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Teenagers

Parenting teenagers has its ups and downs. Get advice from Mumsnetters here.

Original poster

Where does your teenager do their homework?

23 replies

bigTillyMincepie · 14/12/2011 17:33

If they are using a computer / laptop, do they do it in their own room or downstairs?

Do you keep an eye on them?

Are they allowed to go on anything else (like music on you-tube) while they are doing their homework?

OP posts:
Dustinthewind · 14/12/2011 17:53

Mine has down time when he comes home, eats around 6.30-7, then does homework from 8pm.
If he had to use the computer/internet when he was younger, it was downstairs until he got the habit of focusing on what he was supposed to be doing, no other windows open whilst working.
If he took it upstairs, I turned off the internet.
He saw the logic in concentrating on what he was doing and has retained the habit, although he does like music on whilst he slaves.
Now he'll be upstairs with the laptop, internet access and working on his A level stuff. He's a sensible chap like that.

webwiz · 14/12/2011 18:03

DS(15) does his at the kitchen table and he uses the laptop there as well. He was doing it in his room but he seemed to be spending more time wandering round the house Hmm. After a few lacklustre marks he agreed to go back to doing it in the kitchen.

Original poster
bigTillyMincepie · 14/12/2011 18:11

Dust, it sounds like you have got it sussedEnvy

Webwiz, I think we might have to get back to what your DS does!

OP posts:
Dustinthewind · 14/12/2011 18:28

Don't be Xmas Envy, mine has Asperger's., so I set things up when he was small and I was consistent about it.
So now he outweighs me and is a foot taller, he still complies because those are the rules. he's a doddle now he's a teenager and happy about doing A levels in subjects he loves.
Bloody good job really, because if he chose not to work, there's not much I could do about it. Smile

Original poster
bigTillyMincepie · 14/12/2011 18:32

That's great Dust - I expect you had some tricky times with him in the past, so it's your turn to have it easierXmas Smile

OP posts:
Dustinthewind · 14/12/2011 18:42

Yup. many an explosion and exclusion and meltdowns of China Syndrome proportions and whatnot. Grin
Calm sailing now...fingers crossed that he continues to ignore girls in a romantic sense, at least for a while. He's lovely.

Get0rf · 14/12/2011 18:45

DD does most of hers at school, tbh, they have a homework club every day, so she goes there for a couple of hours twice a week or so.

When at home she does it in her bedroom, I used ti turn the internet off but I leave it on now, she is old enough to be trusted. Sometimes if she has a lot of books to spread out she does it in the kitchen (closer to the biscuits and crisps as well!)

3boys1cat · 14/12/2011 18:51

DS1 16 and DS2 13 do all their homework downstairs, and mostly at or near the kitchen table; the idea that I could look at what they're doing if I wanted seems to keep them on track. If DS1 uses the computer in the front room, he gets nothing useful done at all (unless you think Runescape is useful, which I dont! Xmas Wink).

They have never had TV or computers/laptops in their bedrooms.

Original poster
bigTillyMincepie · 14/12/2011 18:57

Those of you who turn the internet off, how do they do their work?
DD's almost always involves reseaching/checking stuff on the internet. They have no text books.

And she is currently revising using the internet because the teacher(s) has/have the pupils' exercis booksAngry

OP posts:
Get0rf · 14/12/2011 19:00

Exactly, tilly, it started to be impossible, as a lot of dd's revision etc is online.

I think you have just got to trust them in the end to knuckle down and get on with it without being harangued.

MistletoeAndFlump · 14/12/2011 19:04

If DS needs to use the computer for his homework, it's in the study, which is open plan to the dining room, so I can see what he's doing. Otherwise he does it in his room.

TBH I usually just leave him to it unless he asks me to help. He is pretty good about doing it when he needs to - his school has a pretty strict homework policy where if it isn't done properly, he would be expected to stay school the next day at break and lunch time to finish it.

Dustinthewind · 14/12/2011 19:20

'DD's almost always involves reseaching/checking stuff on the internet. They have no text books. '

Textbooks, downloading and saving as a document. I also had quite strict filters on it and checked the history after he'd used it so we could discuss any anomalies.
Study skills need teaching, so that's how he learned to take it seriously and not to do it in the lunchbreak at school.

