Does anyone plan homework time to be in the morning?

[KrisM]

I'm thinking DS1 will have more homework this year, maybe even daily. He'll be in 3rd grade. Until now, he would just do it in the evening, but it was a struggle because he didn't want to stop playing, reading, whatever. I'm thinking that if it's not long homework assignments, I'd have him try to do it in the morning instead.

Our typical school day:
6:30-7:00 - kids wake up
8:30 - leave for the bus stop
4:15 - off the bus
4:20 - home
5:30 - dinner
8:30 - bedtime

So there is time after dinner for homework, but he will also do Academic Games after school twice a week and TKD once a week in the evening.

He's nearly always up at 6:30 and 7 is sleeping in for him. That gives 1.5 hours for dressing, eating and homework.

[lalasmama]

Your household has a much more "relaxed" morning routine than ours, LOL. Homework in the morning would never work for us, but we have 30 minutes from eyes open to pulling up to the front door of school. I am soooo not a morning person! I'm also not a fan of having to "rush" though the homework, because if it's done in the morning, and done wrong, there's not as much time to figure out where it went wrong and correct it. Obviously 3rd graders aren't usually bringing home really challenging homework, but just something to think about as a routine is built.

[KrisM]

Your household has a much more "relaxed" morning routine than ours, LOL. Homework in the morning would never work for us, but we have 30 minutes from eyes open to pulling up to the front door of school. I am soooo not a morning person! I'm also not a fan of having to "rush" though the homework, because if it's done in the morning, and done wrong, there's not as much time to figure out where it went wrong and correct it. Obviously 3rd graders aren't usually bringing home really challenging homework, but just something to think about as a routine is built.

I worry about it being rushed. But, they get home so late that it's hard to get good play time in if they're doing homework right after school. I like them to play and get some running around time in before dinner. Doing it right after dinner is an option on most nights.

[mikeys_mom]

We don't plan homework for mornings but sometimes if DS has activities after school and he is just too tired for homework in the evenings, then I'll tell him to do it in the morning. DS is also an early riser and is typically up between 6:30-7. We leave for school at 8:30am so he has lots of time.

I do hate getting DS to sit and focus after a long day (school is 9-4) plus activities. He's a morning person so tends to get stuff done faster when he's motivated.

For us it wouldn't work to always schedule homework for the mornings because the house tends to get busy in the morning and I can't always sit down and help DS for an extended period. If your DS can work more or less on his own then I think you'd be ok. It's worth a try at the beginning of the year.

[hanaum02]

My (3rd grade) son is an early riser and our elementary school is a "late" one. So, we also have an hour and a half in the morning. Our general routine is to do homework after dinner. On days that my son has sports practices, we ask him to do it at his afterschool daycare (he's usually, but not always, good about this). Because my son tends to get tired and often over dramatic in the evenings, but is always up early and has time to just sit around watching TV while I get his sister ready in the morning - I have no problem telling him to go to sleep and just do his homework (instead of watching TV) in the morning. Sometimes this stresses him out, but usually just when he is extremely overtired and dramatic (which is exactly when he just NEEDS to go to bed). So, to answer your question - you'll have to give it a try and see if it works in your house, but I think that can be a fine approach (of course - it will depend how long homework typically takes - I'm still hoping that 3rd grade doesn't take TOO much longer than 2nd grade did).

Michelle
DS 9/04
DD 10/07

[bisous]

That is a lot of time in the morning but it would not be my choice. I would still feel hurried in the morning.

Looking at your schedule, I'm wondering if you could do homework between coming home and dinner time. I put my DS at the table while I prep dinner. I can look over his shoulder and "supervise" while I'm cooking. Would that work for you? Then you still have the whole morning and the evenings after dinner are free.

[KrisM]

That is a lot of time in the morning but it would not be my choice. I would still feel hurried in the morning.

Looking at your schedule, I'm wondering if you could do homework between coming home and dinner time. I put my DS at the table while I prep dinner. I can look over his shoulder and "supervise" while I'm cooking. Would that work for you? Then you still have the whole morning and the evenings after dinner are free.

In the winter, it is dark shortlyl after dinner, so no outside play time. I don't want him them out swinging at dusk or in the dark, so I like to get them playing outside after school. Maybe I can figure out how to get them outside playing in the morning for a while. I worry that they'll be too loud at 7:30 though.

[buddyleebaby]

My DD has occasionally done homework in the morning when the night before was busy or she was just too tired, but in general I prefer her to do it while I prepare dinner or immediately following dinner.

