The Homework Contract

School days, school days, here for Golden Rule days...

readin' and writin' and 'rith ma tic...

I think this song came out when my Grandmother was little, or maybe my mom. I had a little 45 vinyl of it and played it on my little white and orange record player.

Remember it? I can't remember who sang it, I'm sure she's long gone by now.

Don't remember? Neither do I.

Big Daddy and I were very excited for the return of the new school year.

Yeah hoo!!!

We were equally reminiscent of the "homework time gone bad" of last school year.

Boo!!! Hiss!!!

It was horrendous. The whining, the flopping on the floor, the broken pencils and broken spirits. I mean how could anyone have to sit down and dutifully complete what would be fifteen minutes of work that has now stretched to an HOUR due to all the fussing of

I DONT WANNA DO IT!!!

And I'm like,

"Come on Brant, just sit down with them and help out a little, is that too much to ask?"

And on top of that...

Homework efforts by a certain short boy in the household, the one who likes to play guitar hero and skate board all over creation, let's say was less than enthused.

There was no drive for the spelling words.

Zero eagerness for the math word problems. (But I couldn't blame him there. Those are lame.)

And exhaustion crept when needed to complete comprehension questions.

On the other hand, his twin, our sweet little Eva Peanut Pie excelled in this catergory.

I'm not bragging.

I'm just saying.

She always had her ducks in a row.

Most of the time she finished her homework before her brother was finished with his whining about his homework.

Needless to say, I wanted to eleviate this little issue before it became, well, an issue.

I made it my Homework Mission.

I scoured the internet for all of ten minutes and came up with an idea,

a workable plan,

an agreement that would make everyone happy.

This could make homework time manageable, dare I even say

pleasant.

THE HOMEWORK CONTRACT.

duh duh duhhhhhh.....

Well darn it. It didn't come out clear. It basically says:

Parent
- Provide well-lit, quiet place to study
- Provide correct supplies such as pencils, erasers and fresh paper

Student
-Will know what homework is needed to be worked on
-Will do work quietly and completely

Then...

Homework will be done between the hours of 6:30 and 7:30 in the evening. If you finish early or do not have homework then you may read or write quietly during homework hours.

For each day that homework is carried out correctly and responsibly one star per child will be earned upon his or her respective calender.

When four stars are achieved during the duration of one week period, a reward will be givin on that friday of the week.

Rewards include but are not limited to: two dollars, a trip to dollar store, trip to Blockbuster and choice of one movie, trip to skate park, ice cream store, or pizza night.

I thought I was clever.
I still think I'm clever.

The girls are following the contract to earn a reward.
Joey is NOT following the contract to NOT earn a reward.

(He is teasing the dog with his ice cream right now.)

He's a notta gonna lika Fridaya!

(Oh well, he's in the midst of learning the power of choice and how it will affect his life.)

SO anyway, shortly after coming up with the contract, reading it over with each child individually, including Sophie, each one agreed to sign the contract. They were then, one by one, instructed to take the contract to Daddy whereupon Daddy would read and sign the contract as well.

Eva was way on board.

Hmmm, the wheels were turning...she wanted MORE rewards.

She wanted MORE stars.

So she came up with this contract of her own, which I happily signed.

If you can't read it, it says:

DO you agree that you should

give us a star for at least 3

chores that we do__________ sign here____________________

Thank you.

Like mother like daughter...

.
The moral of the story?

.

Kids are ALWAYS

learning, watching and imitating

what those they look up to are

doing, saying and creating.

.

So make it good! Or at least try to.