Are school time and homework stressing your children out more than they should? Consider a few tips for de-stressing school time and making learning more enjoyable for students of all ages.

Homework and Time Management

For a positive and less stressful school time experience, encourage your child to pay proper attention to homework, to embrace her creativity, and to balance after school work and play.

• Have your child learn proper time management. Begin by decreasing procrastination when it comes to completing homework. When homework is done steadily until it is due, rather than delayed to the last minute, it relieves the pressure from the student. Granted, some students, as they get older, work well under pressure, but delaying homework is a habit to avoid while they are young.
• Set and follow particular routines. Try setting up a daily routine for when your young student does his homework. Whether it be just as school lets out, after supper, or before bed, set a time strictly for homework. Remember to consider extra-curricular activities when creating this routine. A steady routine can help a child learn to concentrate better on school work.
• Avoid distractions when it comes to homework time. Distractions invite procrastination and dampen creativity. Creativity and imagination are important when it comes to schoolwork, especially for subjects involving languages and arts. Distractions, especially television, can not only squelch creativity, but motivation as well. A lack of motivation can cause undue stress on the student.

Tutoring and Extra Schoolwork Help

Often the stress of schoolwork comes from a lack of understanding on the student’s part and a lack of attention on the teacher’s part. Some students need more help and attention from teachers than others. Remember that teachers have many students and are not always able to give as much attention to a particular student as the student needs.

• If your child needs extra help in any particular area and is not getting the help he needs, it can cause more unnecessary stress. It could be simply that the child needs to ask more questions during class. If this is the case, encourage your child to ask more questions. A meeting with the teacher outside of class may benefit a student who simply needs a little extra attention. On the other hand, your child may need more specific attention from a tutor.
• Regardless of the age of the student, a tutor is valuable to a struggling student. A good tutor can help a student not only with understanding the subject in which he or she struggles, but with building the confidence to learn, and the motivation to complete school work. When the student feels confident and motivated, it relieves the stress from the student and the parents.

School need not be stressful, but can be an enjoyable learning experience. Consider these ideas for helping students relieve the stress of school time and homework.

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