home assignment subject

Choose Your Test

Sat / act prep online guides and tips, how to do homework: 15 expert tips and tricks.

Coursework/GPA

Everyone struggles with homework sometimes, but if getting your homework done has become a chronic issue for you, then you may need a little extra help. That’s why we’ve written this article all about how to do homework. Once you’re finished reading it, you’ll know how to do homework (and have tons of new ways to motivate yourself to do homework)!

We’ve broken this article down into a few major sections. You’ll find:

• A diagnostic test to help you figure out why you’re struggling with homework
• A discussion of the four major homework problems students face, along with expert tips for addressing them
• A bonus section with tips for how to do homework fast

By the end of this article, you’ll be prepared to tackle whatever homework assignments your teachers throw at you .

So let’s get started!

How to Do Homework: Figure Out Your Struggles 

Sometimes it feels like everything is standing between you and getting your homework done. But the truth is, most people only have one or two major roadblocks that are keeping them from getting their homework done well and on time. 

The best way to figure out how to get motivated to do homework starts with pinpointing the issues that are affecting your ability to get your assignments done. That’s why we’ve developed a short quiz to help you identify the areas where you’re struggling. 

Take the quiz below and record your answers on your phone or on a scrap piece of paper. Keep in mind there are no wrong answers! 

1. You’ve just been assigned an essay in your English class that’s due at the end of the week. What’s the first thing you do?

A. Keep it in mind, even though you won’t start it until the day before it’s due  B. Open up your planner. You’ve got to figure out when you’ll write your paper since you have band practice, a speech tournament, and your little sister’s dance recital this week, too.  C. Groan out loud. Another essay? You could barely get yourself to write the last one!  D. Start thinking about your essay topic, which makes you think about your art project that’s due the same day, which reminds you that your favorite artist might have just posted to Instagram...so you better check your feed right now. 

2. Your mom asked you to pick up your room before she gets home from work. You’ve just gotten home from school. You decide you’ll tackle your chores: 

A. Five minutes before your mom walks through the front door. As long as it gets done, who cares when you start?  B. As soon as you get home from your shift at the local grocery store.  C. After you give yourself a 15-minute pep talk about how you need to get to work.  D. You won’t get it done. Between texts from your friends, trying to watch your favorite Netflix show, and playing with your dog, you just lost track of time! 

3. You’ve signed up to wash dogs at the Humane Society to help earn money for your senior class trip. You: 

A. Show up ten minutes late. You put off leaving your house until the last minute, then got stuck in unexpected traffic on the way to the shelter.  B. Have to call and cancel at the last minute. You forgot you’d already agreed to babysit your cousin and bake cupcakes for tomorrow’s bake sale.  C. Actually arrive fifteen minutes early with extra brushes and bandanas you picked up at the store. You’re passionate about animals, so you’re excited to help out! D. Show up on time, but only get three dogs washed. You couldn’t help it: you just kept getting distracted by how cute they were!

4. You have an hour of downtime, so you decide you’re going to watch an episode of The Great British Baking Show. You: 

A. Scroll through your social media feeds for twenty minutes before hitting play, which means you’re not able to finish the whole episode. Ugh! You really wanted to see who was sent home!  B. Watch fifteen minutes until you remember you’re supposed to pick up your sister from band practice before heading to your part-time job. No GBBO for you!  C. You finish one episode, then decide to watch another even though you’ve got SAT studying to do. It’s just more fun to watch people make scones.  D. Start the episode, but only catch bits and pieces of it because you’re reading Twitter, cleaning out your backpack, and eating a snack at the same time.

5. Your teacher asks you to stay after class because you’ve missed turning in two homework assignments in a row. When she asks you what’s wrong, you say: 

A. You planned to do your assignments during lunch, but you ran out of time. You decided it would be better to turn in nothing at all than submit unfinished work.  B. You really wanted to get the assignments done, but between your extracurriculars, family commitments, and your part-time job, your homework fell through the cracks.  C. You have a hard time psyching yourself to tackle the assignments. You just can’t seem to find the motivation to work on them once you get home.  D. You tried to do them, but you had a hard time focusing. By the time you realized you hadn’t gotten anything done, it was already time to turn them in. 

Like we said earlier, there are no right or wrong answers to this quiz (though your results will be better if you answered as honestly as possible). Here’s how your answers break down: 

• If your answers were mostly As, then your biggest struggle with doing homework is procrastination. 
• If your answers were mostly Bs, then your biggest struggle with doing homework is time management. 
• If your answers were mostly Cs, then your biggest struggle with doing homework is motivation. 
• If your answers were mostly Ds, then your biggest struggle with doing homework is getting distracted. 

Now that you’ve identified why you’re having a hard time getting your homework done, we can help you figure out how to fix it! Scroll down to find your core problem area to learn more about how you can start to address it. 

And one more thing: you’re really struggling with homework, it’s a good idea to read through every section below. You may find some additional tips that will help make homework less intimidating. 

How to Do Homework When You’re a Procrastinator  

Merriam Webster defines “procrastinate” as “to put off intentionally and habitually.” In other words, procrastination is when you choose to do something at the last minute on a regular basis. If you’ve ever found yourself pulling an all-nighter, trying to finish an assignment between periods, or sprinting to turn in a paper minutes before a deadline, you’ve experienced the effects of procrastination. 

If you’re a chronic procrastinator, you’re in good company. In fact, one study found that 70% to 95% of undergraduate students procrastinate when it comes to doing their homework. Unfortunately, procrastination can negatively impact your grades. Researchers have found that procrastination can lower your grade on an assignment by as much as five points ...which might not sound serious until you realize that can mean the difference between a B- and a C+. 

Procrastination can also negatively affect your health by increasing your stress levels , which can lead to other health conditions like insomnia, a weakened immune system, and even heart conditions. Getting a handle on procrastination can not only improve your grades, it can make you feel better, too! 

The big thing to understand about procrastination is that it’s not the result of laziness. Laziness is defined as being “disinclined to activity or exertion.” In other words, being lazy is all about doing nothing. But a s this Psychology Today article explains , procrastinators don’t put things off because they don’t want to work. Instead, procrastinators tend to postpone tasks they don’t want to do in favor of tasks that they perceive as either more important or more fun. Put another way, procrastinators want to do things...as long as it’s not their homework! 

3 Tips f or Conquering Procrastination 

Because putting off doing homework is a common problem, there are lots of good tactics for addressing procrastination. Keep reading for our three expert tips that will get your homework habits back on track in no time. 

#1: Create a Reward System

Like we mentioned earlier, procrastination happens when you prioritize other activities over getting your homework done. Many times, this happens because homework...well, just isn’t enjoyable. But you can add some fun back into the process by rewarding yourself for getting your work done. 

Here’s what we mean: let’s say you decide that every time you get your homework done before the day it’s due, you’ll give yourself a point. For every five points you earn, you’ll treat yourself to your favorite dessert: a chocolate cupcake! Now you have an extra (delicious!) incentive to motivate you to leave procrastination in the dust. 

If you’re not into cupcakes, don’t worry. Your reward can be anything that motivates you . Maybe it’s hanging out with your best friend or an extra ten minutes of video game time. As long as you’re choosing something that makes homework worth doing, you’ll be successful. 

#2: Have a Homework Accountability Partner 

If you’re having trouble getting yourself to start your homework ahead of time, it may be a good idea to call in reinforcements . Find a friend or classmate you can trust and explain to them that you’re trying to change your homework habits. Ask them if they’d be willing to text you to make sure you’re doing your homework and check in with you once a week to see if you’re meeting your anti-procrastination goals. 

Sharing your goals can make them feel more real, and an accountability partner can help hold you responsible for your decisions. For example, let’s say you’re tempted to put off your science lab write-up until the morning before it’s due. But you know that your accountability partner is going to text you about it tomorrow...and you don’t want to fess up that you haven’t started your assignment. A homework accountability partner can give you the extra support and incentive you need to keep your homework habits on track. 

#3: Create Your Own Due Dates 

If you’re a life-long procrastinator, you might find that changing the habit is harder than you expected. In that case, you might try using procrastination to your advantage! If you just can’t seem to stop doing your work at the last minute, try setting your own due dates for assignments that range from a day to a week before the assignment is actually due. 

Here’s what we mean. Let’s say you have a math worksheet that’s been assigned on Tuesday and is due on Friday. In your planner, you can write down the due date as Thursday instead. You may still put off your homework assignment until the last minute...but in this case, the “last minute” is a day before the assignment’s real due date . This little hack can trick your procrastination-addicted brain into planning ahead! 

If you feel like Kevin Hart in this meme, then our tips for doing homework when you're busy are for you. 

How to Do Homework When You’re too Busy

If you’re aiming to go to a top-tier college , you’re going to have a full plate. Because college admissions is getting more competitive, it’s important that you’re maintaining your grades , studying hard for your standardized tests , and participating in extracurriculars so your application stands out. A packed schedule can get even more hectic once you add family obligations or a part-time job to the mix. 

If you feel like you’re being pulled in a million directions at once, you’re not alone. Recent research has found that stress—and more severe stress-related conditions like anxiety and depression— are a major problem for high school students . In fact, one study from the American Psychological Association found that during the school year, students’ stress levels are higher than those of the adults around them. 

For students, homework is a major contributor to their overall stress levels . Many high schoolers have multiple hours of homework every night , and figuring out how to fit it into an already-packed schedule can seem impossible. 

3 Tips for Fitting Homework Into Your Busy Schedule

While it might feel like you have literally no time left in your schedule, there are still ways to make sure you’re able to get your homework done and meet your other commitments. Here are our expert homework tips for even the busiest of students. 

#1: Make a Prioritized To-Do List 

You probably already have a to-do list to keep yourself on track. The next step is to prioritize the items on your to-do list so you can see what items need your attention right away. 

Here’s how it works: at the beginning of each day, sit down and make a list of all the items you need to get done before you go to bed. This includes your homework, but it should also take into account any practices, chores, events, or job shifts you may have. Once you get everything listed out, it’s time to prioritize them using the labels A, B, and C. Here’s what those labels mean:

• A Tasks : tasks that have to get done—like showing up at work or turning in an assignment—get an A. 
• B Tasks : these are tasks that you would like to get done by the end of the day but aren’t as time sensitive. For example, studying for a test you have next week could be a B-level task. It’s still important, but it doesn’t have to be done right away.
• C Tasks: these are tasks that aren’t very important and/or have no real consequences if you don’t get them done immediately. For instance, if you’re hoping to clean out your closet but it’s not an assigned chore from your parents, you could label that to-do item with a C.

Prioritizing your to-do list helps you visualize which items need your immediate attention, and which items you can leave for later. A prioritized to-do list ensures that you’re spending your time efficiently and effectively, which helps you make room in your schedule for homework. So even though you might really want to start making decorations for Homecoming (a B task), you’ll know that finishing your reading log (an A task) is more important. 

#2: Use a Planner With Time Labels

Your planner is probably packed with notes, events, and assignments already. (And if you’re not using a planner, it’s time to start!) But planners can do more for you than just remind you when an assignment is due. If you’re using a planner with time labels, it can help you visualize how you need to spend your day.

A planner with time labels breaks your day down into chunks, and you assign tasks to each chunk of time. For example, you can make a note of your class schedule with assignments, block out time to study, and make sure you know when you need to be at practice. Once you know which tasks take priority, you can add them to any empty spaces in your day. 

Planning out how you spend your time not only helps you use it wisely, it can help you feel less overwhelmed, too . We’re big fans of planners that include a task list ( like this one ) or have room for notes ( like this one ). 

#3: Set Reminders on Your Phone 

If you need a little extra nudge to make sure you’re getting your homework done on time, it’s a good idea to set some reminders on your phone. You don’t need a fancy app, either. You can use your alarm app to have it go off at specific times throughout the day to remind you to do your homework. This works especially well if you have a set homework time scheduled. So if you’ve decided you’re doing homework at 6:00 pm, you can set an alarm to remind you to bust out your books and get to work. 

If you use your phone as your planner, you may have the option to add alerts, emails, or notifications to scheduled events . Many calendar apps, including the one that comes with your phone, have built-in reminders that you can customize to meet your needs. So if you block off time to do your homework from 4:30 to 6:00 pm, you can set a reminder that will pop up on your phone when it’s time to get started. 

This dog isn't judging your lack of motivation...but your teacher might. Keep reading for tips to help you motivate yourself to do your homework.

How to Do Homework When You’re Unmotivated 

At first glance, it may seem like procrastination and being unmotivated are the same thing. After all, both of these issues usually result in you putting off your homework until the very last minute. 

But there’s one key difference: many procrastinators are working, they’re just prioritizing work differently. They know they’re going to start their homework...they’re just going to do it later. 

Conversely, people who are unmotivated to do homework just can’t find the willpower to tackle their assignments. Procrastinators know they’ll at least attempt the homework at the last minute, whereas people who are unmotivated struggle with convincing themselves to do it at a ll. For procrastinators, the stress comes from the inevitable time crunch. For unmotivated people, the stress comes from trying to convince themselves to do something they don’t want to do in the first place. 

Here are some common reasons students are unmotivated in doing homework : 

• Assignments are too easy, too hard, or seemingly pointless 
• Students aren’t interested in (or passionate about) the subject matter
• Students are intimidated by the work and/or feels like they don’t understand the assignment 
• Homework isn’t fun, and students would rather spend their time on things that they enjoy 

To sum it up: people who lack motivation to do their homework are more likely to not do it at all, or to spend more time worrying about doing their homework than...well, actually doing it.

3 Tips for How to Get Motivated to Do Homework

The key to getting homework done when you’re unmotivated is to figure out what does motivate you, then apply those things to homework. It sounds tricky...but it’s pretty simple once you get the hang of it! Here are our three expert tips for motivating yourself to do your homework. 

#1: Use Incremental Incentives

When you’re not motivated, it’s important to give yourself small rewards to stay focused on finishing the task at hand. The trick is to keep the incentives small and to reward yourself often. For example, maybe you’re reading a good book in your free time. For every ten minutes you spend on your homework, you get to read five pages of your book. Like we mentioned earlier, make sure you’re choosing a reward that works for you! 

So why does this technique work? Using small rewards more often allows you to experience small wins for getting your work done. Every time you make it to one of your tiny reward points, you get to celebrate your success, which gives your brain a boost of dopamine . Dopamine helps you stay motivated and also creates a feeling of satisfaction when you complete your homework !  

#2: Form a Homework Group 

If you’re having trouble motivating yourself, it’s okay to turn to others for support. Creating a homework group can help with this. Bring together a group of your friends or classmates, and pick one time a week where you meet and work on homework together. You don’t have to be in the same class, or even taking the same subjects— the goal is to encourage one another to start (and finish!) your assignments. 

Another added benefit of a homework group is that you can help one another if you’re struggling to understand the material covered in your classes. This is especially helpful if your lack of motivation comes from being intimidated by your assignments. Asking your friends for help may feel less scary than talking to your teacher...and once you get a handle on the material, your homework may become less frightening, too. 

#3: Change Up Your Environment 

If you find that you’re totally unmotivated, it may help if you find a new place to do your homework. For example, if you’ve been struggling to get your homework done at home, try spending an extra hour in the library after school instead. The change of scenery can limit your distractions and give you the energy you need to get your work done. 

If you’re stuck doing homework at home, you can still use this tip. For instance, maybe you’ve always done your homework sitting on your bed. Try relocating somewhere else, like your kitchen table, for a few weeks. You may find that setting up a new “homework spot” in your house gives you a motivational lift and helps you get your work done. 

Social media can be a huge problem when it comes to doing homework. We have advice for helping you unplug and regain focus.

How to Do Homework When You’re Easily Distracted

We live in an always-on world, and there are tons of things clamoring for our attention. From friends and family to pop culture and social media, it seems like there’s always something (or someone!) distracting us from the things we need to do.

The 24/7 world we live in has affected our ability to focus on tasks for prolonged periods of time. Research has shown that over the past decade, an average person’s attention span has gone from 12 seconds to eight seconds . And when we do lose focus, i t takes people a long time to get back on task . One study found that it can take as long as 23 minutes to get back to work once we’ve been distracte d. No wonder it can take hours to get your homework done! 

3 Tips to Improve Your Focus

If you have a hard time focusing when you’re doing your homework, it’s a good idea to try and eliminate as many distractions as possible. Here are three expert tips for blocking out the noise so you can focus on getting your homework done. 

#1: Create a Distraction-Free Environment

Pick a place where you’ll do your homework every day, and make it as distraction-free as possible. Try to find a location where there won’t be tons of noise, and limit your access to screens while you’re doing your homework. Put together a focus-oriented playlist (or choose one on your favorite streaming service), and put your headphones on while you work. 

You may find that other people, like your friends and family, are your biggest distraction. If that’s the case, try setting up some homework boundaries. Let them know when you’ll be working on homework every day, and ask them if they’ll help you keep a quiet environment. They’ll be happy to lend a hand! 

#2: Limit Your Access to Technology 

We know, we know...this tip isn’t fun, but it does work. For homework that doesn’t require a computer, like handouts or worksheets, it’s best to put all your technology away . Turn off your television, put your phone and laptop in your backpack, and silence notifications on any wearable tech you may be sporting. If you listen to music while you work, that’s fine...but make sure you have a playlist set up so you’re not shuffling through songs once you get started on your homework. 

If your homework requires your laptop or tablet, it can be harder to limit your access to distractions. But it’s not impossible! T here are apps you can download that will block certain websites while you’re working so that you’re not tempted to scroll through Twitter or check your Facebook feed. Silence notifications and text messages on your computer, and don’t open your email account unless you absolutely have to. And if you don’t need access to the internet to complete your assignments, turn off your WiFi. Cutting out the online chatter is a great way to make sure you’re getting your homework done. 

#3: Set a Timer (the Pomodoro Technique)

Have you ever heard of the Pomodoro technique ? It’s a productivity hack that uses a timer to help you focus!

Here’s how it works: first, set a timer for 25 minutes. This is going to be your work time. During this 25 minutes, all you can do is work on whatever homework assignment you have in front of you. No email, no text messaging, no phone calls—just homework. When that timer goes off, you get to take a 5 minute break. Every time you go through one of these cycles, it’s called a “pomodoro.” For every four pomodoros you complete, you can take a longer break of 15 to 30 minutes.

The pomodoro technique works through a combination of boundary setting and rewards. First, it gives you a finite amount of time to focus, so you know that you only have to work really hard for 25 minutes. Once you’ve done that, you’re rewarded with a short break where you can do whatever you want. Additionally, tracking how many pomodoros you complete can help you see how long you’re really working on your homework. (Once you start using our focus tips, you may find it doesn’t take as long as you thought!)

