Schoolfamily.com - Helping parents help their kids succeed at school

I am not a parent of a High School student, but I have a younger sister who is in 9th grade. She does the same thing and my mom gets mad at her. I tell my sister that in college, my mom isn't going to be there for her to remind her to do her homework and if she is going to forget to do it she has to deal with the punishment. My advice is to remind your kid on Saturday and then it's up to them to get it done. If not, they have to deal with the consequences. Then, next time, you can explain to them that that is why you have your rules about finishing your homework.

thanks sherrjenks & Lisa- Thanks so much for the advice. Sherjenks with a college student I guess that you have seen that some worries work themselves out? It's so hard to back off but I am learning. Lisa, I guess we'll wait to see how our kids do in term 1 ; )

Balance - it's tough. On Friday afternoon I ask each kid what they have in terms of school work for the weekend and then I ask when they have scheduled time to complete it during the weekend around their other activities. If it sounds like they aren't leaving enough time I ask them more questions... but ultimately I try to get them to schedule in the time themselves. I hope that my questions serve as guidance that will foster continued independence in their own academics. However, the time they set aside and the time a task will take is sometimes mis-judged, so I try to listen and ask more questions to assure that they've lined up the right amount of time. Knowing their schedule also helps me schedule my own around who will be doing what and when. I currently have 1 child away at college, 2 high schoolers and a middle schooler at home. Mostly it works out. Sometimes, I see them struggling to finish things a bit later on Sunday nights than they should.

Hi Truebella- That's a tough call and something I wonder about myself (I also have a HSer). I think a lot of it just depends on the child. My take is that they need to figure out what habits/schedule work best for them so they can be successful in the coming years of HS and College. If I get too involved, then they'll never figure that out. So I tell my kids I trust them to do the right thing and make good decisions. I definitely check in and ask what their work load is like but ultimately leave the work management up to them. Now if they came home with interim reports that showed they were not doing their best, then I would step in change the structure of their weekends. But until then, I figure that they need a break from the work. I am very curious to hear how other parents handle this!