Original poster
bigTillyMincepie · 14/12/2011 20:02

GetOrf, that's what I thought!

She does get on with it and gets good grades generally. She doesn't get detentions for not doing it. But she seems to spend hours doing it.......

Dust, you are so right that study/revision skills need teaching, unfortunately DD's outstanding school don't seem to have realised thisAngry

OP posts:
Dustinthewind · 14/12/2011 20:11

Stupid isn't it?
We did study skills at my CFE more than 30 years ago, as a compulsory part of doing A levels. Invaluable.

Original poster
bigTillyMincepie · 14/12/2011 20:13

DD is only in Y8, but no-one has taught her how to research/present her work, etc - she has had to make it up as she goes along.

WHen I was at grammar school, we were spoon-fed everything like sausages in a factory. University was a big shock.

OP posts:
bruffin · 14/12/2011 23:05

Both mine do their homework downstairs, usually with youtube/facebook etc
They do seem to be doing alright and there is no real complaints about their work.

DS is a prefect now and has to spend two lunches a week in guarding the science block. He is not allowed to get any books out while he is on duty, which is a shame as I would have thought it was an ideal opportunity to get some homework out of the way.

cory · 15/12/2011 08:19

Usually in their rooms, though ds sometimes uses the computer downstairs. I don't supervise too closely: tbh I think it is up to them how they organise their work.

I actually concentrate better if I can have the internet on and be able to switch to another forum for 2 minutes spurts; I used to have a book on my lap when writing my PhD and got that finished on time and published and good reviews, so wouldn't want to dictate to anybody else how they are to work.

And I do trust them with the internet.

Dd needs a bit of extra support atm, though, as she is having a lot of time off school (chronic joint condition) so is basically HE'ing herself and though it has worked well for a long time, I now notice that she is getting depressed and finding it hard to concentrate- so I talk more to her about getting started.

purplecupcake · 15/12/2011 10:23

DD2 does hers either with fb, bbm or tv.. shes a prefect and a grade A student so i have no worries that her work is been affected by her other internet activities

DD1 on the other hand wouldnt do homework no matter how hard i tried to get her to concentrate

Original poster
bigTillyMincepie · 15/12/2011 11:58

purplecupcake, that's reassuring. It's just that it seems to take her so long to get her homework finished with doing other activities at the same time.

She doesn't need any support with her homework, it's just the amount of time it takesSmile

OP posts:
SophiaN · 15/12/2011 21:31

My daughter does hers on her writing desk in her room. Sometimes she procrastinates pretty terribly, and I've caught her staying up all night to do some she forgot about, but she's mostly got over that, thank goodness!

My son's in reception and hasn't had any homework yet, bhut with his already woeful grasp of the concept of working, I can predict that he'll be a procrastinator too.

LynetteScavo · 15/12/2011 21:40

Ideally at the desk in his room. But more likely the bus on the way to school.

He has a computer with internet access at his desk. I police it/ turn of internet (I'm like the internet jailer) and so far the worst thing he has accessed is Annoying Orange.

I don't care what he does while he is doing his homework as long as it's done and he doesn't get a detention for not doing it. Wink

I think DS would like me to say "It's now 7.30 it's homework time" I will put that in place in the new year. Smile

SophiaN · 15/12/2011 21:50

My daughter's a straight A girl, is doing two A-levels this year (she's 14!), would be doing two more were it not for something that Oxford admissions told my DH which put him off letting her, 2370 on the American SAT (she's considering Harvard as her aunt went there), and has an IQ in the low 140s, everything I'd ever want in an academic daughter, but she is an awful procrastinator!

Once, in year 7, she went two months without handing in a paper as the teacher for that class had forgotten about it. When the teacher finally remembered it, most kids had lost it over that time - she lied that she had too and did the whole paper that night. She'd written two paragraphs in two months. [facepalm] She's been nowhere near that bad since, which is very good for my nerves, as missing deadlines seems to give her stress trouble.

LynetteScavo · 15/12/2011 22:39

SophiaN, your DD has an IQ in the low 140's and is doing 2 A'levels at age 14?

Have IQ's changed recently? My IQ is in the 120's (ahve done lots of tests) and I'm really not very bright. Confused

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