Two Bonus Tips for How to Do Homework Fast

Even if you’re doing everything right, there will be times when you just need to get your homework done as fast as possible. (Why do teachers always have projects due in the same week? The world may never know.)

The problem with speeding through homework is that it’s easy to make mistakes. While turning in an assignment is always better than not submitting anything at all, you want to make sure that you’re not compromising quality for speed. Simply put, the goal is to get your homework done quickly and still make a good grade on the assignment! 

Here are our two bonus tips for getting a decent grade on your homework assignments , even when you’re in a time crunch. 

#1: Do the Easy Parts First 

This is especially true if you’re working on a handout with multiple questions. Before you start working on the assignment, read through all the questions and problems. As you do, make a mark beside the questions you think are “easy” to answer . 

Once you’ve finished going through the whole assignment, you can answer these questions first. Getting the easy questions out of the way as quickly as possible lets you spend more time on the trickier portions of your homework, which will maximize your assignment grade. 

(Quick note: this is also a good strategy to use on timed assignments and tests, like the SAT and the ACT !) 

#2: Pay Attention in Class 

Homework gets a lot easier when you’re actively learning the material. Teachers aren’t giving you homework because they’re mean or trying to ruin your weekend... it’s because they want you to really understand the course material. Homework is designed to reinforce what you’re already learning in class so you’ll be ready to tackle harder concepts later.

When you pay attention in class, ask questions, and take good notes, you’re absorbing the information you’ll need to succeed on your homework assignments. (You’re stuck in class anyway, so you might as well make the most of it!) Not only will paying attention in class make your homework less confusing, it will also help it go much faster, too.

What’s Next?

If you’re looking to improve your productivity beyond homework, a good place to begin is with time management. After all, we only have so much time in a day...so it’s important to get the most out of it! To get you started, check out this list of the 12 best time management techniques that you can start using today.

You may have read this article because homework struggles have been affecting your GPA. Now that you’re on the path to homework success, it’s time to start being proactive about raising your grades. This article teaches you everything you need to know about raising your GPA so you can

Now you know how to get motivated to do homework...but what about your study habits? Studying is just as critical to getting good grades, and ultimately getting into a good college . We can teach you how to study bette r in high school. (We’ve also got tons of resources to help you study for your ACT and SAT exams , too!)

These recommendations are based solely on our knowledge and experience. If you purchase an item through one of our links, PrepScholar may receive a commission.

Ashley Sufflé Robinson has a Ph.D. in 19th Century English Literature. As a content writer for PrepScholar, Ashley is passionate about giving college-bound students the in-depth information they need to get into the school of their dreams.

Ask a Question Below

Have any questions about this article or other topics? Ask below and we'll reply!

Improve With Our Famous Guides

• For All Students

The 5 Strategies You Must Be Using to Improve 160+ SAT Points

How to Get a Perfect 1600, by a Perfect Scorer

Series: How to Get 800 on Each SAT Section:

Score 800 on SAT Math

Score 800 on SAT Reading

Score 800 on SAT Writing

Series: How to Get to 600 on Each SAT Section:

Score 600 on SAT Math

Score 600 on SAT Reading

Score 600 on SAT Writing

Free Complete Official SAT Practice Tests

What SAT Target Score Should You Be Aiming For?

15 Strategies to Improve Your SAT Essay

The 5 Strategies You Must Be Using to Improve 4+ ACT Points

How to Get a Perfect 36 ACT, by a Perfect Scorer

Series: How to Get 36 on Each ACT Section:

36 on ACT English

36 on ACT Math

36 on ACT Reading

36 on ACT Science

Series: How to Get to 24 on Each ACT Section:

24 on ACT English

24 on ACT Math

24 on ACT Reading

24 on ACT Science

What ACT target score should you be aiming for?

ACT Vocabulary You Must Know

ACT Writing: 15 Tips to Raise Your Essay Score

How to Get Into Harvard and the Ivy League

How to Get a Perfect 4.0 GPA

How to Write an Amazing College Essay

What Exactly Are Colleges Looking For?

Is the ACT easier than the SAT? A Comprehensive Guide

Should you retake your SAT or ACT?

When should you take the SAT or ACT?

Stay Informed

Get the latest articles and test prep tips!

Looking for Graduate School Test Prep?

Check out our top-rated graduate blogs here:

GRE Online Prep Blog

GMAT Online Prep Blog

TOEFL Online Prep Blog

Holly R. "I am absolutely overjoyed and cannot thank you enough for helping me!”

• PRO Courses Guides New Tech Help Pro Expert Videos About wikiHow Pro Upgrade Sign In
• EDIT Edit this Article
• EXPLORE Tech Help Pro About Us Random Article Quizzes Request a New Article Community Dashboard This Or That Game Popular Categories Arts and Entertainment Artwork Books Movies Computers and Electronics Computers Phone Skills Technology Hacks Health Men's Health Mental Health Women's Health Relationships Dating Love Relationship Issues Hobbies and Crafts Crafts Drawing Games Education & Communication Communication Skills Personal Development Studying Personal Care and Style Fashion Hair Care Personal Hygiene Youth Personal Care School Stuff Dating All Categories Arts and Entertainment Finance and Business Home and Garden Relationship Quizzes Cars & Other Vehicles Food and Entertaining Personal Care and Style Sports and Fitness Computers and Electronics Health Pets and Animals Travel Education & Communication Hobbies and Crafts Philosophy and Religion Work World Family Life Holidays and Traditions Relationships Youth
• Browse Articles
• Learn Something New
• Quizzes Hot
• This Or That Game
• Train Your Brain
• Explore More
• Support wikiHow
• About wikiHow
• Log in / Sign up
• Personal Care and Style
• Personal Organization

How to Make a Homework Planner

Last Updated: May 14, 2024

This article was co-authored by Jake Adams and by wikiHow staff writer, Danielle Blinka, MA, MPA . Jake Adams is an academic tutor and the owner of Simplifi EDU, a Santa Monica, California based online tutoring business offering learning resources and online tutors for academic subjects K-College, SAT & ACT prep, and college admissions applications. With over 14 years of professional tutoring experience, Jake is dedicated to providing his clients the very best online tutoring experience and access to a network of excellent undergraduate and graduate-level tutors from top colleges all over the nation. Jake holds a BS in International Business and Marketing from Pepperdine University. This article has been viewed 44,972 times.

Keeping track of homework and assignment due dates can be tricky without an organizational strategy. With several classes worth of work to remember, relying on your memory can be a challenge. Put your mind at ease by making a homework planner, and soon you will have all of your assignments at your fingertips.

Crafting Your Own Planner

• You could also use just a calendar with extended areas for writing notes and planning. Also, you can use post-it or sticky notes to add extra notes to your planner.

• Notebook paper offers a quick solution because you probably already have some in your backpack.
• Blank computer paper allows you an unstructured space to plan, which may work really well for people who are creative.
• Using templates makes it easier to get started and stay organized. Since you’ll be printing your own templates, you can choose what best suits your needs. Templates may take more work than notebook paper, but they will make it easier to get started with your planning since the calendar and planning spaces are already created for you.
• Try printed papers for a fun approach to creating your planner. Visit your local craft store for tons of design options. If you use printed paper, keep in mind how you will be using the planner when you pick your designs. For example, don’t choose all dark colors if you want to write directly onto the paper because you won’t be able to see what you wrote.

• Organizing into monthly, weekly, and daily sections will allow you to keep similar planning sheets together. This is a standard format for many planners and will allow you to keep weeks together when the month changes midweek. It also allows you to be flexible with how you use your to-do list sheets.
• If you want to organize by month, take one monthly calendar and pair it with five weekly planning sheets and enough to-do list sheets to accommodate your planning needs.

• You can mark your sections by placing a sheet of colored paper between them.
• You could also use dividers or stick-on divider tabs.
• Another option is to mark the sections with tape. Take a strip of tape and fold it over on itself so that just the edges of the tape touch the paper between two sections, leaving the fold of the tape sticking out of the stack.
• If you have post-it notes, you can use them as section dividers or to highlight important sections.

• If you like to work on the computer, design your cover using your favorite app and then print it out.
• If you want to skip decorating your cover or want something that looks store-bought, use a piece of scrapbook paper from the craft store as your cover. For example, you could buy a piece of zebra print paper and print your planner title on the front.
• If you’re an artist, draw or paint your cover.
• If you don’t like to draw or craft, you could try decorating your planner with stickers that represent something you love, such as your hobby or favorite bands.

• You can also decide if this planner will be for all of your classes or just one of them. This could affect how many sections you decide to make.

• For a cleaner look, cut a two-inch-wide slip of paper and fold it so that it will fit over your staples. Glue the paper in place to make your homemade planner look like a composition book.
• You can also make a notebook using a hole punch and ribbon.

• Use the different colored inks for each class for the best results. [2] X Trustworthy Source Understood Nonprofit organization dedicated to resources and support to people with thinking differences, such as ADHD or dyslexia Go to source If you're using your planner for just one class, you could use different colored inks for different types of assignments. For example, you could use blue for essays, orange for worksheets, red for tests, etc.
• Enter assignments for the whole grading period at once, which will prevent you from overlooking due dates.
• Divide your larger assignments over several days so that you have time to complete the assignment. For example, if you have a science project due at the end of the month, you need to start working on it in advance. Write your project workdays onto your calendar as well.

Using a Standard Notebook

• If you’re artistic, take this as an opportunity to express your talent by sketching or painting your planner cover. Another option is to create a collage using clippings of photos, words, and phrases from a magazine. Simply glue the clippings to the cover of your notebook in your desired arrangement. To protect your work, self-laminate it with clear packing tape.
• If you enjoy crafting, you could glue fabric, paper, or magazine photos to your notebook.
• If you don’t like to draw or craft, you could try decorating your planner with stickers or photos. For example, you could cover your notebook with stickers representing your favorite bands, or you could print out your favorite photos of your friends to glue on the cover.

• Count out the number of sheets for each section. Because it’s your planner, how many sheets of paper you will need per section will depend on you. However, for a standard year-long planner, you would need at least 14 sheets of paper for monthly planning and 54 sheets of paper for weekly planning. Including extra sheets in each section will allow for section labels, do-overs, and section buffers.
• Create your section dividers by either using tape or cutting the edges of the paper. To make your dividers using tape, fold a piece of tape over on itself so that just the ends touch the paper. Leave a flap of tape sticking out from the paper so that you can easily see the divide between sections. You can also divide your planner by cutting the corners of two of your sections. For example, you could cut the top outer corner of the monthly calendars and cut the bottom outer corner of the weekly planning sheets, leaving your third section un-cut. This would allow you to easily find each of those three sections.

• To draw your calendar, you will need a ruler or a straight surface to trace. Using your ruler, draw a large box.
• Lengthwise, trace six evenly-spaced lines to create seven columns for the seven days of the week.
• Then draw four evenly-spaced lines down the width of the box to create the rows of weeks. When you are finished, you will have 35 boxes.
• Write the days of the week above each column.
• Write the name of the month and the correct dates for the first month of your homework planner.

• Draw a line down the center of your paper and then draw three evenly-spaced lines across your paper to create eight boxes.
• Label seven of the boxes with the days of the week, and label the eighth box “Notes.”

Using a Binder

• To avoid adding bulk to your backpack, print out calendars and weekly planning templates and put them in your regular binder. That way you can easily track your assignments without worrying about juggling an extra notebook.

• Open the rings on your binder and first insert your to-do list paper. Place an index divider on top of the stack.
• Add your monthly planning sheets, followed by the index divider for that section.
• Finally, add your calendars, and, if you like, an index divider for that section.
• You may want to also add a special index page or key that explains your organizational strategy.

Homework Planner Template

Expert Q&A

Using a Digital Planner

• If you already have an iPad or similar tablet device, there are a number of notetaking and calendar apps available that make digital planning an easy way to stay organized.
• You can take your notes or design your own custom planner directly through the apps, utilizing the numerous writing tools within them. However, you can also purchase planner templates from the internet to use as a base for your planner.
• New Semester, New Year, New Season. The first phase of maintaining a planner is to enter all known and repeating dates, these are usually established at the beginning of each new school year, semester, or season. The earlier you put these events in your planner, the better. It may take time to set this up, but the benefits are worth it! You’ll always know what’s going on rather than feeling in the dark.
• Sundays. The next anchor point is at the beginning of the week. First, take a look at your week ahead. Do you have any tests coming up? Special events? Appointments? Get familiar with your week at the front end to prevent surprises. Then, coordinate with your family during a Sunday Meeting.
• In Class. As soon as you receive a calendar or syllabus, enter: key dates, large assignments, projects, tests, and final exams in your planner. In class, assignments should be entered in a digital (or paper) planner as soon as they are assigned. Just be careful to not get distracted by other apps and messages.

Reader Videos

Share a quick video tip and help bring articles to life with your friendly advice. Your insights could make a real difference and help millions of people!

• Take the time to personalize your homework planner so that you have an incentive to use it. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
• You can customize the sections however you like, so don’t feel like you have to use the suggested sections. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
• Cutting out paper and gluing it into your planner is a great solution for people who hate drawing. Thanks Helpful 1 Not Helpful 0

• Don’t spend more time working on your planner than you do on your homework. Thanks Helpful 33 Not Helpful 3

You Might Also Like

• ↑ Jake Adams. Academic Tutor & Test Prep Specialist. Expert Interview. 24 July 2020.
• ↑ https://www.understood.org/en/school-learning/learning-at-home/homework-study-skills/how-to-help-your-teen-develop-good-study-habits

About This Article

• Send fan mail to authors

Reader Success Stories

Nov 29, 2021

Did this article help you?

Apr 20, 2020

Jun 19, 2018

Pary Cacemy

Aug 24, 2022

Featured Articles

Trending Articles

Watch Articles

• Terms of Use
• Privacy Policy
• Do Not Sell or Share My Info
• Not Selling Info

Don’t miss out! Sign up for

wikiHow’s newsletter

7 Types of Homework for Students

There are seven types of homework. These are practice, preparation, extension, integration, research, application, and flipped homework.

Each type of homework has its own role for students learning. The important task for teachers is to select homework that will best provide holistic support to a student.

This doesn’t mean just supporting students for the upcoming exams but also ensuring students are not overwhelmed by homework and that they can still live a balanced life outside of school.

Types of Homework

1. practice.

Practice is the most common task students have when they are given homework. It entails attempting to reinforce information learned in school so that students will commit it to long-term memory.

An example of practice homework is math workbooks. Usually, a teacher will complete the math task in class so students know how to do it, then give them a workbook of 20 – 50 tasks to complete overnight to reinforce the task.

The benefit of practice homework is that it can certainly help students commit what they learned in class to memory. This is especially the case if teachers used spaced repetition. This is a strategy whereby the teacher re-introduces things learned in previous weeks and months during homework revision so the information is not lost over time.

The downside of practice homework is that the child is learning on their own during this period. This means that, if the child hasn’t sufficiently learned the content in class, they don’t have anyone to help them during homework time. This can lead to a great deal of frustration and despair for students staring at a piece of paper feeling lost and confused.

Related: Homework Statistics

2. Preparation

Preparation homework is given to students before a lesson so they have the important information at hand before class.

Commonly, this occurs when teachers provide reading materials for students to look over between class. They then come to class having read the materials so they are ready to discuss and debate the topics.

It’s also commonly used in language learning, where it’s called pre-teaching of vocabulary. The teacher provides vocabulary to learn before class so the students can come to class and practice it together.

The benefit of preparation homework is that it bunches a lot of the didactic (non-interactive) parts of learning into the pre-class time so students can spend most of their time in class interacting with the teacher and peers.

The downside of preparation homework is that it rarely works as expected. Teachers often spend the first 10 to 15 minutes of class re-teaching what was supposed to be done for homework either because students found it too hard or they didn’t do the tasks.

3. Extension

Extension homework involves providing students with tasks that are based upon what was learned in class, but goes over and above those tasks.

It is the equivalent of teaching a student to swim then letting them out into the ocean. The students have to apply their knowledge in a new context without the support or ‘ scaffolding ’ of a teacher hovering over their shoulders.

The benefit of extension homework is it can give students a lot of confidence. They can go home and feel as if they’re excelling at their work when they find that they’re doing it without the support of a teacher.

The downside of extension homework is that it can be risky: by definition, students are extending themselves beyond what was learned in class, meaning they will come across new information and new contexts where they might need help that’s not available at the time.

Related: Homework Pros and Cons

4. Integration

Integration homework requires students to bring together, or ‘integrate’, knowledge from various subjects and knowledge areas into one project.

The homework may involve the integration of history lessons with writing lessons to create a book report, or the integration of math with business studies to create a business plan.

Integration is great for students to draw connections between things they have learned in various different classes at school. However, it also involves a lot of complexity that may make students feel confused or overwhelmed.

5. Research

Research homework involves using your time after school and on weekends to gather data that will be discussed in class.

Often, this can involve interviewing family members, taking photos around your community, or looking up information on the internet.

The benefit of research homework is that students often come to class with exciting things to share. They will also come with questions to help stimulate conversation in class.

However, it’s important for teachers to be aware that not all students have access to high-speed internet and other resources to conduct research. In fact, in my homework statistics article, I discussed how a staggering 24% of low-income American teens regularly fail to complete homework due to lack of access to technology.

6. Application

Application homework involves taking knowledge learned in class and applying it to real-world settings.

This is common in immersive language learning settings, for example, when teachers ask students to go out into the streets and practice new vocabulary when ordering a drink or buying food.

The benefit of application homework is that it gives real-world context to what was learned in class. By applying your knowledge, you can more effectively commit it to memory than simply rote learning it at your kitchen table.

Application in a real-world setting provides a context and a story that you can easily pull from your memory in the future, helping you to retain information long-term.

7. Flipped Homework

The flipped learning movement is a movement that involves making students learn at home on their own then come to class to practice it.

For teachers, this means thinking about school as the space for ‘traditional’ homework and home as the space for instruction.

This is increasingly popular with technology and hybrid learning environments. For example, a teacher might assign a YouTube video to watch as homework before class. Then, the class involves dissecting the video and critiquing it.

The benefit of flipped learning is that it maximizes time for constructivist and hands-on active learning in the classroom. The downside is students can get confused during preparation, they may not complete the preparation work, or technology may fail on them.

What are the Functions of Homework?

