Hassle-Free Homework

I recently posted a series of pages on how to help a child practice problem solving by treating homework as a problem. That series is now included in the Thinkerer under the title Problems as Homework. The main change is the graphic display of the problem solving poster in the stages of development.

The series did not close with a solution to the problem. That missing solution illustrates another common task in problem-solving. Following the standard practice in problem-solving, I will start with what is wrong.

Chasing a subgoal. The goal, as seen from the parent’s viewpoint was, “I want my child to do the homework with little or no prodding.” To illustrate the process of problem-solving, the parent engaged the child in the problem-solving task. That changed the focus to the subgoal of making the homework more palatable to the child. That path might work for some children and some kinds of homework.

But in many cases, a parent who follows this path will reach a dead-end. The standard bounce-back rule for the dead-end is: If you hit a dead end, turn around. In problem-solving, this advice means:

Go back an figure out why you wanted to solve this problem. The answer is the main goal. The dead-end was on a subgoal path. Look for another route to solve the main goal.

Making the homework palatable to the child was a reasonable subgoal to investigate. But turning around gives a better view of the original goal. And calls to mind some comments I made in The Truth about Homework. One function of homework is to teach self-management: Learning to do what you don’t want to do.

“I want my child to do the homework with little or no prodding.” This goal is not going to be very attractive to the child. It will turn out to be a schedule for doing the homework. Maybe some aids will make the homework go faster. Maybe some long term planning can “make the homework easier.” (Another one of those hard truths. The only way to make homework easier is to be better prepared when you get to it.)

But one of the problem-solving slogans applies again here: “If other people are part of the problem, you may need them as part of the solution.” (It applied to the previous series. That’s one of the convenient things about slogans. They don’t wear out. You can reuse them as often as you need them.)

So our imaginary parent has worked through the original series and reached a dead end. Perhaps found a way to make some part of the homework more palatable, but is left with other parts of the homework that will be just as hassle heavy as before. Unless…