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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]We have a teen who was disappearing in his room to do "homework" and he was getting As and Bs. We know he is capable of straight As, so we made him do homework in the kitchen where we could supervise him, and it turned out he got his work done faster and improved his grades to straight As in one quarter. He realizes this is a better way for him to work on better study habits. We are going to try letting him work in his room again, and see what happens to grades. [/quote]

The best piece of advice we ever received re high school and homework was at a freshman parent orientation at our oldest child's (daughter) new private.  They said that the girls' desks should be in a public room where you can see them and they can see you so that they continue to feel connected, not shut away.  This includes the computer on which they do their school work.  We got home that night and moved her desk into our great room, right off of the kitchen and dining room.  She thought we were crazy but we noticed over time that the amount of time she spent on homework seemed to be about half the time of her peers who were sequestered in their bedrooms (unless her peers were exaggerating time which is highly possible).  And to our continued surprise her grades were stellar.  FWIW we had purchased a new desk and set it up in her bedroom the August before high school began because we knew it was a tough environment and we thought it was what we should do - even though she, as well as her younger sibs, had been successful doing their homework at the kitchen and/or dining room table for years.

Anyway, we've now are using the same technique with all the kids.  They each have a desk in the great room and there is one common computer with a printer (although the high schoolers have laptops and the middlers get iPads).  It is working for us.  Different strokes for different folks.  It can get a little loud and crazy but I've also walked in and you could hear a pin drop while they were all focused on what they were doing.  But the room always had a good vibe.

The one observation I have and really like about it is that they are all communicating with each other, with the older kids helping the younger kids, as they work on homework.  Even the little one, 6, gets into the habit with his little bits of homework, too, although we're down to just two at home since two are in college and one is away because he deferred to go on a church mission and will start college next year.[/quote]

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