Homework serves multiple purposes. These include:

• Getting Ahead: Many schools and parents give their children homework (including private tutoring help so their children can have an advantage in life over other children.
• Keeping Up: On a societal level, many governments encourage homework so that students can keep up with other societies in the ‘education race’ of the 21st Century. Some societies, like South Korea, heavily emphasize homework, and others feel they need to keep up.
• Catching Up: Many students are assigned homework to catch up with the rest of their class. If you find a topic very difficult, you may find you need to spend a lot more time on your own working through the information than your peers.
• Retention: Homework helps you to repeat and retain information. With extra practice, you can commit information to memory.
• Excitement: Some well-made homework can get students excited to come to class to discuss what they did.
• Application: Situation-based learning, where you’re applying what you learned in class to real-world situations, can help progress students’ knowledge in ways that you can’t in school.
• Home-School Relationships: Homework also serves the purpose of ensuring parents know what’s going on in school. Many parents like to see what children are learning so they can monitor their children’s progress and keep teachers accountable.

Homework comes in all shapes and sizes. While many teachers stick to the old fashioned repetition homework mode, I’d encourage you to try out a range of other types of homework that can keep students engaged, encourage more discussion and collaboration in class, and ensure that the difficult work where students need the teacher’s help takes place in the classroom. This will provide maximum support for your students, help propel them forward, and prevent arguments for why homework should be banned .

Chris Drew (PhD)

Dr. Chris Drew is the founder of the Helpful Professor. He holds a PhD in education and has published over 20 articles in scholarly journals. He is the former editor of the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education. [Image Descriptor: Photo of Chris]

• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 15 Animism Examples
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 10 Magical Thinking Examples
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ Social-Emotional Learning (Definition, Examples, Pros & Cons)
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ What is Educational Psychology?

Leave a Comment Cancel Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Does Homework Really Help Students Learn?

A conversation with a Wheelock researcher, a BU student, and a fourth-grade teacher

“Quality homework is engaging and relevant to kids’ lives,” says Wheelock’s Janine Bempechat. “It gives them autonomy and engages them in the community and with their families. In some subjects, like math, worksheets can be very helpful. It has to do with the value of practicing over and over.” Photo by iStock/Glenn Cook Photography

Do your homework.

If only it were that simple.

Educators have debated the merits of homework since the late 19th century. In recent years, amid concerns of some parents and teachers that children are being stressed out by too much homework, things have only gotten more fraught.

“Homework is complicated,” says developmental psychologist Janine Bempechat, a Wheelock College of Education & Human Development clinical professor. The author of the essay “ The Case for (Quality) Homework—Why It Improves Learning and How Parents Can Help ” in the winter 2019 issue of Education Next , Bempechat has studied how the debate about homework is influencing teacher preparation, parent and student beliefs about learning, and school policies.

She worries especially about socioeconomically disadvantaged students from low-performing schools who, according to research by Bempechat and others, get little or no homework.

BU Today  sat down with Bempechat and Erin Bruce (Wheelock’17,’18), a new fourth-grade teacher at a suburban Boston school, and future teacher freshman Emma Ardizzone (Wheelock) to talk about what quality homework looks like, how it can help children learn, and how schools can equip teachers to design it, evaluate it, and facilitate parents’ role in it.

BU Today: Parents and educators who are against homework in elementary school say there is no research definitively linking it to academic performance for kids in the early grades. You’ve said that they’re missing the point.

Bempechat : I think teachers assign homework in elementary school as a way to help kids develop skills they’ll need when they’re older—to begin to instill a sense of responsibility and to learn planning and organizational skills. That’s what I think is the greatest value of homework—in cultivating beliefs about learning and skills associated with academic success. If we greatly reduce or eliminate homework in elementary school, we deprive kids and parents of opportunities to instill these important learning habits and skills.

We do know that beginning in late middle school, and continuing through high school, there is a strong and positive correlation between homework completion and academic success.

That’s what I think is the greatest value of homework—in cultivating beliefs about learning and skills associated with academic success.

You talk about the importance of quality homework. What is that?

Quality homework is engaging and relevant to kids’ lives. It gives them autonomy and engages them in the community and with their families. In some subjects, like math, worksheets can be very helpful. It has to do with the value of practicing over and over.

What are your concerns about homework and low-income children?

The argument that some people make—that homework “punishes the poor” because lower-income parents may not be as well-equipped as affluent parents to help their children with homework—is very troubling to me. There are no parents who don’t care about their children’s learning. Parents don’t actually have to help with homework completion in order for kids to do well. They can help in other ways—by helping children organize a study space, providing snacks, being there as a support, helping children work in groups with siblings or friends.

Isn’t the discussion about getting rid of homework happening mostly in affluent communities?

Yes, and the stories we hear of kids being stressed out from too much homework—four or five hours of homework a night—are real. That’s problematic for physical and mental health and overall well-being. But the research shows that higher-income students get a lot more homework than lower-income kids.

Teachers may not have as high expectations for lower-income children. Schools should bear responsibility for providing supports for kids to be able to get their homework done—after-school clubs, community support, peer group support. It does kids a disservice when our expectations are lower for them.

The conversation around homework is to some extent a social class and social justice issue. If we eliminate homework for all children because affluent children have too much, we’re really doing a disservice to low-income children. They need the challenge, and every student can rise to the challenge with enough supports in place.

What did you learn by studying how education schools are preparing future teachers to handle homework?

My colleague, Margarita Jimenez-Silva, at the University of California, Davis, School of Education, and I interviewed faculty members at education schools, as well as supervising teachers, to find out how students are being prepared. And it seemed that they weren’t. There didn’t seem to be any readings on the research, or conversations on what high-quality homework is and how to design it.

Erin, what kind of training did you get in handling homework?

Bruce : I had phenomenal professors at Wheelock, but homework just didn’t come up. I did lots of student teaching. I’ve been in classrooms where the teachers didn’t assign any homework, and I’ve been in rooms where they assigned hours of homework a night. But I never even considered homework as something that was my decision. I just thought it was something I’d pull out of a book and it’d be done.

I started giving homework on the first night of school this year. My first assignment was to go home and draw a picture of the room where you do your homework. I want to know if it’s at a table and if there are chairs around it and if mom’s cooking dinner while you’re doing homework.

The second night I asked them to talk to a grown-up about how are you going to be able to get your homework done during the week. The kids really enjoyed it. There’s a running joke that I’m teaching life skills.

Friday nights, I read all my kids’ responses to me on their homework from the week and it’s wonderful. They pour their hearts out. It’s like we’re having a conversation on my couch Friday night.

It matters to know that the teacher cares about you and that what you think matters to the teacher. Homework is a vehicle to connect home and school…for parents to know teachers are welcoming to them and their families.

Bempechat : I can’t imagine that most new teachers would have the intuition Erin had in designing homework the way she did.

Ardizzone : Conversations with kids about homework, feeling you’re being listened to—that’s such a big part of wanting to do homework….I grew up in Westchester County. It was a pretty demanding school district. My junior year English teacher—I loved her—she would give us feedback, have meetings with all of us. She’d say, “If you have any questions, if you have anything you want to talk about, you can talk to me, here are my office hours.” It felt like she actually cared.

Bempechat : It matters to know that the teacher cares about you and that what you think matters to the teacher. Homework is a vehicle to connect home and school…for parents to know teachers are welcoming to them and their families.

Ardizzone : But can’t it lead to parents being overbearing and too involved in their children’s lives as students?

Bempechat : There’s good help and there’s bad help. The bad help is what you’re describing—when parents hover inappropriately, when they micromanage, when they see their children confused and struggling and tell them what to do.

Good help is when parents recognize there’s a struggle going on and instead ask informative questions: “Where do you think you went wrong?” They give hints, or pointers, rather than saying, “You missed this,” or “You didn’t read that.”

Bruce : I hope something comes of this. I hope BU or Wheelock can think of some way to make this a more pressing issue. As a first-year teacher, it was not something I even thought about on the first day of school—until a kid raised his hand and said, “Do we have homework?” It would have been wonderful if I’d had a plan from day one.

Explore Related Topics:

• Share this story

Senior Contributing Editor

Sara Rimer A journalist for more than three decades, Sara Rimer worked at the Miami Herald , Washington Post and, for 26 years, the New York Times , where she was the New England bureau chief, and a national reporter covering education, aging, immigration, and other social justice issues. Her stories on the death penalty’s inequities were nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and cited in the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision outlawing the execution of people with intellectual disabilities. Her journalism honors include Columbia University’s Meyer Berger award for in-depth human interest reporting. She holds a BA degree in American Studies from the University of Michigan. Profile

She can be reached at [email protected] .

Comments & Discussion

Boston University moderates comments to facilitate an informed, substantive, civil conversation. Abusive, profane, self-promotional, misleading, incoherent or off-topic comments will be rejected. Moderators are staffed during regular business hours (EST) and can only accept comments written in English. Statistics or facts must include a citation or a link to the citation.

There are 81 comments on Does Homework Really Help Students Learn?

Insightful! The values about homework in elementary schools are well aligned with my intuition as a parent.

when i finish my work i do my homework and i sometimes forget what to do because i did not get enough sleep

same omg it does not help me it is stressful and if I have it in more than one class I hate it.

Same I think my parent wants to help me but, she doesn’t care if I get bad grades so I just try my best and my grades are great.

I think that last question about Good help from parents is not know to all parents, we do as our parents did or how we best think it can be done, so maybe coaching parents or giving them resources on how to help with homework would be very beneficial for the parent on how to help and for the teacher to have consistency and improve homework results, and of course for the child. I do see how homework helps reaffirm the knowledge obtained in the classroom, I also have the ability to see progress and it is a time I share with my kids

The answer to the headline question is a no-brainer – a more pressing problem is why there is a difference in how students from different cultures succeed. Perfect example is the student population at BU – why is there a majority population of Asian students and only about 3% black students at BU? In fact at some universities there are law suits by Asians to stop discrimination and quotas against admitting Asian students because the real truth is that as a group they are demonstrating better qualifications for admittance, while at the same time there are quotas and reduced requirements for black students to boost their portion of the student population because as a group they do more poorly in meeting admissions standards – and it is not about the Benjamins. The real problem is that in our PC society no one has the gazuntas to explore this issue as it may reveal that all people are not created equal after all. Or is it just environmental cultural differences??????

I get you have a concern about the issue but that is not even what the point of this article is about. If you have an issue please take this to the site we have and only post your opinion about the actual topic

This is not at all what the article is talking about.

This literally has nothing to do with the article brought up. You should really take your opinions somewhere else before you speak about something that doesn’t make sense.

we have the same name

so they have the same name what of it?

lol you tell her

totally agree

What does that have to do with homework, that is not what the article talks about AT ALL.

Yes, I think homework plays an important role in the development of student life. Through homework, students have to face challenges on a daily basis and they try to solve them quickly.I am an intense online tutor at 24x7homeworkhelp and I give homework to my students at that level in which they handle it easily.

More than two-thirds of students said they used alcohol and drugs, primarily marijuana, to cope with stress.

You know what’s funny? I got this assignment to write an argument for homework about homework and this article was really helpful and understandable, and I also agree with this article’s point of view.

I also got the same task as you! I was looking for some good resources and I found this! I really found this article useful and easy to understand, just like you! ^^

i think that homework is the best thing that a child can have on the school because it help them with their thinking and memory.

I am a child myself and i think homework is a terrific pass time because i can’t play video games during the week. It also helps me set goals.

Homework is not harmful ,but it will if there is too much

I feel like, from a minors point of view that we shouldn’t get homework. Not only is the homework stressful, but it takes us away from relaxing and being social. For example, me and my friends was supposed to hang at the mall last week but we had to postpone it since we all had some sort of work to do. Our minds shouldn’t be focused on finishing an assignment that in realty, doesn’t matter. I completely understand that we should have homework. I have to write a paper on the unimportance of homework so thanks.

homework isn’t that bad

Are you a student? if not then i don’t really think you know how much and how severe todays homework really is

i am a student and i do not enjoy homework because i practice my sport 4 out of the five days we have school for 4 hours and that’s not even counting the commute time or the fact i still have to shower and eat dinner when i get home. its draining!

i totally agree with you. these people are such boomers

why just why

they do make a really good point, i think that there should be a limit though. hours and hours of homework can be really stressful, and the extra work isn’t making a difference to our learning, but i do believe homework should be optional and extra credit. that would make it for students to not have the leaning stress of a assignment and if you have a low grade you you can catch up.

Studies show that homework improves student achievement in terms of improved grades, test results, and the likelihood to attend college. Research published in the High School Journal indicates that students who spent between 31 and 90 minutes each day on homework “scored about 40 points higher on the SAT-Mathematics subtest than their peers, who reported spending no time on homework each day, on average.” On both standardized tests and grades, students in classes that were assigned homework outperformed 69% of students who didn’t have homework. A majority of studies on homework’s impact – 64% in one meta-study and 72% in another – showed that take home assignments were effective at improving academic achievement. Research by the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) concluded that increased homework led to better GPAs and higher probability of college attendance for high school boys. In fact, boys who attended college did more than three hours of additional homework per week in high school.

So how are your measuring student achievement? That’s the real question. The argument that doing homework is simply a tool for teaching responsibility isn’t enough for me. We can teach responsibility in a number of ways. Also the poor argument that parents don’t need to help with homework, and that students can do it on their own, is wishful thinking at best. It completely ignores neurodiverse students. Students in poverty aren’t magically going to find a space to do homework, a friend’s or siblings to help them do it, and snacks to eat. I feel like the author of this piece has never set foot in a classroom of students.

THIS. This article is pathetic coming from a university. So intellectually dishonest, refusing to address the havoc of capitalism and poverty plays on academic success in life. How can they in one sentence use poor kids in an argument and never once address that poor children have access to damn near 0 of the resources affluent kids have? Draw me a picture and let’s talk about feelings lmao what a joke is that gonna put food in their belly so they can have the calories to burn in order to use their brain to study? What about quiet their 7 other siblings that they share a single bedroom with for hours? Is it gonna force the single mom to magically be at home and at work at the same time to cook food while you study and be there to throw an encouraging word?

Also the “parents don’t need to be a parent and be able to guide their kid at all academically they just need to exist in the next room” is wild. Its one thing if a parent straight up is not equipped but to say kids can just figured it out is…. wow coming from an educator What’s next the teacher doesn’t need to teach cause the kid can just follow the packet and figure it out?

Well then get a tutor right? Oh wait you are poor only affluent kids can afford a tutor for their hours of homework a day were they on average have none of the worries a poor child does. Does this address that poor children are more likely to also suffer abuse and mental illness? Like mentioned what about kids that can’t learn or comprehend the forced standardized way? Just let em fail? These children regularly are not in “special education”(some of those are a joke in their own and full of neglect and abuse) programs cause most aren’t even acknowledged as having disabilities or disorders.

But yes all and all those pesky poor kids just aren’t being worked hard enough lol pretty sure poor children’s existence just in childhood is more work, stress, and responsibility alone than an affluent child’s entire life cycle. Love they never once talked about the quality of education in the classroom being so bad between the poor and affluent it can qualify as segregation, just basically blamed poor people for being lazy, good job capitalism for failing us once again!

why the hell?

you should feel bad for saying this, this article can be helpful for people who has to write a essay about it

This is more of a political rant than it is about homework

I know a teacher who has told his students their homework is to find something they are interested in, pursue it and then come share what they learn. The student responses are quite compelling. One girl taught herself German so she could talk to her grandfather. One boy did a research project on Nelson Mandela because the teacher had mentioned him in class. Another boy, a both on the autism spectrum, fixed his family’s computer. The list goes on. This is fourth grade. I think students are highly motivated to learn, when we step aside and encourage them.

The whole point of homework is to give the students a chance to use the material that they have been presented with in class. If they never have the opportunity to use that information, and discover that it is actually useful, it will be in one ear and out the other. As a science teacher, it is critical that the students are challenged to use the material they have been presented with, which gives them the opportunity to actually think about it rather than regurgitate “facts”. Well designed homework forces the student to think conceptually, as opposed to regurgitation, which is never a pretty sight

Wonderful discussion. and yes, homework helps in learning and building skills in students.

not true it just causes kids to stress

Homework can be both beneficial and unuseful, if you will. There are students who are gifted in all subjects in school and ones with disabilities. Why should the students who are gifted get the lucky break, whereas the people who have disabilities suffer? The people who were born with this “gift” go through school with ease whereas people with disabilities struggle with the work given to them. I speak from experience because I am one of those students: the ones with disabilities. Homework doesn’t benefit “us”, it only tears us down and put us in an abyss of confusion and stress and hopelessness because we can’t learn as fast as others. Or we can’t handle the amount of work given whereas the gifted students go through it with ease. It just brings us down and makes us feel lost; because no mater what, it feels like we are destined to fail. It feels like we weren’t “cut out” for success.

homework does help

here is the thing though, if a child is shoved in the face with a whole ton of homework that isn’t really even considered homework it is assignments, it’s not helpful. the teacher should make homework more of a fun learning experience rather than something that is dreaded

This article was wonderful, I am going to ask my teachers about extra, or at all giving homework.

I agree. Especially when you have homework before an exam. Which is distasteful as you’ll need that time to study. It doesn’t make any sense, nor does us doing homework really matters as It’s just facts thrown at us.

Homework is too severe and is just too much for students, schools need to decrease the amount of homework. When teachers assign homework they forget that the students have other classes that give them the same amount of homework each day. Students need to work on social skills and life skills.

I disagree.

Beyond achievement, proponents of homework argue that it can have many other beneficial effects. They claim it can help students develop good study habits so they are ready to grow as their cognitive capacities mature. It can help students recognize that learning can occur at home as well as at school. Homework can foster independent learning and responsible character traits. And it can give parents an opportunity to see what’s going on at school and let them express positive attitudes toward achievement.

Homework is helpful because homework helps us by teaching us how to learn a specific topic.

As a student myself, I can say that I have almost never gotten the full 9 hours of recommended sleep time, because of homework. (Now I’m writing an essay on it in the middle of the night D=)

I am a 10 year old kid doing a report about “Is homework good or bad” for homework before i was going to do homework is bad but the sources from this site changed my mind!

Homeowkr is god for stusenrs

I agree with hunter because homework can be so stressful especially with this whole covid thing no one has time for homework and every one just wants to get back to there normal lives it is especially stressful when you go on a 2 week vaca 3 weeks into the new school year and and then less then a week after you come back from the vaca you are out for over a month because of covid and you have no way to get the assignment done and turned in

As great as homework is said to be in the is article, I feel like the viewpoint of the students was left out. Every where I go on the internet researching about this topic it almost always has interviews from teachers, professors, and the like. However isn’t that a little biased? Of course teachers are going to be for homework, they’re not the ones that have to stay up past midnight completing the homework from not just one class, but all of them. I just feel like this site is one-sided and you should include what the students of today think of spending four hours every night completing 6-8 classes worth of work.

Are we talking about homework or practice? Those are two very different things and can result in different outcomes.

