.: I will help the child develop a schedule.
P. A.: I will give the child some incentives to comply.
P. A.: I will pay attention to the child’s homework environment and see if I can find ways to make it work better for study.
P. A.: I will arrange for some way to know that the child is on schedule in time to intervene before it is too late.
P. A.: I will pay attention to the child’s study practices and see if I can suggest changes that may make them more effective.
2. I will get somebody to do these things.
P. A.: Who? Child. I will get the child to work out a schedule. How? I will work with the child on this and I will provide incentives for the child to get it done.
P. A.: Who? Teacher. Teacher. I will ask the teacher for a weekend forecast of the homework for the next week and for guidance as to how I can tell when it is done properly. How? I will offer to help with internet arrangements as needed. Examples: provide a scanner to the school, offer to set up a blog, website, or e-mailing list to distribute the forecast to all parents.
P. A.: Who? Child. After the child and I have worked up a schedule, I will ask the child to agree to take responsibility for meeting the schedule. How? I will provide incentives and a rationale to support the child’s efforts to meet the schedule.
Where do I start?
Who could tell me about how other people handled the problem?
(To be continued.)
posted by Selby Evans at 9:54 AM
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