Homework in y7 for unorganised children

[FiveHoursSleep]

DD1 is just finishing Y7 but she's super organised and just got on with things. I can count on one hand the amount of times she's needed help this year.
DD2 starts Y7 this year and she can barely organise her way out of a paper bag. We don't have a diagnosis for her but she has a number of ASD/ ADHD traits including poor concentration and being very routine driven so we will help her devise a system but will probably have to supervise her a lot more than her older sister.
At the moment I have been allowing the kids to come home from school, have an hour watching TV, then go and do homework/ music practice but that is not going to work at secondary school because of the later finish time and commute.
My older two are going to get home at 4-4:30 most nights, and go to bed around 9.
When do you get your secondary school aged kids to do their homework during the week and how does it work out for you?

My DD1 is just finishing y10 and still can't really concentrate past 7pm. If no extra activities she is home by 3:30.

So we have always done short snack when home, then straight down to homework. HW at weekends started first thing (i.e. by 9/9:30) to get it out of the way. Until this year she has also needed quite a bit of support with HW, and I don't want to be assisting at 8pm either!

I think just work out what will work for you, and stick to it.

All DC are supposed to get homework done in order to access computer games; with some schools you can see if they have failed to turn homework in by checking an online parent portal. Else check the planner book.

Otherwise I leave them to get on with it & if they don't get it done their loss (detentions, no computer time, threats to drop down a set & leave their friends, and so on).

If they asked for help I would help them write up schedules & suggest routines for them to follow and help them with anything comprehension wise or to get the right resources (paper or printer cartridges or folders etc.). The DSs seem to find a set routine to be a kind of monotonous pressure even worse than having to organise themselves.

We do : home, snack, drink, talk about day, homework, piano practise, walk dog, tea, chat with dad, more homework if needed

then depending on the mood and energy levels tv/computer/phone or go swimming/tennis/table tennis or badminton, before shower and bed round 9ish.

We have always done it this way, so it is completely routine - and just gets done.

One night a week friends come round/they go round friends houses, so things change - but homework is not usually given for the next day, but spread over the week and weekend so all comes right in the end.

I think the first thing you need to do is make sure all the teachers who give the homework know what her difficulties are, and that the homework is something she understands and CAN DO. I found that the teacher sometimes didn't expect as much as I thought, and the task could be differentiated for my child, but I needed to make contact with them first (I mean over a long period of time - all the homework for that subject teacher)

If you need to give lots of help to achieve the task set, you should let the teacher know, and if it takes much longer, stop after a fixed time. So much better to set limits on frustration and make your child feel that they can do it. Makes it much more likely that they will do it themselves, even if to a poorer standard.

It has taken me two children to work this out. The third does everything herself!

DD organises herself. Does her homework as and when she wants. has only ever missed one piece when she was supposed to be playing a football match and so didn't take it.