Homework is a graded assignment. I do not know of research showing the benefits of graded assignments going home.

Practice; however, can be extremely beneficial, especially if there is some sort of feedback (not a grade but feedback). That feedback can come from the teacher, another student or even an automated grading program.

As a former band director, I assigned daily practice. I never once thought it would be appropriate for me to require the students to turn in a recording of their practice for me to grade. Instead, I had in-class assignments/assessments that were graded and directly related to the practice assigned.

I would really like to read articles on “homework” that truly distinguish between the two.

oof i feel bad good luck!

thank you guys for the artical because I have to finish an assingment. yes i did cite it but just thanks

thx for the article guys.

Homework is good

I think homework is helpful AND harmful. Sometimes u can’t get sleep bc of homework but it helps u practice for school too so idk.

I agree with this Article. And does anyone know when this was published. I would like to know.

It was published FEb 19, 2019.

Studies have shown that homework improved student achievement in terms of improved grades, test results, and the likelihood to attend college.

i think homework can help kids but at the same time not help kids

This article is so out of touch with majority of homes it would be laughable if it wasn’t so incredibly sad.

There is no value to homework all it does is add stress to already stressed homes. Parents or adults magically having the time or energy to shepherd kids through homework is dome sort of 1950’s fantasy.

What lala land do these teachers live in?

Homework gives noting to the kid

Homework is Bad

homework is bad.

why do kids even have homework?

Comments are closed.

Latest from Bostonia

American academy of arts & sciences welcomes five bu members, com’s newest journalism grad took her time, could boston be the next city to impose congestion pricing, alum has traveled the world to witness total solar eclipses, opening doors: rhonda harrison (eng’98,’04, grs’04), campus reacts and responds to israel-hamas war, reading list: what the pandemic revealed, remembering com’s david anable, cas’ john stone, “intellectual brilliance and brilliant kindness”, one good deed: christine kannler (cas’96, sph’00, camed’00), william fairfield warren society inducts new members, spreading art appreciation, restoring the “black angels” to medical history, in the kitchen with jacques pépin, feedback: readers weigh in on bu’s new president, com’s new expert on misinformation, and what’s really dividing the nation, the gifts of great teaching, sth’s walter fluker honored by roosevelt institute, alum’s debut book is a ramadan story for children, my big idea: covering construction sites with art, former terriers power new professional women’s hockey league.

• Our Mission

5 Keys to Successful Homework Assignments During Remote Learning

While students and their families are coping with so much, teachers should be mindful to assign only homework that’s truly meaningful. 

How can homework be reimagined during remote or hybrid learning? Are students already spending too much time on their screen—why assign more screen time? What is the purpose of the assignment?

As a middle school instructional coach, I often work with teachers who are unsure of how much to give and what to give. They’re also inevitably worried about finding the time to grade it. As a parent, I know how stressful it can be to balance your own work while also helping your own children with homework.

Since remote learning began in March, some schools have banned homework or modified homework policies, but if you’re a teacher who’s allowed to assign homework or an administrator who sets homework policy, the following suggestions may help.

5 Keys to Making Homework More Meaningful

1. Off-screen reading:  Books, books, books. Whether your students are reading books they chose or assigned novels, quiet reading time (or time listening to audiobooks) is a welcome assignment in most homes—I say this as a mom myself. Students can be held accountable for their reading through Harkness discussions in class or on Zoom, journal entries (written or in Flipgrid-style video), or old-fashioned sticky-note annotations in the book itself.

2. Less is more: Unfortunately, math teachers have the reputation of assigning something like “problems 1 through 45” (OK, maybe I’m exaggerating). Do students need to repeat the same skill over and over? Consider how much time you have in class the next day to actually review several problems. Instead, can you choose four or five rich multistep problems that provide practice and application of the skills? Or, alternatively, offer student choice: “Choose five out of these 10 problems.”

In a humanities or science class, can students answer one extended compare-and-contrast question rather than the chapter review in the textbook?

3. Personalized homework: Many students (and adults alike) love to talk about themselves. If students can make the assignment personal to them, they might feel more motivated to complete it. An example might be to compare the protagonist of the assigned reading with themselves in a Venn diagram. In a language class, they can describe a fictitious superhero using descriptive vocabulary in the language they’re studying. Or assign students to make a Flipgrid-style dance or song describing the scientific method (this example was inspired by TikTok).

4. Family involvement: Use this option carefully, especially now when many parents and guardians are stretched thin. Before making family assignments, be sure to get a feel for your students’ family situations to avoid putting anyone at a disadvantage. Give families a heads-up and plenty of time for such assignments.

If you feel it’s appropriate to proceed, ask students to take a video of themselves teaching a new concept to a family member. To practice operations with fractions, students can bring in a favorite family recipe with the measurements adjusted for fewer servings or multiple servings. Assign a riddle or math puzzle for students to discuss with the family, and ask them to write down the various answers they hear.

Whatever you assign, keep it light, low-stakes, and infrequent.

5. Flipped homework: In my experience, students get tired of watching instructional videos, but a few short, well-planned videos can be useful to assign the night before to spark discussion the next day in class. Follow the video with a short Google Form to ask the student to reflect and/or ask initial questions about what they watched. Use flipped learning sparingly to keep it novel and unique.

What about the grading? With shared docs, older students can easily share their work with their peers for review. Take some time to educate students on how to constructively comment on each other’s work. If a student’s assignment is missing, their partner will let them know, which takes some of the burden off of the teacher. This method should not be used for graded summative assessments and should be monitored by the teacher. Peer review can also serve as a differentiation strategy by grouping students by readiness and ability when applicable.

If your school’s homework policies allow, be creative with your assignments. As you create your assignments, consider the following:

• What will a student learn or gain from this work?
• Is it worth their time?
• Is it creating more home stress?

If we reimagine homework, students might actually cheer instead of groan when it’s assigned. OK, that’s wishful thinking, but they should definitely get more out of their assignments. 

• Top Maths Influencers to Look Out For!
• Introducing Filo’s Instant Ask Button for Chrome!
• Dealing With Competitive Exams Stress? Here’s How to Overcome it!
• The ultimate guide to Ohio ACE (Afterschool Child Enrichment)
• The ultimate guide to Arizona ATP (Achievement Tutoring Program): Free private tutoring for students in Arizona
• Who qualifies for KEEP in Kansas to claim the $1000 award for educational services?
• Jefferson County Schools Partners with Filo to Provide 24/7 Unlimited on-demand tutoring for K–12 Students
• How to apply for $1000 for educational services award from Kansas Education Enrichment Program (KEEP): A Step-by-Step Guide to apply
• How to claim the award money once you are approved by Kansas Education Enrichment Program (KEEP)?
• What can you use Kansas KEEP funds for in Kansas?
• What is the Kansas Education Enrichment Program (KEEP): Get $1000 for your child’s Education Needs

8 Effective techniques on ‘How To Do Home Assignments?’

There are many reasons why students need effective home assignment techniques. “How to do home assignments?” can be a recurring question if you also struggle with doing homework.

Understandably, when your calendar is busy, your time and energy are limited; it takes a while to complete your tasks. But wait!!! Here, we will provide exceptional and practical techniques to help you ace your homework. Most of the time, we rush through our tasks out of obligation rather than genuine interest.

Home assignments help students develop good study habits, which is a fruitful practice in the long run. In addition, students can learn to focus and stay on task by working on assignments at home. This is an important skill to have, both in school and in life. Not just that, it can also help them learn the concepts studied better and gain broader knowledge. When students can complete their assignments with proper and practical techniques, they can take the time to revise the concepts and better understand them. 

Here we’ll discuss some effective home assignment techniques to help you ace your homework. Let’s get started!

What are the effective homework tips for students?

Many effective techniques can help students with their homework:

Tip Number 1: Create a designated space

It is crucial to create a designated space for doing homework. This can be a spot at the kitchen table, a desk in the bedroom, or anywhere else that is quiet and free from distractions. Once a space is designated, it is essential to stick to a routine. 

Tip Number 2: Homework schedule

The next technique is to create a homework schedule. Setting aside a specific time each day for homework and sticking to this schedule as much as possible can help students a lot. If you’re struggling with how to do homework effectively, this technique can help you out. This homework schedule should include time for each subject and breaks.

Tip Number 3: Become familiar with the homework

Don’t be scared to ask queries about what is needed. Make notes in your diary or planner. Asking the teacher a quick question in class or right after that is much simpler than trying to recall anything later that evening.

Review the duration of the particular homework if you’ve got a lot of reading or activities. Allotting time for each part will help you manage and plan your time accordingly.

Tip Number 4: Review your notes from the class

After studying your textbooks, you should revisit your lecture notes that reference your assigned task. In addition, keep lecture notes on the subject you wish to learn if you don’t feel like carrying your books everywhere.

Tip Number 5: Sidestep every distraction and comfort.

Always pick a spot for your study that allows you to focus better. Place your gadgets aside while you study. Having your phone visible might cause distractions. As a result, homework takes longer and interrupts your planning.

Tip Number 6: Commence with the most challenging part.

It’s tempting to get things off the way by starting with simple tasks. But when you first start, you’re most motivated and focused. So focus this mental capacity on the most challenging topics. Once you’re done tackling the tough questions, you may concentrate on the more straightforward topics.

Tip Number 7: Take breaks

Another effective technique is to take breaks during homework. It is essential to stay focused, but taking breaks can help to avoid burnout. Intervals can be used to stretch, get a snack, or take a walk.

Tip Number 8: Online homework help for clarity.

Finally, it is also essential to ask for help when needed. Many students struggle with homework independently, but there are better approaches than this. For example, if a student is stuck on a problem, it is better to get online homework help by asking a teacher, parent, or tutor for help.

Importance of homework tips for students

Homework tips for students are necessary to gain, as they can help them to learn and retain information more effectively. In addition, homework tips can help students stay organized and motivated and improve their grades. By following these fundamental guidelines we have listed above, students can enhance their academic performance.

Each student has specific requirements, and some kids struggle more than others with homework and assignments. Getting online homework help and assignment help might be the solution that enables you to solve your trouble along with a comprehensive understanding of your doubts.

And that’s why we exist. We at Filo assist students with their assignments and provide effective homework tips for students, so they excel in all their homework and assignments!

This blog will be helpful to you if you are a student who struggles daily with how to do homework or how to do home assignments effectively. 

Frequently Asked Question’s

How can i complete an assignment with greater interest.

There are a few strategies for completing an assignment with greater interest:  1. The first is to power through it and get it done as quickly as possible. This may not be the most fun option, but it is usually the most efficient.  2. Another way to finish a boring assignment is to take breaks between sections or tasks. This can break up the monotony and make the overall process more bearable.  3. Finally, another option is to find ways to make the assignment more interesting. This may involve adding your spin to the project or brainstorming creative ways to approach the task. No matter what method you choose, the important thing is to finish the assignment so you can move on to more enjoyable activities.

How can I improve my question solving skills?

First, you need to follow the problem-solving process step by step. After properly assessing the problem, review the old issues and take note of everything that doesn’t work. Sometimes, the elimination method is necessary to find the solution to an assignment. 

What are the advantages of homework tips for students?

There are many advantages to homework tips for students: * First, it can help you save time. If you struggle to complete homework or assignment, getting help can allow you to finish it more quickly.  * Second, it can improve your grades. If you struggle with a particular subject, getting help with your homework can improve your grades. * Finally, homework tips for students can reduce stress . Getting help can take some of the pressure off if you struggle with homework.

Is getting homework help or assignment help online worth it?

There are a few factors to consider when determining whether or not to acquire online assistance for homework and assignments. * The first is the cost. Homework help and assignment help can be expensive, so you’ll need to decide if you can accept them.  * The second is the quality of the help. Many websites provide support with assignments and homework, but not all are created equal. You’ll need to research to find a reputable website that can provide you with the help you need.   * The third is the time commitment. Getting help can take time, so you’ll need to factor that into your decision.  Overall, there are pros and cons to getting online homework help. You’ll need to weigh the costs and benefits to decide if it’s right for you.

Do assignments help in exams?

The use of assignments as a kind of assessment has many advantages. In our current remote learning environment, assignments significantly impact regular tests. In general, assignments can be used to assess higher mental capabilities and the application of certain knowledge or skills. In addition, it may reflect future professional behaviour.  

Senior Content Curator at Filo!

Write A Comment Cancel Reply

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

• Study Techniques
• Student Wellness
• School Curriculum
• Critical Thinking
• Engineering
• Tutors Toolkit
• Tutor Wellness
• Effective Teaching Methods
• How to Use the App

Top 7 Homework Planner Apps for Students

Whether you are attending classes, completing your assignments, studying for a quiz, project work, extra-curricular activities, or squeezing some time for friends and family. You’d agree that organizing and planning goes a long way. That’s why a homework organizer or a homework planner app can be a lifesaver to keep track of all your assignments, tests, submission deadlines, and exams. I did the research and shortlisted the perfect homework planner apps for Android and iOS. Let’s check those out.

Read:  Best Notes App for Windows to Increase Productivity

Homework Planner Apps for Students

1. student planner- homework agenda & notes.

The first app on the list is a simple homework and notes management app. It keeps track of homework, assignments, projects, and to-do lists. The layout is minimal, all the tasks are neatly organized with a colored bookmark for easy identification. You can mark a task complete and remove it from the pending list.

Courses can be added easily and color-coded as well. The calendar shows any upcoming deadlines so you can prioritize accordingly. The tasks have a progress bar that you can adjust as you make progress which enables you to get a quick summary without actually opening every task.

You can also break your assignments in small chunks as subtasks that would make finishing a task much easier and the progress bar will fill automatically. It also allows you to attach media files to your assignments or projects for easy access to the important information in one place.

• Progress bar
• Deadline Reminders
• Calendar View
• No option to sync data to the cloud

Student Planner is a great app for all the students, it has all the necessary features like Deadline reminders, subtasks, progress bar, color-coded tasks, and courses. It can significantly increase your productivity when used regularly. You can get this app for free in the Play Store.

Install Student Planner- Homework Agenda ( Android )

2. Student Planner

Student Planner is another fast and simple homework management app which is wrapped by a beautiful and intuitive material designed UI. What Student Planner adds to the table is the inclusion of a schedule or time table which you can use to either store your class schedule or it might even be a study schedule for your exams.

You first start by adding your subject and the schedule then you can add an assignment or set a reminder. The due assignments are arranged as separate cards and can be swiped away once done with.

•  Simple and easy to get started with
•  Fast and small in size
•  Beautiful Minimal UI
•  Option for Schedule
• No sync/backup
• Timetable implementation not perfect

I would recommend this app to anyone who is looking for a simple homework management app with timetable support and a minimal UI.

Install Student Planner ( Android )

Egenda is simple. Open the app, add all the classes or subjects to the app, and once that is set up, you have the option of adding a new Homework, Quiz, Project, or Test and choose the respective subject deadlines. The app also arranges the due work in cards that can be swiped away when done. But what I love the most about this app is that the fact it allows you to go subject-wise and view all your upcoming tests, projects, or pending assignments which is a huge convenience for planning your schedule ahead of time instead of the previous day.

Unfortunately, the app doesn’t have a timetable option, but in its latest update, it added a  Calendar View  where you can see your whole month at a glance with your assignments, tests, and projects.

•  Subject-wise sorting
•  Calendar View
• No timetable support

Egenda provides some great tools for Homework and Test planning and I am sure anyone would find them extremely convenient and useful. But keeping its single con in mind, go for this app if you are not too keen on having a schedule or timetable.

Install  Egenda  ( Android  |  iOS )

4. ChalkBoard

The next app on our list is ChalkBoard, which I found out to be a pretty smart homework planner app. Chalkboard strikes a perfect balance between simplicity and features.

Although the setup process is a little longer than the previous three apps, as you have to feed meticulous details about the classes, teacher, and schedule. It is worth the effort.

On the home screen, you are shown upcoming classes, events tab, and upcoming tests. ChalkBoard fetches the dates for every subject from the Timetable for your future classes. Little features like these make the app stand out from the rest and give an overall great experience. You can also view classes and assignments subject wise.

• Proper Timetable
• Ability to add teachers for subjects
• View tomorrow’s classes as well as assignments/tests/quizzes
• Smart features
• Little longer to set up
• No calendar view

If you are looking for a homework planner as well as a school planner, Chalkboard is the app as it strikes a great ground with almost all the features one might need while not being too bulky.

Install ChalkBoard ( Android )

5. School Planner

School Planner is a full-fledged planning application designed for students to manage their career as a student. Along with your homework and timetables, School Planner offers you to keep track of your grades and attendance, add contacts for teachers, add recorded lectures, and even multiple planners.

The app supports backing up of all your data via Google Drive, Calendar View along with a weekly report, attaching snapshots to your assignment reminders, student accounts from ClassViva, and a lot more. In spite of so many features, the app doesn’t feel slow at all and delivers a powerful performance with its beautiful design.

• Full-fledged student companion
• Feature-packed and free
• Supports sync and backup
• Widget Support
• Tedious setup procedure
• Big in size
• Complex, not so smooth learning curve

While it is not for someone who is looking for a fast and easy way into homework management, School Planner is a great student companion app and serious students will surely get the most out of hit.

Install School Planner ( Android )

6. My Study Life

My Study Life comes with its own web app and syncs with the Android app, essentially making your data accessible from any device as long as it has a browser.

It implements a goal-centric circular tracker that shows your progress. The Calendar view combines your timetable, deadlines, and shows all your classes and assignments, projects in a single place.

• Refreshingly new UI
• Access from anywhere through its web app
• Sync and Backup
• Lengthy setup process

If you study from your computer or laptop, My Study Life makes it easy to access your homework planner on your phone from your computer, while not compromising on features and being completely free. What more can you ask for?

Install My Study Life ( Android  |  iOS )

7. iStudiez Pro

Like School Planner, iStudiez Pro includes grading and subject wise organization of tasks. iStudiez Pro takes it further with the integration of Google Calendar that allows you to directly get all your holidays, exam schedule, routine from Google Calendar itself.

It also offers separate apps on all platforms including iOS, Mac, and Windows. All the apps sync seamlessly between themselves, so studying on your computer consulting your planner won’t be an issue.

• Google Calendar Integration
• Cross-Platform
• Cumulative Price

If Google Calendar integration and cross-platform support is a must for you, iStudiez Pro is definitely the app you want.

Install iStudiez Pro ( Android   |  iOS )

So this was our roundup of the best homework planner apps for Android. We genuinely think that there is an app for every need and we hope that you found a Homework Planner that suits your need whether you are a high school student or a college senior. So which one was your favorite or did we forget to add yours? Let us know in the comments below.