She gets up early (we don't even have to leave for school until 9am) but in general that is her "veg" time with Daddy. The kids usually cuddle with him and watch a morning cartoon before even getting dressed, then they eat a large, leisurely breakfast, etc. I like the relaxed start to the day.

[bisous]

In the winter, it is dark shortlyl after dinner, so no outside play time. I don't want him them out swinging at dusk or in the dark, so I like to get them playing outside after school. Maybe I can figure out how to get them outside playing in the morning for a while. I worry that they'll be too loud at 7:30 though.

Hmm. That makes sense. I like the idea of morning outside time but I guess it depends on your neighborhood dynamics! Maybe you could give the morning homework thing a try and see how it works for you?

[Mermanaid]

I say try it. It may work or it may not. DD does her homework right after we get home from school. She's just going into 2nd grade so until now it's only taken 20-30 mins max. Hope it's the same this year.

[HannaAddict]

We did homework in the morning last year (second grade) and it worked better than afternoon evening. Only did 10-15 minutes at a time and it was much better for all involved!

[Twoboos]

Our bus is at 7:30am, so they'd have to be up really early to do homework. They get home at 2:30 though so hopefully an easier time in the aftn!

[mytwosons]

We didn't plan it, but fell into it last year for my third grader.

He needed to play after school, and then if he didn't do his homework immediately after dinner, he got too tired and it became a power struggle. His school doesn't start until 8:50 and he was normally up around 7 (7:30 at the latest). He would eat breakfast, get ready and then power through the remaining homework. He did it much faster in the morning because he just did it - there was no complaining or time spent trying to avoid doing it.

If you child is an early riser, I think it could work well for you.

[KrisM]

We didn't plan it, but fell into it last year for my third grader.

He needed to play after school, and then if he didn't do his homework immediately after dinner, he got too tired and it became a power struggle. His school doesn't start until 8:50 and he was normally up around 7 (7:30 at the latest). He would eat breakfast, get ready and then power through the remaining homework. He did it much faster in the morning because he just did it - there was no complaining or time spent trying to avoid doing it.

If you child is an early riser, I think it could work well for you.

I'm happy to hear it worked for someone. I think we will try it. If it's a big project or something, we'll alter it, but for math homework that takes 10-15 minutes, I think it'll be good.

[Simon]

We did HW in the mornings on purpose last year. School ran 8 am -4 pm and there wasn't enough time between getting home, eating dinner and a little free play time to do all the HW.

I liked doing HW in the morning for several reasons. It gave Ds1 a good review of material before going to school. It meant we avoided going to bed frustrated or worried about the work. If directions were unclear or we were confused, he only had to wait a little while to get his questions answered. Since Ds1 tends to worry/be anxious this was better for him. It also gave him a chance for free time at home.

I'm not sure what we'll do this year as his school day hours are changing.

[maestramommy]

Wow, I thought you were asking because your kid was in am school. With your routine you MIGHT have time for morning homework. It would depend on when. Dora had morning homework last year but she was in pm Kindy, didn't start til 11:30.

[daniele_ut]

No way. DS gets up around 6:30-7 and he and DH have to be out the door by 7:40. Our mornings are way too hectic and DS usually had 30-40 minutes of homework in first grade. I can only assume it will be the same or more this year.

[cuca_]

We also did some homework in the morning last year (2nd grade) and it worked well. Generally we would only leave one or two sheets to do in the morning.

[essnce629]

I'd try it if it seems like it could work for you. I know it would NOT work for us since I am not a morning person and can barely function in the mornings and I usually have to wake DS1 up as well and it's always a scramble since I have to pick up our carpool boy and this year I'll be driving DS2 to preschool as well! But we're lucky that we switched to a charter school this past year (3rd grade) and the homework is way less than it was at his previous school--Yay!

[niccig]

Try it or maybe split the homework eg. Math or spelling in the morning, the rest after school. I think we're going to have to do some in the mornings too.

[KrisM]

If there is a lot, splitting it sounds good. So far, there has not been much. In 2nd grade, it was 1-2 math sheets a night, which took about 10 min total. Spelling words were for the week and we'd work on them randomly. If it's 30 minutes, morning might not work as well.

DD is not a morning person and I couldn't see this working for her at all. She's grouchy in the morning :).

[hillview]

We've done homework in the am -- not a regular thing but often enough, my kids are ALWAYS up early AND DS1 (who is the only one with homework) is too tired at night to do homework. That said he is young (just 7) and last year only got homework for the week so usually we'd do it over the weekend. Once he gets nightly homework I can see doing homework in the am more often.