My oldest son is 5 years old and just started kindergarten this year.  He is now coming home with a small amount of homework to do, but he fights me every step of the way.  It has been very frustrating.  He cries.  He acts like he doesn’t know what to do.  And even after I walk him through it, he still sits there whining.

So, as a mom, I am thinking,“Oh my goodness, if this is starting ALREADY… then what will it be like when he gets older???”  HELP!” LOL

I have tried several different strategies over these past few weeks:

1.  Getting it over with as soon as he gets home. He doesn’t respond well to this, because he is pretty worn out from being at school all day.

2.  Doing it after dinner. I have tried to do his homework after dinner is all done and everything has been cleaned up.  I even offer a reward.  But to be honest with you, he doesn’t eat very well and I wind up trying to reward him for eating too, so once that is over – he could care less about being rewarded for homework.  And after eating, he just wants to play with his sister.

3.  In the morning before school. This actually works the best.  He is much more willing to do the work in the morning, but it is hard for me because of everything else that goes on in the morning.  I have a really hard time stopping what I am doing to sit down with him and do homework.

So, you can see my dilemma.  My husband and I have both gotten frustrated.  We have even punished him, but he will just sit in his room and cry and nothing really gets resolved.  He just gets more tired in the end and we wind up giving up.

I really want to be consistent.  I want to have a plan that will work for all of us without having to put up with a huge fight every afternoon and evening.  I mean should I just get over the morning thing and let him do his homework then?  What would you do?  What strategies have worked for you, especially when they are so young.

And of course, you know I had to find a funny homework cartoon.  I thought this one was great.  🙂