Also Read:  Take a Picture of Handwriting And Convert to Text – Android Apps

Sometimes I write. Business Enquiries: [email protected]

You may also like

What does the bell icon mean on various..., 3 best automatic captioning apps for reels and..., what happens when you delete a chat on..., why notion also works well as daily planner, 7 fixes for microsoft teams audio is not..., accidentally closed an important chrome tab – here’s..., how to manage collaborative collections on instagram, 3 fixes for whatsapp status not showing, how to block adult websites on windows and..., 2 best discord bots (or apps) to delete..., leave a comment cancel reply.

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Create Online Homework on Quizizz

Create, share, and host online homework quizzes and assignments for free on Quizizz!

Why assign homework online?

If you would like to streamline your grading process and provide more personalised support for your students, online homework might be the way to go. When you assign homework online, you can easily allocate and track assessments , quickly provide feedback, and tailor content to meet the specific needs of your students.  As a teacher, making the shift from pen-and-paper homework to online homework can benefit both you and your students. Online homework platforms, such as Quizizz, offer a host of tools that can boost student engagement through interactive questions, audio-visual aids, and gamification .  Whether you’re brainstorming for online math homework or grading responses for online chemistry homework, a platform like Quizizz can support you every step of the way.

Online homework - a win for students

Quizizz enables you to create interactive homework online, so your students can fully immerse themselves in the joy of learning.

Assess anywhere, anytime

Assign quizzes and lessons as homework with a future start time and deadline. Quizizz empowers your students to do their online homework from anywhere, using any device.

Inclusive, accessible design

The fastest finger doesn’t always have to be first. On Quizizz, students can complete their online homework at their own pace. You can also enable ‘Read aloud’ for ELL and elementary students.

Double the engagement

Boost participation and captivate your learners through a range of audio-visual aids including images, gifs, videos, audio clips, and more. Engage a variety of skills through multiple question types.

Double the fun

The road to mastery can be fun and exciting . Students can enjoy attempting their online homework with the Quizizz Leaderboard, memes, music, redemption questions, and power-ups.

Online homework - a win for teachers

Quizizz provides the space for you to create effective and high-quality online homework assignments in just a few minutes.

Import from Library

Gain inspiration from over 30M free online homework activities created by teachers on Quizizz, and import the content you need with a single click.

Learn more about this >

Import from device or Google Drive

Import your presentations, PDFs, Google Slides, Google Forms, and spreadsheets from your Google Drive or device to bring all your resources under one roof.

Use adaptive question banks

Provide every learner with a unique experience by showing them a different set of questions that change with each attempt.

Craft homework using multiple question types

In this classic activity, learners can complete sentences by filling in the blanks with the right answers.

Ask your students to reorder a set of jumbled options in ascending, descending, or chronological order.

Present learners with the opportunity to select one or more correct answers from a list of options.

Gamify your assessment with shuffled text and images that your students can pair together.

Choose between a plain background or an image and watch as students give shape to their thoughts with colors, highlighters, and more.

Motivate learners to think critically by dragging and dropping the right options to complete a sentence.

Let students take center stage with video responses so you can assess their presentation skills.

Check the pulse of your classroom with a fun poll or vote.

Use Lessons to create an instructor-led experience where slides and multimedia are combined with quiz and poll questions.

Engage your students’ higher order thinking skills and encourage them to dig deep with open-ended questions.

Analyze speaking skills by allowing students to voice their answers using the audio response feature.

Prompt your students to choose between a set of drop-down options to fill out the blanks in a piece of text.

With online homework on Quizizz you can

Grade flexibly

Allow Quizizz to grade homework assignments automatically. Or, assess submissions manually by assigning a scaled grade for each question.

Get instant reports

With detailed reports on Quizizz, measure the growth and progress of your students, and share significant milestones with other stakeholders.

Sync with an LMS

Update online homework and grades in the blink of an eye by syncing Quizizz with an LMS like Canvas, Schoology, or Google Classroom.

The best way to ask questions, explore ideas, and let students show what they know.

Use Quizizz for online homework

• BookWidgets Teacher Blog

20+ creative alternative homework ideas for teachers

When giving homework, it must always be based on learning goals your students have to reach, just like in your lessons. But it’s sad to see that lots of teachers are using homework as extra lesson time. Of course, as a teacher, you’re on a clock. But that doesn’t mean your students have to suffer from it and keep working on those boring textbooks and worksheets at home.

Consider goals like attitudes, real-life experiences, and practice, physical exercise, social encounters, creative solutions, and philanthropy as crucial as your lesson goals. These are things students don’t just pick up in your classroom. These are things they pick up in life.

In this blog post, I’ll give you some innovative homework ideas that will engage your students more. These alternatives to traditional homework will thereby also teach your students new things that can’t be taught in the classroom. You will find a variety of homework ideas: online and offline.

I will mention homework alternatives for primary school and high school. Some of these ideas can be changed a little bit, so they are the perfect fit for the right audience.

20 Creative homework ideas

You can divide homework tasks into the following themes or categories:

• Crafts & arts
• Outdoor activities & outings
• Games and activities
• Physical activities
• Digital or computer activities
• Philanthropy & social work

💡 Good to know : all the ready-to-use homework activities are created with BookWidgets . You can easily create activities like these yourself or duplicate an activity below for free, edit it if needed, and share it with your students. You can do so in the examples separately, or you can find all the homework examples in the BookWidgets Blog group folder .

Crafts and arts homework

1. prepare a dish from a recipe book.

2. Make a board game

3. Create a birdhouse

4. Transform a fictional book character into a hand puppet

Outdoor homework activities and outings

5. coupon game.

Students can also go grocery shopping with their parents. Here, they have to read the ingredients of the products and help their parents choose the healthiest products for the best prices, figure out the best deal between the sizes of items, …

6. Visit the zoo

7. Visit the local dumping ground or container park

8. Build a tree house

Games and activities as homework

9. bookwidgets games.

10. Minecraft

11. Play Cards

12. Play Zoo Tycoon or Rollercoaster Tycoon

Physical homework activities

13. rope skipping.

Many rope-skipping songs let your students do different tricks while rope-skipping. This is an excellent opportunity for homework as well. Ask your students to transform a rope skipping song into a song with lesson content. Let them count or spell or even sum up the different states or capitals. To engage their lifestyles even harder, you can additionally give them the assignment to create a TikTok in which they are jumping and singing.

Click here to see how you can get Tiktok more involved in the classroom.

14. Walking quest

If there aren’t any walking quests in the neighborhood, you could ask your students to create a walking quest like this for their fellow students. What a fun day it will be!

15. Obstacle Quiz

In order for students to answer the questions, they have to run and pass a challenging parkour. This is a fun homework exercise, and in the end, it’s a great lesson starter or lesson end.

16. Swimming games

After the activity, they can fill out an Exit Slip:

Digital or computer homework activities

17. create a picture album.

This teaches them to handle the online software, add pictures and write without spelling mistakes. And of course, creating memories is so much fun!

18. Video job application

19. Your life in 10 minutes - video

20. Email pen-pals

Is it still too complicated? Read the messages from your students, before they send them, and provide them with some feedback.

Philanthropy and social homework

21. grow a community garden.

22. Help in a retirement home

23. Help at a homeless shelter

24. Collect litter

Here’s another homework tip: Don’t call homework “homework”. Call it a challenge. Homework has become a negative word for students, and I bet they start rolling their eyes as you even mention the word.

Still looking for more inspiration? Check out the blog on short films and lesson activities that spice up your Google Classroom . Tip: even if you don’t use Google Classroom, there is a lot of inspiration back here.

Above you have read single assignments. But, you also have the option to involve your homework in a project. Find out more here .

So, as I mentioned earlier, there are many fun alternatives to traditional homework. Now it’s up to you to apply this in the classroom as well. In this folder , you will find all the examples you have come across.

Which idea do you or perhaps your students like the most? Let us know on Twitter . Of course, there are many more alternatives. If you have other ideas, you are always welcome to share it with other teachers in our Facebook group .

One more thing: don’t forget to say hi👋 on LikedIn .

Join hundreds of thousands of subscribers, and get the best content on technology in education.

BookWidgets enables teachers to create fun and interactive lessons for tablets, smartphones, and computers.

Understanding Assignments

What this handout is about.

The first step in any successful college writing venture is reading the assignment. While this sounds like a simple task, it can be a tough one. This handout will help you unravel your assignment and begin to craft an effective response. Much of the following advice will involve translating typical assignment terms and practices into meaningful clues to the type of writing your instructor expects. See our short video for more tips.

Basic beginnings

Regardless of the assignment, department, or instructor, adopting these two habits will serve you well :

• Read the assignment carefully as soon as you receive it. Do not put this task off—reading the assignment at the beginning will save you time, stress, and problems later. An assignment can look pretty straightforward at first, particularly if the instructor has provided lots of information. That does not mean it will not take time and effort to complete; you may even have to learn a new skill to complete the assignment.
• Ask the instructor about anything you do not understand. Do not hesitate to approach your instructor. Instructors would prefer to set you straight before you hand the paper in. That’s also when you will find their feedback most useful.

Assignment formats

Many assignments follow a basic format. Assignments often begin with an overview of the topic, include a central verb or verbs that describe the task, and offer some additional suggestions, questions, or prompts to get you started.

An Overview of Some Kind

The instructor might set the stage with some general discussion of the subject of the assignment, introduce the topic, or remind you of something pertinent that you have discussed in class. For example:

“Throughout history, gerbils have played a key role in politics,” or “In the last few weeks of class, we have focused on the evening wear of the housefly …”

The Task of the Assignment

Pay attention; this part tells you what to do when you write the paper. Look for the key verb or verbs in the sentence. Words like analyze, summarize, or compare direct you to think about your topic in a certain way. Also pay attention to words such as how, what, when, where, and why; these words guide your attention toward specific information. (See the section in this handout titled “Key Terms” for more information.)

“Analyze the effect that gerbils had on the Russian Revolution”, or “Suggest an interpretation of housefly undergarments that differs from Darwin’s.”

Additional Material to Think about

Here you will find some questions to use as springboards as you begin to think about the topic. Instructors usually include these questions as suggestions rather than requirements. Do not feel compelled to answer every question unless the instructor asks you to do so. Pay attention to the order of the questions. Sometimes they suggest the thinking process your instructor imagines you will need to follow to begin thinking about the topic.

“You may wish to consider the differing views held by Communist gerbils vs. Monarchist gerbils, or Can there be such a thing as ‘the housefly garment industry’ or is it just a home-based craft?”

These are the instructor’s comments about writing expectations:

“Be concise”, “Write effectively”, or “Argue furiously.”

Technical Details

These instructions usually indicate format rules or guidelines.

“Your paper must be typed in Palatino font on gray paper and must not exceed 600 pages. It is due on the anniversary of Mao Tse-tung’s death.”

The assignment’s parts may not appear in exactly this order, and each part may be very long or really short. Nonetheless, being aware of this standard pattern can help you understand what your instructor wants you to do.

Interpreting the assignment

Ask yourself a few basic questions as you read and jot down the answers on the assignment sheet:

Why did your instructor ask you to do this particular task?

Who is your audience.

• What kind of evidence do you need to support your ideas?

What kind of writing style is acceptable?

• What are the absolute rules of the paper?

Try to look at the question from the point of view of the instructor. Recognize that your instructor has a reason for giving you this assignment and for giving it to you at a particular point in the semester. In every assignment, the instructor has a challenge for you. This challenge could be anything from demonstrating an ability to think clearly to demonstrating an ability to use the library. See the assignment not as a vague suggestion of what to do but as an opportunity to show that you can handle the course material as directed. Paper assignments give you more than a topic to discuss—they ask you to do something with the topic. Keep reminding yourself of that. Be careful to avoid the other extreme as well: do not read more into the assignment than what is there.

Of course, your instructor has given you an assignment so that they will be able to assess your understanding of the course material and give you an appropriate grade. But there is more to it than that. Your instructor has tried to design a learning experience of some kind. Your instructor wants you to think about something in a particular way for a particular reason. If you read the course description at the beginning of your syllabus, review the assigned readings, and consider the assignment itself, you may begin to see the plan, purpose, or approach to the subject matter that your instructor has created for you. If you still aren’t sure of the assignment’s goals, try asking the instructor. For help with this, see our handout on getting feedback .

Given your instructor’s efforts, it helps to answer the question: What is my purpose in completing this assignment? Is it to gather research from a variety of outside sources and present a coherent picture? Is it to take material I have been learning in class and apply it to a new situation? Is it to prove a point one way or another? Key words from the assignment can help you figure this out. Look for key terms in the form of active verbs that tell you what to do.

Key Terms: Finding Those Active Verbs

Here are some common key words and definitions to help you think about assignment terms:

Information words Ask you to demonstrate what you know about the subject, such as who, what, when, where, how, and why.

• define —give the subject’s meaning (according to someone or something). Sometimes you have to give more than one view on the subject’s meaning
• describe —provide details about the subject by answering question words (such as who, what, when, where, how, and why); you might also give details related to the five senses (what you see, hear, feel, taste, and smell)
• explain —give reasons why or examples of how something happened
• illustrate —give descriptive examples of the subject and show how each is connected with the subject
• summarize —briefly list the important ideas you learned about the subject
• trace —outline how something has changed or developed from an earlier time to its current form
• research —gather material from outside sources about the subject, often with the implication or requirement that you will analyze what you have found

Relation words Ask you to demonstrate how things are connected.

• compare —show how two or more things are similar (and, sometimes, different)
• contrast —show how two or more things are dissimilar
• apply—use details that you’ve been given to demonstrate how an idea, theory, or concept works in a particular situation
• cause —show how one event or series of events made something else happen
• relate —show or describe the connections between things

Interpretation words Ask you to defend ideas of your own about the subject. Do not see these words as requesting opinion alone (unless the assignment specifically says so), but as requiring opinion that is supported by concrete evidence. Remember examples, principles, definitions, or concepts from class or research and use them in your interpretation.

• assess —summarize your opinion of the subject and measure it against something
• prove, justify —give reasons or examples to demonstrate how or why something is the truth
• evaluate, respond —state your opinion of the subject as good, bad, or some combination of the two, with examples and reasons
• support —give reasons or evidence for something you believe (be sure to state clearly what it is that you believe)
• synthesize —put two or more things together that have not been put together in class or in your readings before; do not just summarize one and then the other and say that they are similar or different—you must provide a reason for putting them together that runs all the way through the paper
• analyze —determine how individual parts create or relate to the whole, figure out how something works, what it might mean, or why it is important
• argue —take a side and defend it with evidence against the other side

More Clues to Your Purpose As you read the assignment, think about what the teacher does in class:

• What kinds of textbooks or coursepack did your instructor choose for the course—ones that provide background information, explain theories or perspectives, or argue a point of view?
• In lecture, does your instructor ask your opinion, try to prove their point of view, or use keywords that show up again in the assignment?
• What kinds of assignments are typical in this discipline? Social science classes often expect more research. Humanities classes thrive on interpretation and analysis.
• How do the assignments, readings, and lectures work together in the course? Instructors spend time designing courses, sometimes even arguing with their peers about the most effective course materials. Figuring out the overall design to the course will help you understand what each assignment is meant to achieve.

Now, what about your reader? Most undergraduates think of their audience as the instructor. True, your instructor is a good person to keep in mind as you write. But for the purposes of a good paper, think of your audience as someone like your roommate: smart enough to understand a clear, logical argument, but not someone who already knows exactly what is going on in your particular paper. Remember, even if the instructor knows everything there is to know about your paper topic, they still have to read your paper and assess your understanding. In other words, teach the material to your reader.

Aiming a paper at your audience happens in two ways: you make decisions about the tone and the level of information you want to convey.

• Tone means the “voice” of your paper. Should you be chatty, formal, or objective? Usually you will find some happy medium—you do not want to alienate your reader by sounding condescending or superior, but you do not want to, um, like, totally wig on the man, you know? Eschew ostentatious erudition: some students think the way to sound academic is to use big words. Be careful—you can sound ridiculous, especially if you use the wrong big words.
• The level of information you use depends on who you think your audience is. If you imagine your audience as your instructor and they already know everything you have to say, you may find yourself leaving out key information that can cause your argument to be unconvincing and illogical. But you do not have to explain every single word or issue. If you are telling your roommate what happened on your favorite science fiction TV show last night, you do not say, “First a dark-haired white man of average height, wearing a suit and carrying a flashlight, walked into the room. Then a purple alien with fifteen arms and at least three eyes turned around. Then the man smiled slightly. In the background, you could hear a clock ticking. The room was fairly dark and had at least two windows that I saw.” You also do not say, “This guy found some aliens. The end.” Find some balance of useful details that support your main point.

You’ll find a much more detailed discussion of these concepts in our handout on audience .

The Grim Truth

With a few exceptions (including some lab and ethnography reports), you are probably being asked to make an argument. You must convince your audience. It is easy to forget this aim when you are researching and writing; as you become involved in your subject matter, you may become enmeshed in the details and focus on learning or simply telling the information you have found. You need to do more than just repeat what you have read. Your writing should have a point, and you should be able to say it in a sentence. Sometimes instructors call this sentence a “thesis” or a “claim.”

So, if your instructor tells you to write about some aspect of oral hygiene, you do not want to just list: “First, you brush your teeth with a soft brush and some peanut butter. Then, you floss with unwaxed, bologna-flavored string. Finally, gargle with bourbon.” Instead, you could say, “Of all the oral cleaning methods, sandblasting removes the most plaque. Therefore it should be recommended by the American Dental Association.” Or, “From an aesthetic perspective, moldy teeth can be quite charming. However, their joys are short-lived.”

Convincing the reader of your argument is the goal of academic writing. It doesn’t have to say “argument” anywhere in the assignment for you to need one. Look at the assignment and think about what kind of argument you could make about it instead of just seeing it as a checklist of information you have to present. For help with understanding the role of argument in academic writing, see our handout on argument .

What kind of evidence do you need?

There are many kinds of evidence, and what type of evidence will work for your assignment can depend on several factors–the discipline, the parameters of the assignment, and your instructor’s preference. Should you use statistics? Historical examples? Do you need to conduct your own experiment? Can you rely on personal experience? See our handout on evidence for suggestions on how to use evidence appropriately.

Make sure you are clear about this part of the assignment, because your use of evidence will be crucial in writing a successful paper. You are not just learning how to argue; you are learning how to argue with specific types of materials and ideas. Ask your instructor what counts as acceptable evidence. You can also ask a librarian for help. No matter what kind of evidence you use, be sure to cite it correctly—see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial .

You cannot always tell from the assignment just what sort of writing style your instructor expects. The instructor may be really laid back in class but still expect you to sound formal in writing. Or the instructor may be fairly formal in class and ask you to write a reflection paper where you need to use “I” and speak from your own experience.

Try to avoid false associations of a particular field with a style (“art historians like wacky creativity,” or “political scientists are boring and just give facts”) and look instead to the types of readings you have been given in class. No one expects you to write like Plato—just use the readings as a guide for what is standard or preferable to your instructor. When in doubt, ask your instructor about the level of formality they expect.

No matter what field you are writing for or what facts you are including, if you do not write so that your reader can understand your main idea, you have wasted your time. So make clarity your main goal. For specific help with style, see our handout on style .

Technical details about the assignment

The technical information you are given in an assignment always seems like the easy part. This section can actually give you lots of little hints about approaching the task. Find out if elements such as page length and citation format (see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial ) are negotiable. Some professors do not have strong preferences as long as you are consistent and fully answer the assignment. Some professors are very specific and will deduct big points for deviations.

Usually, the page length tells you something important: The instructor thinks the size of the paper is appropriate to the assignment’s parameters. In plain English, your instructor is telling you how many pages it should take for you to answer the question as fully as you are expected to. So if an assignment is two pages long, you cannot pad your paper with examples or reword your main idea several times. Hit your one point early, defend it with the clearest example, and finish quickly. If an assignment is ten pages long, you can be more complex in your main points and examples—and if you can only produce five pages for that assignment, you need to see someone for help—as soon as possible.

Tricks that don’t work

Your instructors are not fooled when you:

• spend more time on the cover page than the essay —graphics, cool binders, and cute titles are no replacement for a well-written paper.
• use huge fonts, wide margins, or extra spacing to pad the page length —these tricks are immediately obvious to the eye. Most instructors use the same word processor you do. They know what’s possible. Such tactics are especially damning when the instructor has a stack of 60 papers to grade and yours is the only one that low-flying airplane pilots could read.
• use a paper from another class that covered “sort of similar” material . Again, the instructor has a particular task for you to fulfill in the assignment that usually relates to course material and lectures. Your other paper may not cover this material, and turning in the same paper for more than one course may constitute an Honor Code violation . Ask the instructor—it can’t hurt.
• get all wacky and “creative” before you answer the question . Showing that you are able to think beyond the boundaries of a simple assignment can be good, but you must do what the assignment calls for first. Again, check with your instructor. A humorous tone can be refreshing for someone grading a stack of papers, but it will not get you a good grade if you have not fulfilled the task.

Critical reading of assignments leads to skills in other types of reading and writing. If you get good at figuring out what the real goals of assignments are, you are going to be better at understanding the goals of all of your classes and fields of study.

You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Make a Gift

• Skip to primary navigation
• Skip to main content
• Skip to primary sidebar
• Skip to footer

TheHomeSchoolMom

Homeschooling help and encouragement from experienced homeschoolers - find out how homeschooling works and how to start, get tips & ideas for when things need adjusting, read curriculum reviews before buying, learn how online schools work, gain confidence about homeschooling high school, and more.

• Subscriber Exclusives

Homeschooling 101

• Homeschool Blog
• Deschooling
• Homeschooling Styles
• Homeschooling High School
• Help by Subject
• Curriculum Reviews
• Local & State
• Homeschool Planner
• Meal Plans & Recipes

Free Digital Homeschool Planner

Looking for our printable homeschool planner ?

Get the Digital Homeschool Planner for Excel »

Get the Digital Homeschool Planner for Open Office »

What this digital homeschool planner IS:

• Expandable to cover all years of a student's schooling from elementary grades through high school
• A solution for producing simple, clean report cards
• A solution for keeping track of assignments given and completed, including the amount of time spent
• A solution for keeping attendance
• Printable (be sure to set your print area to only the portion that you want to print)
• Compatible with Excel and Open Office

What this planner ISN'T:

• A comprehensive solution that will keep all information for all students in one file (it is designed to be used one workbook per student)
• A database planner like Homeschool Tracker Plus ( affiliate link )
• Compatible with Excel reader (you must have the full version of Excel or plan to use the Open Office version)
• Perfect. There are things that will need to be fixed and improved as the planner is used - we welcome your feedback for both error reports and suggestions.

Terms of Use: Our website and resources (including this planner) are offered without representation as to their fitness for any purpose, and without warranty of any kind, either express or implied, including without limitation the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. Your use of our website, e-books, and other resources is your agreement to these terms. If you do not agree with these terms, please do not use our resources.

Notes and FAQs about Homeschool Planner Plus:

I want to edit the planner but it is password protected. Can I have the password?

Yes. The spreadsheet's cells with formulas are locked to prevent unintentional changes to the formulas, which could cause incorrect calculations for GPA and credits earned. Unlock the pages at your own risk using the password letmein .

Will the Digital Homeschool Planner calculate course grades based on the weight of different assignment types?

Yes. When you enter the course details for each course in Homeschool Planner Plus, you may customize the weight given to each type of assignment (homework, projects, tests, etc.). The spreadsheet will calculate the course grade from the weighted averages for the totals of each assignment type.

Will the Digital Homeschool Planner calculate GPA and credits?

Yes. The planner is set up so that it will calculate a weighted GPA for the student based on the grade and weighting information entered into the spreadsheet. This means that in addition to calculating a standard GPA, the digital homeschool planner will also take into account the fact that AP and Honors classes carry weighted grades. The planner will account for half-year classes as well by weighting them as a half credit course.

I have Excel and the file says it cannot be opened because it is password protected. What is wrong?

If you have Excel, make sure you get the Excel version of the planner. The Open Office Version will work in Open Office but Excel seems to get confused when trying to open the Open Office version.

Why can't I keep track of all of my children in the same workbook?

Because of the way the spreadsheets are interconnected, and just one child will have dozens of spreadsheets within their own workbook by the time they graduate, it is inefficient to have more than one student per workbook. If you need to keep track of everyone in one file, I recommend Homeschool Tracker Plus ( affiliate link ) which is a much more complex and robust planner than our digital homeschool planner.

Why can't I enter the courses once in the Course Planner and have them show up in Course Details?

The workbook is large and adding course detail sheets for every course that might be taken from elementary through high school would make it extremely unwieldy. By allowing you to duplicate the Course Details sheet only enough times for the courses that your child is actually taking, we can keep the file more manageable. For someone only using Homeschool Planner Plus for high school, there will only be 24-30 courses and therefore 24-30 Course Detail sheets. For someone using Homeschool Planner Plus starting in elementary school, there could easily be 100+ Course Detail sheets. That's a lot of scrolling through tabs for someone who doesn't need it.

If you would like to only enter the information once on the Course Planner page, simply create a Course Details page for each course your student is taking. In the Course Description box on the Course Details sheet, type in a plus sign (+) and navigate to the cell on the Course Planner sheet that contains the Course & Provider for that subject. Click on the cell and then click the "enter" button on your keyboard. The contents of that cell will now appear on your Course Details sheet for that course and will update if you update the information on the Course Planner page. If you do this, remember not to move information around on the Course Planner page or you will change the contents of the Course Description on the Course Details page.

Why isn't there a calendar?

Since the Digital Homeschool Planner is designed to be used for many years, it does not include a calendar. If you want a calendar, it is better to use a hard copy of our printable homeschool planner with monthly and yearly calendars or a more robust digital planner like Homeschool Tracker Plus ( affiliate link ).

Why don't the grades from each Course Details Page automatically transfer to the Report Card sheets?

This is prevented for the same reason that you can't enter the courses once in the Course Planner and have them show up in Course Details. In order to create a workbook that would have enough Course Details pages for every course a child might take, there would be an excessive number of tabs across the bottom (possibly hundreds of tabs). Once the numerical grade for each course is manually transferred to the appropriate cell on the Report Card sheet, the formulas will automatically calculate the GPA for the student.

Homeschool Transcript Maker Now Separate

Our digital homeschool planner formerly included an older version of our transcript template. Our homeschool transcript maker is now revised and updated and is available as a separate file.

Get the Homeschool Transcript Template»

Reader Interactions

Leave a reply cancel reply.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed .

I have the planner! Thank you!

How to edit the school name, student’s name, etc.? My excel does not show an info tab.

Hi Jessica - There are more tabs than fit on the screen, so you need to use the arrows at the bottom to navigate to the left to see the rest of the tabs (including Student Info).

This is amazing! Thank you so much for making this available.

Hello. I tried to get the transcripts and high school planner but it is not letting me. Thank you for all of the information. It has helped so much.

Sorry for the trouble - this is fixed now!

I am new to this and confused. On the course detail page. What do we put in the fields for independent work, quiz, test and other. I am also totally lost with the middle school planner tab what would go there?

You may not need all of the spreadsheets or columns for your specific situation. I made room for various types of work that might be submitted, but you can use the columns however you want to. At the top you will see a % above the name of each column. That is the % of the total grade (displayed in the top right of the spreadsheet with the label "Grade") that you would like to allocate to each type of work. The hours spent is just for your own records.

In the screenshot below, I have a course for which I want to calculate the grade by using 10% independent work/homework, 40% quizzes, and 50% tests. I've highlighted where you can set those weights in yellow. I've entered 5 assignments falling into those types of work. (You only put the grade for each into the column for that category or the formulas will not work properly.)

The two independent work assignments have grades of 100 & 95, and that category is weighted at 10% of the total grade. The sheet will add up all of the items in a specific category/column, find the average, then multiply it by the weight assigned to that category. This means that until you have an assignment in all of the categories that have weights, the course grade at the top will look very low.

When you enter an assignment and put a grade into a column, the formulas automatically calculate the grade for the course using the weights you assigned to each type of work.

The course planners are solely for your informational purposes as you make out your plans for your student's year. When planning, I like a simple summary of the name of the course, the resource I am using, how much it costs, and if it is for credit (usually only for 8th grade and up as credit is only given for high school level courses). That is what I have provided space for in the course planner sheets. You are free to use or not use those pages.

Similarly, if your state does not have attendance requirements, you may not need or want to use that sheet.

I hope this helps.

I needed to add a row on the transcript+- form and now it won't allow the GPA to register. Suggestions?

Hi Sharon - Each row has a cell with the formula used to calculate the assigned grade point value for that class which is in turn used to calculate the total GPA. If you haven't done so, please copy the GPA formula in column I from an existing row into the same column in the new inserted row, and also put either 0 or the weight in column D.

Hi, Mary Ann. Thanks for all your work! Heads up, though: Your instructions don't work for unlocking a tab (TOOLS > PROTECTION > UNPROTECTED SHEET) requires a password. Share that with users, and you'll have really created something valuable that can be customized and developed for each individual homeschool!

Hi Todd. Thanks for your comment. I'm not having any problem unlocking the sheets with password letmein as instructed above. Could you let me know exactly what issue you are having along with any details that might help me diagnose the issue (which tab, what password you are using, which version of Excel, etc.)?

I have entered all my grades but can't copy the formulas. I know its locked but I can't figure out how to unlock it. Could it by I'm using the college excel that comes from the school and not off my computer? We no longer have microsoft after updating our computers. It no longer works so we've been using the college one. Please advise. I need to get this done.

Hi Christi - The spreadsheets are designed for Excel and have not been tested with educational versions of the software. You should be able to unlock the spreadsheet by going to TOOLS > PROTECTION > UNPROTECTED SHEET and entering letmein as the password. If that doesn't work, it's possible that your software has limited functionality. If that is the case, you might try Libre Office, a free spreadsheet program that usually works with Excel files.

Hi Mary Ann. Thank you for making this wonderful resource available to all! I have 2 children and I was able to copy each page for my 2nd child. I followed the steps for changing the name for the 2nd child, and I got as far as the Elementary Course Planner before the program stopped allowing me to do the same for any of the rest of the tabs. What might I be doing wrong? Thanks for any help you can give!

Hi Robin - Did you create an entirely new workbook for the second child, or did you try to add pages for the second child in the first child's workbook? The name and other information is fed from the student information page to the other pages, so if you try to put two students in one workbook Excel doesn't know what to do. If you created a new workbook for the second student, did you delete any pages?

This is such an incredible gift to all homeschoolers, especially for high school! Thank you for providing this for free as I am sure this took a while to create. I love working with Excel and appreciate the ability to tweak as needed. I'm so happy I clicked on this site!

I'm so glad you find it useful, Jennifer!

I'm having trouble with the grades when I go on to the 2nd page. Everything works great for the first page of a subject, but once I've done more than the 28 allotted spots on page 1, it stops calculating the overall grade. Has anyone else had this problem and what did you do to fix it?

Thanks for any help

Hi Heidi - can you give me more details? I tested this on the Course Details tab in both the quizzes and tests columns and the averages adjusted fine.

Thoughts that might help you track down the problem: Have you unlocked any of the protected cells and changed anything? Are you using Excel (preferred) or another program? Have you downloaded a fresh copy and pasted the grades in to see if it might be just your data file that has the issue?

Hi Mary Ann, thank you so much for responding to me. I did not knowingly change any cells. I am using excel, and I did try pasting in grades and I still have the same problem. I have now gone down for each class onto page 2 and it's having the same problems across the board on both of my students.

I'm not sure what to tell you since I can't replicate the problem. Have you tried starting with a fresh copy and entering the grades to see if the same thing happens? If that fixes it, you could delete the current spreadsheets and replace them with the ones from the fresh copy. To do this, you right-click the tab and use the options to delete the current spreadsheet, then right-click the new ones (make sure both workbooks are open) and choose Move, then use the dropdown list to choose the other workbook.

I don't know how I missed that! Thank you again!

First of all, thank you! I can imagine how much time and effort when into both the digital and the printable planners. I truly appreciate your generosity in making these available to the homeschooling community.

I have a question about the course details pages; they have 19 fields for entering data such as independent work, quizzes and test - is there a way to add more fields? I would need 180 to enter daily assignments or 36 to enter it weekly. How do you use it?

Sincerely, PattyD

Hi Patty - If you scroll down, there are entry lines going down through line 300 so there should be plenty of room to enter all of the assignments. The 19 fields are just the first page. ?

This sounds like just what I'm looking for, however when I try to open the program I get a window that says it's in an unrecognizable format. I have Windows Excel, so I do not know what the problem would be.

Hi Jeanyce - it sounds like the file might not have downloaded properly. I'd try redownloading it and choose "save as" instead of opening it directly. Then open Excel and do a File > Open.

I'm not sure what the problem could be if that doesn't solve it since I have not had any other reports of not being able to open it on a PC or laptop. If you are trying to use a tablet, I'm not sure if there is a difference but it *should* work.

Hi Mary Ann!

I've been using this for a couple of years and copying the sheets, etc. Now that I'm trying to create a transcript I have an issue with the Grade field. It isn't letting me edit (worked fine for 10th grade - first year I used it), but is giving odd numbers for 11th. One sheet says 20 another says 45! Where does it grab this information?

Hi Nancy - Could you send me more details through this form ? I'm not sure I understand exactly what you are trying to do and what is going wrong. Without knowing the exact cells you are referring to, I can't really comment. Let me know whether you are trying to reuse the same workbook or a fresh copy, whether you deleted any tabs/spreadsheets, what you are trying to calculate, etc.

Well, I answered part of my question! What I'm trying to do is get the next year's sheets to update on the course planner block. I didn't delete anything I was aware of...I guess I'm trying to reuse the same workbook by adding new tabs for the different courses. Thanks so much for taking the time to reply!

I'm glad you figured it out!

Mary Anne, I am sorry please disregard my last message but I need help in how to add second and third students with their information and courses.

Thanks, Bettie Gross

Hi Bettie - I suggest using a separate spreadsheet for each child. When you download the file, save a master blank copy and create one for each student.

I clicked the excel version for the plan to be downloaded into Excel, but I see nothing done. How do I start? Are there directions for me to use, I would love to use this program but I guess I don't understand what to do. I have never used Excel

Thanks, Bettie

Thanks for letting me know that you figured it out. 🙂

Thank you for creating and sharing this valuable tool! Question - when I click on the Report Card tab, there is only room for one year on there. How do I add the other three years?

You can make copies of any of the tabs by right-clicking on the tab and choosing "Move or copy" (be sure to check copy on the options that come up).

Thanks! Duh, that answer was too easy. I must have been tired that night! lol

Another question - In the Report Card section, would you add weight for a Dual Enrollment class at the community college? Or, do you just note at the bottom of the transcript that they were college classes? Or would you consider adding weight for Honors/AP? And if so, how much?

I did things differently for each child. I never used report cards, but for the transcripts I chose to either weight the DE class grade or count it as more credits unweighted. The way I did it depended on how many credits the child had/needed, and it showed clearly how I counted it on the transcript. I don't think there is one right way to do it. We didn't do any Honors/AP, only DE so I can only speak to that.

This seems like a dumb question, but I am hopeful...can I use this on my smart phone? We dont have a computer at home, but this looks so wonderful!!

I haven't used it on my phone, but I would think that you would be able to download it and open it in Google Sheets on your phone. I'm not sure if all of the calculations will stay intact since I haven't tested it, but it's worth a try.

This was exactly what I was looking for before creating it all on my own. Thank you so much for sharing it with the homeschool community...such a blessing!!

I'm glad you found it helpful!

I've set everything up in the spreadsheet for my Son who is a Freshman this year and all of the credit hours were calculating, etc...but now, for some reason, it is showing #REF! in the cell for 'Total Cumulative Credits'. I have checked all of the cells for the credit hours and there is nothing in them other than 1's so why is it doing this? Thanks~!! It's a great resource! 😉

I was able to figure this out for Judy and wanted to post it here in case anyone else runs into the issue. The problem that she ran into with the #REF! on the High School Course Planner sheet was due to deleting the Middle School Course Planner sheet. Since some kids take courses for high school credit in 8th grade, those carry over from the 8th grade block on the Middle School Course Planner to the cumulative credits on the High School Course Planner.

Not all 8th grade courses will have a credit, but things like Algebra and Foreign Language will count towards total graduation credits. To solve the problem the file can be unlocked with the password letmein to change the formula to remove the reference to the Middle School sheet, or you can download a fresh copy and add the middle school sheet back to your current file (have both files open and right click the Middle School tab on the clean file and chose Move and then select your customized file from the dropdown list to move the sheet to the other file).

Hi Judy - Have you unlocked the locked cells? I can't replicate this, but I'll email you and if you want to send me a copy of your spreadsheet I'll take a look at it.

Hi...This may seem like a silly question but what is the difference between the sheets: Report Card 10pt Scale and Report Card 10pt +/- Scale?

The 10 pt. scale is strictly 4.0, 3.0, 2.0, etc. when calculating the GPA: 90-100 = 4.0 80 - 89 = 3.0 etc. The 10 pt. +/- scale adds in adjustments for A+, A-, B+, B-, etc. so that instead of everything from 90-100 being a 4.0, you show variations within the letter grade: 90 = 4.0 95 = 4.25 100 = 4.50

It allows for showing a more accurate reflection of a student's grades in the calculated GPA.

Love this planner, but I was desperately hoping I could simply copy a sheet from one child's book to the other (I have twins and a child one grade ahead of them, so MANY assignments for subjects like science and history are the same). I was able to copy the course details sheet successfully from one child's book to another's, but I can't seem to edit the child's name in the copied version. It's not a huge deal right now because they're in elementary school...but is there any way to change that cell for future reference? The information on the student information sheet is correct, just not the copied sheet. I tried unlocking that sheet so I could edit it, but that particular cell is still un-editable.

Thanks for your work in putting this together!

Hi Betsy - I haven't tried to do that, but the cell gets its info from the info page. Are you trying to do your other child's page in a separate workbook or the same workbook? Either way, you can edit the cells to pull info from elsewhere by unlocking them. As noted above the password to unlock the protection is letmein.

Thanks for your response! I have a separate workbook for each child and filled in the appropriate child info in each book. And when I tried the password listed above, it let me edit the formula cells, but still not the student name one on the sheet I copied from one book to the other. I'll keep playing around with it. Thanks again.

Hi Betsy - I was able to get this to work in the following way:

1- Copy the course page from Child 1 into the workbook for Child 2 by right-clicking the tab, choosing Move or Copy, and choosing Child 2's workbook from the dropdown.

2- Unlock the sheet in Child 2's workbook using the password letmein .

3- Place your cursor in the cell where Child 1's name appears on the unlocked sheet. You should see something in the address bar that looks like a reference to the info sheet in Child 1's workbook. Click the + sign on your keyboard, the without clicking anything else on that sheet, navigate to the student info sheet in Child 2's workbook.

4- Click the cell that contains Child 2's name and then hit enter on your keyboard.

5- Navigate back to the course tab in Child 2's workbook. You should now see Child 2's name on the course page as the student.

6- Repeat for each sheet copied from Child 1's workbook to Child 2's workbook.

Let me know if this works for you. Basically that cell is pulling the student's name from the Student Info sheet in the workbook that the sheet was copied from (in this case, Child 1's workbook), and that doesn't change when you move the sheet to a new workbook. You have to manually tell each sheet to reference the cell on the Student Info page in the new workbook.

My daughter is fixing to finish her sophmore year up at a private school! We are thinking of letting her finish her junior AND senior year at home! How do I figure up how many classes she needs to graduate early?

I am new to this homeschooling plan, I would really like a syllabus, or a planner for the remainder of this year. We, her and i have had unfortunate stability problems this year. Many moves and many emotions has caused my daughter anxiety that enables her to go to school and complete the day. I do not want her to have to lose this knowledge /education for her junior year.

Pls help me

I completely feel what you are saying Heidi; help us lead the way. We are lost. Lol. No for real are there any freebies, detailed day-by-day, or an entire year syllabus for classes/grades. (If I am way off, I apologize).

In my case, it would be so beneficial. Even with everyone's homeschool design isn't exactly identical, I'm sure there must be!

Thanks Mary Ann.

Hi Stephanie - I think you would find Easy Peasy All in One Curriculum helpful. I have not used it but it is free and quite popular. There is a separate version for high school. Hope this helps!

Hi Heidi - I'm not exactly sure what you are asking; could you clarify? Are you just asking for a form to use with your curriculum/plans, or are you asking for a curriculum to finish your daughter's junior year?

Hi Angie - Homeschooling is regulated by the state. I live in Virginia, and there are no set requirements for earning a high school degree for homeschoolers here. What we did was look at the colleges where the child might attend and see what their requirements are for high school. That gave us a good idea of how many credits to shoot for, and we designed a high school program to meet that number while including the expected number of credits in each subject area.

Colleges won't want to see a diploma, they will want to see a transcript and most of them will tell you on their websites what classes they want to see. If your child is not college bound, you have even more flexibility.

WHAT variable to u put in for attendance?

A capital X would be fine if you are keeping track in the spreadsheet, or a checkmark if you are printing it off and using a paper copy.

I want to correct myself here - if you want the attendance to automatically tally for you the number of days for the year, you will need to put a 1 or a .5 in the box for the day.

Most Popular Posts

• Choosing the Best Homeschool Curriculum
• Going from Homeschooling to Public School
• High School Transcript Template
• Homeschool Curriculum Reviews
• Homeschool Planner Files
• What Curriculum Should I Use For My Preschooler?
• What to Use Instead of Homeschool Curriculum
• Get Started Homeschooling
• Getting Homeschool Discounts
• Getting Your Homeschool Organized
• Homeschooling FAQs
• Quickstart Guide to Homeschooling
• The Importance of Deschooling
• What About Socialization

Homeschool Helps

• 6 Steps To Get Started Homeschooling
• High School & Beyond
• Homeschool Field Trips
• Homeschooling on a Budget
• Lapbooks in the Homeschool
• Notebooks in the Homeschool
• Sources for Used Curriculum
• Timelines in the Homeschool

Latest Blog Posts

• Pathways to Reading Homeschool Review
• How We Homeschool 10th Grade: Outsourcing, Interest-Led, and Box-Checking
• 10 YouTube Channels For Kids Who Love The Great Outdoors
• Colleges That Have Accepted Homeschooled Students
• Homeschool Dual Enrollment & More: Earn College Credit While Homeschooling

Popular Topics

• Benefits of Homeschooling
• Right-Brained Learning
• What to Use Instead of Curriculum
• Transcripts and Record-Keeping

As featured on

You are using an outdated browser. Please upgrade your browser or activate Google Chrome Frame to improve your experience.

13 Entertaining ESL Homework Ideas to Keep Your Students Engaged

Homework may not be many students’ favorite thing, but research says it’s truly an effective learning tool that teachers should use .

The trick is assigning great homework.

To help you do this with ease, we’ve compiled an awesome list of 13 homework assignments that will have your ESL students begging for more.

1. Read a Short Story

2. share a passion, 3. start a chat group, 4. listen to a podcast, 5. write a letter, 6. write an amazon review, 7. do a wikipedia edit, 8. write a short story or poem, 9. share their culture, 10. catch a movie, 11. meet new people, 12. analyze a song, 13. go on a photo scavenger hunt, what makes homework effective.

Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)

Have students read a short story for homework and then ask them to tell the class about the story in the next session.

I would recommend giving students some suggestions on what short stories to read, depending on the level of your students.

Here are some suggestions of short story collections for each level of ESL learner:

• “The Very First Americans” by Cara Ashrose: This collection of short stories features Native American culture and history, written in simple language.
• “Oxford Bookworms Library: Starter Level” This series offers simplified versions of classic stories, such as fairy tales, adventure stories and more.
• “Classic Tales for ESL Students” by L.A. Hill: This collection of classic stories from literature is retold with easier vocabulary and sentence structure.

Intermediate

• “The Best American Short Stories” This series features contemporary short stories from a wide range of American writers, so there’s something for everyone here.
• “Short Stories in English for Intermediate Learners” by Olly Richards: This collection of engaging stories is designed specifically for intermediate ESL students.
• “Roald Dahl: The Collected Short Stories” This delightful collection of quirky and imaginative tales has become a favorite of many of my students.
• “Interpreter of Maladies” by Jhumpa Lahiri: This Pulitzer Prize-winning collection of short stories explores the immigrant experience, something which many ESL students can relate to.
• “Dubliners” by James Joyce: This classic collection of interconnected stories captures the essence of Dublin in 1914. But it still feels modern to many students.
• “Nine Stories” by J.D. Salinger: This classic collection of short stories is a class favorite when I’ve used it.

What do your students really care about? Give them a chance to talk about it in front of the class. 

Have each person choose something they’re passionate about, something they might consider themselves an expert on.

Challenge students to think of a creative way to present five must-know facts about that subject. They might make a movie, create a poster or brochure, write a song or even put on a skit.

Have each person present their creative project to the class, and then give the class five minutes to ask questions of the presenter.

Set certain parameters like students must speak in complete sentences or require that every student ask at least two questions at some point during the presentations.

Students will love sharing about their passions, and they’ll get some great speaking, listening and discourse information in the process, as well as teach the rest of the class some interesting vocabulary.

Ask for class for a volunteer to start a class WhatsApp chat group. They can also decide to use another messaging app like Telegram, Viber, Voxer or any other app that has a group chat function. 

Encourage them to send at least one message and to respond to a couple others for their homework. 

This text group has the added advantage of students being able to make friends with one another, and a place to ask about missed homework assignments on days when they can’t make it to class.

Note that if a student doesn’t want to be included in the chat group, you should have a back up assignment prepared for them.

Listening is one of the ESL student’s most difficult skills to acquire, so listening to a short podcast episode is ideal homework.

You can ask students to write a little about the podcast to turn in to you, or you can ask them to briefly summarize what they heard for the class in the next session.

Here are some suggestions for well done podcasts:

The English We Speak : Produced by the BBC, this podcast focuses on teaching commonly used phrases and idioms in conversational English.

The Moth : A storytelling podcast where real people share their personal experiences and anecdotes in English.

Stuff You Should Know : Though not specifically designed for ESL students, this podcast covers a vast array of interesting topics, providing exposure to diverse vocabulary and subject matters.

Ask your students to write a letter . The letter can be written to a friend or family member (which they could then actually mail or email), or it could be a fan letter to a favorite musician or actor. They could even write a letter to Santa Claus or a historical figure. 

For example, a student might choose to write a letter to Marie Antoinette, asking her what it was like to be the queen of France at such a young age. 

You can also choose to have students write letters to one another. Then the next homework can be writing that letter writer back.

Ask you students to review a product on Amazon (or any other shopping website that has reviews). Ask them to select a product they have really used, so they have a genuine opinion on the quality of the product and whether it lived up to their expectations.

Then, in the next session, show the reviews on the overhead projector to the class and ask a student to read the review.

You can then go over any errors in vocabulary, grammar or sentence structure and revise the review together as a class.

Since anyone can edit a Wikipedia article, it’s a great place for ESL students to hone their writing and editing skills, and they’ll have a built-in readership, too!

Ask students to select a person that they know a lot about—a well-known figure from history, pop culture, music or film would all work. Then ask them to read the Wikipedia entry to see if they can add anything else to the article.

Perhaps the article on Ryan Gosling is missing a key detail about his recent Ken performance. If so, the student will revise and edit the article. They should take notes on what they changed, so they can explain it to you or the class the next day.

Ask your students to get creative. Have them write a short story or a poem . This can get them to use descriptive language that they don’t always have a chance to use.

One good activity to do before you assign this homework is an adjective bubble chart. For this, you start with one adjective. For example, write “moist” on the board, circle it and then draw 4-5 lines coming off of the”moist” bubble.

Ask your students to come up with other adjectives that are related to “moist” and so on. They may come up with “wet,” “watery,” “soaked” or “damp.” Then draw lines from each of those. This can lead to words that you never expected to come up.

Have your students select 3-4 adjectives from this introduction activity that they’ll use in their story or poem.

Ask your students to prepare a short presentation on an aspect of their home culture to tell the class about in the next session. 

For example, a student from China may explain the Lunar New Year, a student from Vietnam may explain Tet or a student from El Salvador may tell the class about their quinceañera .

They can use photos, art, a PowerPoint presentation or they can just explain in their own words.

Then open the class up for questions.

Can you legitimately send students to the movies for homework? You can when you’re teaching ESL.

Your students don’t have to commit to a full-length movie. Instead, you can use the videos on FluentU to screen mini-lessons using clips from TV shows and movies, movie trailers, news segments, vlogs or music videos.

Use these videos in the classroom or assign homework to watch a few and complete the subsequent quizzes. You can also ask students to complete flashcard quizzes based on vocabulary words you want them to pay special attention to. These quizzes are adaptable so every student will have a unique experience catered to his learning level.

There are plenty of ways to use a movie for language development. And whether students watch a new release or catch an old Elvis flick on TV, they can do any of the following activities as homework:

• Summarize the plot.
• Describe a main character.
• Note new or interesting vocabulary (particularly slang) they hear while watching.
• Write an interview with one of the characters in the movie.

I’m sure you also have your favorite movie-related language activities and many work as homework assignments. So get creative with how you have students share about what they watched.

For the most part, people are willing to help someone in need, and that is doubly true for someone who needs to complete an assignment for school.

That’s why sending students out to interview native speakers on campus is such a fun homework assignment.

Start by helping your students write a list of questions they’ll use for their interviews. Students can choose a topic or you can assign one, like leisure activities or celebrity news.

Tell students to list five to ten questions they might ask on that topic that will elicit specific answers. 

As a class, discuss how students might introduce themselves to a potential interviewee. 

Then send students out to their interviews after class. They can share the answers they got in the next session.

Music is great for English learners since it stresses many aspects of language that can otherwise be hard to isolate, like the emotion of language, intonation and stress.

Have students choose their favorite English language song to listen to for homework and then ask them to do the following:

• Practice the lyrics to learn intonation and rhythm.
• Note slang and cultural references in the songs.
• Summarize the theme of the song, or just what it’s about.
• Have students share their favorite lyrics and what a particular song means to them.

Give individual students or groups of up to three students a list of items to find on their homework scavenger hunt. But instead of being specific in your list (for example, including items such as cat), be descriptive in your list.

You might include items such as something frightening, something beautiful, something quiet, something cool.

Students find items they think fit the description. For example, someone who is claustrophobic might choose an elevator for something frightening. They then take a picture of it.

The next day, have each person get with a partner and show them the pictures they took for each item on the list.

If the connection is not obvious, students should ask their partner to explain why they chose a particular item, such as the elevator.

Assigning homework that works isn’t as hard as you might think, especially if you focus on the following points.

• Put your homework in writing. It can be tempting to just announce homework assignments to students at the end of class, but language learners benefit when you reinforce what you say with what they can see. So take a minute to write any homework assignment on the board so students can read it as well as listen to it.
• Let students know what goals you have for a particular assignment. Is it practicing a certain grammar point ? Improving their listening skills ? Pronunciation practice ? When students know why they’re doing something, they’ll be able to tell on their own when they’ve successfully completed their homework assignment.
• Keep your homework practical . Your students may not find themselves planning out a menu for Thanksgiving when they leave your ESL classroom, but odds are they’ll have to order food at a restaurant at some point. Think about realistic ways students will have to use English in the real world and try to make your homework practical.
• Let your students be creative . Give your students choices on how they express themselves or present information. It’s okay for students to make a home movie, put on a one-man play or paint a picture to present to the class. Just because you prefer a particular type of creative expression doesn’t mean your students do, so give them choices and let them express themselves.
• Make homework fun! Every class has its own personality, so what’s fun for one might not be fun for another. Tailor your assignments to the personality of your class. Think about what they would think is fun, and go with that.

No matter what you believed in your student days, homework doesn’t have to be boring. With a little creativity when assigning homework, you might find that the activities you assign for outside of class become the highlights of your students’ days.

Enter your e-mail address to get your free PDF!

We hate SPAM and promise to keep your email address safe

Creative Homework Ideas

Learn Bright Lessons include many creative ideas for classroom instruction and student learning. Students are asked to work independently or with their peers, fostering their collaboration skills. Of course, the lessons also include many traditional learning exercises. Such as, multiple-choice questions, matching, fill in the blank responses, and others. Since every school and classroom is different, any lesson used with students can be adapted.

Whether you are assigning homework based on Learn Bright lessons or your own school’s curriculum, the homework you assign is essential for learning. Some schools across the country have banned assigning homework to students while others limit the amount each night. If you do assign homework, there are several creative ideas you can use that will motivate your students to complete the homework you assign.

Creative hands-on learning activities and other similar learning ideas in the classroom are quite effective. They can be just as effective at home as well for a wide variety of subjects and assignments. In every student’s home, there is “stuff” and other resources that can be accessed to help students review a concept taught at school. Here are a few samples for different subjects:

MATH – Multiplication Facts

 Students use the numbers that appear on product labels and multiply them together. Not only do they get multiplication practice, but they may also be introduced to a food label in a new way. It encourages the students to read food and other product labels. In this way, they can relate what they learn in class to the real world. Showing them when they will use these concepts in their everyday lives.

SCIENCE – Solids, Liquids, Gases

Students conduct a home or neighborhood search for items that are solids, liquids, or gases. For example, they can open the refrigerator and list milk, juice, and other beverages as liquids. The containers, butter, veggies, and more as solids. Carbonated drinks can be listed as containing gas. You can ask them later about eggs or Jell-O and other items that may be both solid and liquid. This reinforces their learning by allowing them to explore and use their creativity to complete the assignment.

SOCIAL STUDIES – Older Adult Interviews

 Students may be studying topics in history from the past 50 to 100 years. With this exercise, they interview an older adult who lived through the event that they are studying. They obtain opinions and feelings related to the event. They also confirm (or dispute) facts the students have been taught. Finally, they discuss how the person was affected by the event. This gives them a deeper understanding of that event and shows them the value of primary sources.

LANGUAGE ARTS – Parts of Speech Search

Students practice identifying the seven parts of speech while at home. They do this by listing examples that are used during family conversations or those words found on product labels.

Describing Things

Students use each of the five senses to write descriptive sentences related to things at home or in the neighborhood. The aroma of dinner, the sound of cars passing on the street, the sight of moving tree branches, the feel of a parent’s hug, or the taste of a spicy meal. This allows them to connect the lesson to the real world. It allows them to think about their surroundings in a new and interesting way.

READING – Read and React

Students are asked to read aloud a passage from their favorite story or novel. Next, they ask family members or close neighbors for their reactions and opinions about a character/event from the passage. Students record the information and discuss it with the listener. This illustrates that different people may notice different things while reading. It gives the student a chance to practice discussing literature from a young age.

MUSIC – Favorite Music  

Students will listen to a parent or other family member’s favorite genre of music. Then, list the instruments they hear, share their opinions of the sound, and discuss other artists from a particular era. This encourages them to engage with the music on a level they normally would not.

ART – Art Critic

Nearly all homes include some type of painting, picture, or sculpture on display. Students take a photo of an art piece in their home and share their opinion of the art piece with a family member. They can discuss the age of the work of art, how it adds to the room’s décor, why it’s significant to their family, and more. Students will gain valuable practice analyzing images and thinking about art with this homework assignment.

HEALTH – Food Search

The students conduct a food search, identifying healthy versus unhealthy foods. Next, they list reasons why they may be considered healthy or unhealthy, and reviewing food labels. This teaches students to think about what they eat. Hence giving them a fun and interactive activity to do for homework.

There are many, many more creative homework ideas you can use for at-home assignments for your students. Think outside the box when assigning homework. Practice incorporating interactive elements so that students aren’t just sitting at their desk. Try to create and develop assignments that kids will want to do. Avoid the assignments that kids simply have to do. Think of the real-world applications for your lesson material as inspiration and build your homework assignments around that. Creative homework assignments can be fun and, at the same time, teach and enhance subjects introduced in the classroom.

For more creative homework ideas, be sure to check out our lesson plans and YouTube videos!

Previous Post Creating a Classroom Newsletter

Next post building connection with students, related posts.

Promoting Inclusivity in the Classroom

Make Your Life Easier With Our Lesson Plans

Stay up-to-date with new lessons.

• Lesson Plans
• For Teachers

© 2024 Learn Bright. All rights reserved. Terms and Conditions. Privacy Policy.

• Sign Up for Free

Assignment Russia

• Barnes & Noble

Ordering and Customer Service

• Amazon Kindle
• Apple iTunes
• Google eBookstore
• Table of Contents
• Chapter One

Subscribe to the Brookings Brief

Becoming a foreign correspondent in the crucible of the cold war.

A personal journey through some of the darkest moments of the cold war and the early days of television news

Marvin Kalb, the award-winning journalist who has written extensively about the world he reported on during his long career, now turns his eye on the young man who became that journalist. Chosen by legendary broadcaster Edward R. Murrow to become one of what came to be known as the Murrow Boys, Kalb in this newest volume of his memoirs takes readers back to his first days as a journalist, and what also were the first days of broadcast news.

Kalb captures the excitement of being present at the creation of a whole new way of bringing news immediately to the public. And what news. Cold War tensions were high between Eisenhower’s America and Khrushchev’s Soviet Union. Kalb is at the center, occupying a unique spot as a student of Russia tasked with explaining Moscow to Washington and the American public. He joins a cast of legendary figures along the way, from Murrow himself to Eric Severeid, Howard K. Smith, Richard Hottelet, Charles Kuralt, and Daniel Schorr among many others. He finds himself assigned as Moscow correspondent of CBS News just as the U2 incident—the downing of a US spy plane over Russian territory—is unfolding.

As readers of his first volume, The Year I Was Peter the Great , will recall, being the right person, in the right place, at the right time found Kalb face to face with Khrushchev. Assignment Russia sees Kalb once again an eyewitness to history—and a writer and analyst who has helped shape the first draft of that history.

Related Books

Marvin Kalb

October 10, 2017

September 21, 2015

September 25, 2018

Assignment Russia Book Events

• April 9: Politics & Prose LIVE! Marvin Kalb—Assignment Russia: Becoming a Foreign Corresponding in the Crucible of the Cold War – with Jake Tapper
• April 13: National Press Club Virtual Book Event —Marvin Kalb, Assignment Russia
• April 15: Brookings Event —Assignment Russia: A conversation on journalism and the Cold War
• April 29: Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Public Policy Event —Assignment Russia: Becoming a Foreign Correspondent in the Crucible of the Cold War
• May 25: George Washington University —Assignment Russia: Becoming a Foreign Correspondent in the Crucible of the Cold War

Praise for Assignment Russia

“It is impossible to put this engrossing book down—it illuminates so many dark corners of the Cold War. With a master correspondent’s insight, skepticism, sensitivity, and great clarity, Kalb brings vividly to life all the hopes and fears of the most consequential foe this nation has had.” —Ken Burns, filmmaker

“A fascinating memoir of Marvin Kalb’s Cold War adventures as he sought to penetrate the mysteries of Nikita Khrushchev’s Soviet Russia while building his career as one of broadcast journalism’s legends.” —Jack Matlock, U.S. ambassador to Russia (1987–1991)

“Marvin Kalb’s engaging Assignment Russia is like Hamilton’s ‘The Room Where It Happens.’ It is a delightful narrative of Kalb’s personal encounters with some of the most famous characters of the 1950s and 1960s, like CBS’s legendary Edward R. Murrow, who hired Kalb, or Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, who nicknamed him ‘Peter the Great.’ It is also an engrossing memoir of a foreign correspondent’s adventures in the enemy camp during the Cold War. I loved it, I learned from it, and, I dare say, had fun reading it.” —Lesley Stahl, co-anchor, CBS’s 60 Minutes

“Marvin Kalb’s great new book Assignment Russia is a rollicking and engaging memoir that takes you to the front lines of the Cold War, to a mic in the early days of broadcast news, and into the mind and career of one of ‘Murrow’s Boys.’ It’s an important book from a legend in journalism, a book you can’t put down.” —Jake Tapper, CNN anchor and chief Washington correspondent

“A nostalgic treat for older readers…a wake-up call for younger ones.” —Edward Kosner, The Wall Street Journal

“Kalb’s fond, generous memoir, which vividly delineates a bygone era of early journalism, will appeal to students of 20th-century American history as well as aspiring broadcast journalists. The author was involved in many significant Cold War moments, and he brings us directly into that world. Hopefully Kalb is back at his desk; readers will be eager for the next volume.” — Kirkus Reviews

“Readers should be forewarned that once they pick up the book, it will be hard to put it down until they reach the end.” —Naseer Ahmad, Pakistan Link

Marvin Kalb is a former senior adviser to the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, a Harvard Professor emeritus, former network news correspondent at NBC and CBS, senior fellow nonresident at the Brookings Institution, and author of 16 other books, the most recent of which is the first volume of his memoirs, The Year I Was Peter the Great (Brookings).

Media Coverage

Journalist Marvin Kalb on dangers, thrills of reporting from Russia during the Cold War

Why Navalny’s Attempt To Dismantle Putin’s Regime Feels Out Of Reach

An American journalist in Cold War Moscow

The Rise of Marvin Kalb

Veteran journalist Marvin Kalb on covering Cold War Russia

Whine Line, Marvin Kalb

Q&A with Marvin Kalb

M. Kalb, Foreign Affairs Reporter

Wednesday, April 14th: Marvin Kalb

State Circle: April 30, 2021

An earnest young correspondent in Cold War Moscow

‘Assignment Russia’ Review: Murrow’s Man in Moscow

Book Review: Assignment Russia, Marvin Kalb’s Memoir

Assignment Russia: Becoming a Foreign Correspondent in the Crucible of the Cold War

Marvin Kalb in the World

Marvin Kalb at Home and Abroad

For Your Listening Pleasure

Couple sues Newport Beach after same water main breaks twice, destroys family’s home both times

• Show more sharing options
• Copy Link URL Copied!

The trial dates for two related lawsuits filed against the city of Newport Beach accusing it of negligence in the maintenance of a water main that burst and flooded a local home twice has been set for this fall, according to attorney Jesse Creed.

Amy and Marshall Senk have owned their home on Evening Canyon Road in Corona del Mar since 2002 and, after remodeling it, began living there in August 2006.

In October 2020, a water main owned and operated by the city failed and burst, which led to “catastrophic” flooding of the property with 500,000 gallons of water, according to a complaint filed in Orange County Superior Court in April 2023 by the Senks’ attorneys from Panish|Shea|Ravipudi LLP. The damage left in the wake of the failure made the house uninhabitable.

Because the damage made it necessary to demolish and rebuild their home, the Senks lived in temporary quarters for the two years the work was underway. They were preparing to move back into their home in November 2022 when the same water main broke and flooded the home a second time.

Construction on the second rebuild was completed earlier this year, but the Senks are fearful of returning because the house remains subject to the same risks, according to Creed.

“Imagine if the water main breaks again and floods. If you’re on the stairs and you’re rushing down, there’s a health and safety risk. If you had people over, if their kids were there or if they invited friends and family over and a flood were to happen, there’s a health and safety risk,” Creed said.

The complaint contends the city knew of the risks and dangers but failed to take any corrective action that would keep a water main break from happening again, forcing the Senks to have to vacate their home twice. Attorneys are seeking general and special damages, including the repair and replacement of their home; relocation costs and expenses; emotional damages; increased operating expenses; development, engineering, architectural and litigation costs.

The Senks are also asking for injunctive relief for the abatement of continuing trespass and nuisance, attorneys’ fees, experts’ fees, prejudgment interest and any other relief deemed appropriate by the court.

The same law firm also filed a suit on behalf of the Senks in December 2022, also for inverse condemnation, in which they are also seeking all general and special damages relating to the repair and replacement of their home. Both suits are expected to go to trial in October.

In a letter submitted to the City Council on Jan. 12, the Senks said they felt the city had “abandoned” them as they requested the city help pay for relocation costs. Insurers paid for them to live elsewhere during the reconstruction for about a year, but that year ran out and the family’s been paying out of pocket to live in temporary housing ever since.

“The home recently received a certificate of occupancy allowing us to move back in. But as of this date, the city has done absolutely nothing to prevent the water main from breaking again,” the Senks wrote. “While we understand the city has plans at different phases to make public improvements, the improvements have not been complete nor do we believe the city has even started making those improvements.”

City Atty. Aaron Harp declined to comment on specifics of the active litigation but pointed to a new amendment to an engineering consultation contract first approved in 2022 that addresses Evening Canyon Road specifically.

The amendment, approved May 14 during the Newport Beach City Council’s regular meeting, requests Stantec Consulting Services, Inc. for additional professional engineering and construction services to modify the storm drain design and extend the water main on Evening Canyon Road and Shorecliff Road.

Two construction contracts, with T.E. Roberts and All American Asphalt, were approved in October 2023 and January 2024 respectively.

In a report prepared for the City Council, city staff said recent water main breaks in the area necessitate the additional work on Evening Canyon Road. Senk said the family requested the city aid in paying for that relocation until that work has been completed.

Harp confirmed that the city entered a settlement with State Farm for $2.3 million, which he said was to cover insurer payments for the water loss at the Senks’ property in 2020.

Creed said he felt the payment to State Farm was a sign of the city “abandoning” the Senks, saying the city prioritized a corporation over its residents.

“Our lives have been devastated twice by the city of Newport — first in 2020 and again in 2022. This isn’t a natural disaster. This is a city-made disaster that has not only interrupted our lives, but stolen time and experiences from our family that we will never be able to get back or replicate,” the Senks said in a statement to the Daily Pilot on May 15. “We haven’t been home, together as a family, since 2020. We’ve had to do things like call our son to tell him not to come home for Christmas.

“Our daughter, who is graduating from college this year, has never been able to go ‘home’ her entire college career.”

All the latest on Orange County from Orange County.

Get our free TimesOC newsletter.

You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Daily Pilot.

Lilly Nguyen covers Newport Beach for the Daily Pilot. Before joining the Pilot, she worked for the Orange County Register as a freelance reporter and general assignment intern. She earned her bachelor’s in journalism at Cal State Long Beach. (714) 966-4623.

More on this Subject

Daily Pilot e-newspaper: Sunday, May 19, 2024

May 19, 2024

Daily Pilot e-newspaper: Saturday, May 18, 2024

Laguna Beach OK’s return of wood-burning fire pits to Aliso Beach

May 18, 2024

Bigger than baseball — Pokémon cards are rocking the collectibles industry

Twins RHP Jay Jackson designated for assignment

• Medium Text

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. New Tab , opens new tab

Sports Chevron

Schauffele wins pga championship for long-awaited first major.

They are 15 under on the week and one shot clear of Sahith Theegala, who is seeking his second PGA Tour win.

The Vancouver Canucks wasted their first opportunity to vanquish the Edmonton Oilers and advance to the Western Conference finals.

Man fatally shot at Monrovia home after report he was armed and subject to restraining order

MONROVIA, Calif. (KABC) -- A man was found fatally shot outside a Monrovia home Friday night after he apparently showed up with a knife at the home of a woman who had an active restraining order against him, police say.

The woman called Monrovia emergency dispatch just before 9:30 p.m. to say the man was at her home and armed with a knife.

By the time officers showed up, he was dead.

"Officers responded immediately and discovered the male subject deceased with a gunshot wound," the police statement said.

His identity was not immediately released.

It wasn't immediately clear who shot him or what led up to the shooting. Police briefly detained two people at the scene, including the woman who initially called 911. A gun was also taken into evidence. No arrests were made.

A hunting knife was also recovered at the scene, on the ground a few feet from the man's body.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Homicide Division was notified of the incident and assumed control of the investigation, the Police Department said.

Related Topics

• LOS ANGELES COUNTY
• HOMICIDE INVESTIGATION
• FATAL SHOOTING

Top Stories

Diddy admits beating ex-girlfriend Cassie, says he's 'truly sorry'

Palmdale family speaks out at vigil for missing baby

• 2 hours ago

Helicopter carrying Iran's president apparently crashes

• 30 minutes ago

President Biden faces silent protests at Morehouse commencement speech

Suspect steals LAPD cruiser, crashes into civilian vehicle after chase

Blue Origin launches 6 tourists to the edge of space

Video allegedly shows moments before, after deadly boat incident in FL

LAPD searching for gunman after 3 wounded by gunfire in Van Nuys

An official website of the United States Government

• Kreyòl ayisyen
• Search Toggle search Search Include Historical Content - Any - No Include Historical Content - Any - No Search
• Menu Toggle menu
• INFORMATION FOR…
• Individuals
• Business & Self Employed
• Charities and Nonprofits
• International Taxpayers
• Federal State and Local Governments
• Indian Tribal Governments
• Tax Exempt Bonds
• FILING FOR INDIVIDUALS
• How to File
• When to File
• Where to File
• Update Your Information
• Get Your Tax Record
• Apply for an Employer ID Number (EIN)
• Check Your Amended Return Status
• Get an Identity Protection PIN (IP PIN)
• File Your Taxes for Free
• Bank Account (Direct Pay)
• Payment Plan (Installment Agreement)
• Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS)
• Your Online Account
• Tax Withholding Estimator
• Estimated Taxes
• Where's My Refund
• What to Expect
• Direct Deposit
• Reduced Refunds
• Amend Return

Credits & Deductions

• INFORMATION FOR...
• Businesses & Self-Employed
• Earned Income Credit (EITC)
• Child Tax Credit
• Clean Energy and Vehicle Credits
• Standard Deduction
• Retirement Plans

Forms & Instructions

• POPULAR FORMS & INSTRUCTIONS
• Form 1040 Instructions
• Form 4506-T
• POPULAR FOR TAX PROS
• Form 1040-X
• Circular 230

IRS: Home improvements could help taxpayers qualify for home energy credits

More in news.

• Topics in the News
• News Releases for Frequently Asked Questions
• Multimedia Center
• Tax Relief in Disaster Situations
• Inflation Reduction Act
• Taxpayer First Act
• Tax Scams/Consumer Alerts
• The Tax Gap
• Fact Sheets
• IRS Tax Tips
• e-News Subscriptions
• IRS Guidance
• Media Contacts
• IRS Statements and Announcements

IR-2024-137, May 9, 2024

WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service reminds taxpayers that making certain energy efficient updates to their homes could qualify them for home energy credits.

The credit amounts and types of qualifying expenses were expanded by the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. Taxpayers who make energy improvements to a residence may be eligible for home energy tax credits.

What taxpayers need to know

Taxpayers can claim the Energy Efficient Home Improvement Credit and the Residential Clean Energy Credit for the year the qualifying expenditures are made.

Homeowners who improve their primary residence will find the most opportunities to claim a credit for qualifying expenses. Renters may also be able to claim credits, as well as owners of second homes used as residences. Landlords cannot claim this credit.

IRS encourages taxpayers to review all requirements and qualifications at IRS.gov/homeenergy for energy efficient equipment prior to purchasing. Additional information is available on energy.gov , which compares the credit amounts for tax year 2022 and tax years 2023-2032.

Energy Efficient Home Improvement Credit

Taxpayers that make qualified energy-efficient improvements to their home after Jan. 1, 2023, may qualify for a tax credit up to $3,200.

As part of the Inflation Reduction Act, beginning Jan. 1, 2023, the credit equals 30% of certain qualified expenses:

• Exterior doors, windows and skylights.
• Insulation and air sealing materials or systems.
• Natural gas, propane or oil water heaters.
• Natural gas, propane or oil furnaces and hot water boilers.
• Heat pumps, water heaters, biomass stoves and boilers.
• Home energy audits of a main home.

The maximum credit that can be claimed each year is:

• $1,200 for energy property costs and certain energy efficient home improvements, with limits on doors ($250 per door and $500 total), windows ($600) and home energy audits ($150).
• $2,000 per year for qualified heat pumps, biomass stoves or biomass boilers.

The credit is nonrefundable which means taxpayers cannot get back more from the credit than what is owed in taxes and any excess credit cannot be carried to future tax years.

Residential Clean Energy Credit

Taxpayers who invest in energy improvements for their main home, including solar, wind, geothermal, fuel cells or battery storage, may qualify for an annual residential clean energy tax credit.

The Residential Clean Energy Credit equals 30% of the costs of new, qualified clean energy property for a home in the United States installed anytime from 2022 through 2032.

Qualified expenses include the costs of new, clean energy equipment including:

• Solar electric panels.
• Solar water heaters.
• Wind turbines.
• Geothermal heat pumps.
• Fuel cells.
• Battery storage technology (beginning in 2023).

Clean energy equipment must meet the following standards to qualify for the Residential Clean Energy Credit:

• Solar water heaters must be certified by the Solar Rating Certification Corporation, or a comparable entity endorsed by the applicable state.
• Geothermal heat pumps must meet Energy Star requirements in effect at the time of purchase.
• Battery storage technology must have a capacity of at least 3 kilowatt hours.

This credit has no annual or lifetime dollar limit except for fuel cell property. Taxpayers can claim this credit every year they install eligible property on or after Jan. 1, 2023, and before Jan. 1, 2033.

This is a nonrefundable credit, which means the credit amount received cannot exceed the amount owed in tax. Taxpayers can carry forward excess unused credit and apply it to any tax owed in future years.

Additional information is available at IRS.gov on qualifying residences and information for taxpayers who also use their home for a business.

When it is time to file a tax return, taxpayers can use Form 5695, Residential Energy Credits , to claim the credit. This credit must be claimed for the tax year when the property is installed, not just purchased.

Good recordkeeping

Taxpayers are encouraged to keep good records of purchases and expenses. This will assist in claiming the applicable credit during tax filing season.

Other resources

• Publication 5967, Energy Efficient Home Improvements Credit (25C) PDF
• Publication 5968, Residential Clean Energy Credit (25D) PDF
• energy.gov: Credit Comparison Chart
• Fact sheet: Frequently asked questions about energy efficient home improvements and residential clean energy property credits PDF
•  Facebook
•  Twitter
•  Linkedin