No distractions and let them look for the definition of words by using webpedia online encyclopedia. I believe they should learn to research the answers for some of their work problems. Not get answers from internet but to find out something that they didn't understand in the first place. Finally, always ask about what his grades were for that day and also if he understood what was taught in their individual classes. They learn when asked to reexplain it .

GritGuy, In reading your response I think you may have misunderstood the question. I'm not asking parents to share shortcuts to learning and I doubt that the parents who participate in this forum would approve of that any more than you.

What we're asking parents to share in this thread is an creative or unexpected ways that have worked to inspire their middle-schooler to learn. If you read some of the answers you'll get a better idea. Thanks for sharing!

Hi Homework Tricks & Tips - You will more than likely not enjoy what I am about to write, however, I would be remiss if I did not write an answer based on what my convictions are on this topic. I have taught Middle School and have been involved with parents, teachers, students and administrators as well. Here is the reality of your question; there are NO tricks, tips or any other short cuts to learning. It is a fact that children in Middle School do not enjoy having or doing homework assignments and have done a pretty horrible job at this task, including straight out plagiarism, copying another classmates homework or simply scribbling something on paper that they hope will be accepted by their teacher. The cold, hard facts about doing homework is that there is nothing but hard work involved in completing an assignment, in a manner their teacher would hope they follow. Teach your child good, solid and effective research skills, using hard copy books in addition to the Internet. I am absolutely fed up with the word, "Google." I have even heard teachers say, oh, just Google it and print what you find. What a disservice that teacher has done to their student. When I assign homework that requires research, I insist on the student using at least two hard copy sources from the Library or school Media Center and one Internet search. Homework has never been or will ever be popular with children but it is hard work and if you tell your child anything but that, then you have also done a disservice to them as well. Never tell your child that there are shortcuts or tricks or anything short of good old fashioned hard work in doing homework the correct way. Stop trying to make the, "Perfect World," for your child/student. It does not exist and never will exist and be aware that at times, homework is a pain for you as well as your child. It is, however, the only way for your child to learn. And, if they learn the information in this manner and style, they will remember and take with them information for the remainder of their lives. They must begin building a good, honest and strong work ethic before they enter high school. Also, college is not that far off and is where your child could prepare themselves for either a lifetime of misery and problems or a good life, which is based on strong and credible work habits and work ethics. There are no shortcuts to life and the sooner your child learns and understands this, the better off he or she will be. Learning the correct way is no more difficult and the end result will pay off rewards two fold. Remember, a quiet place to study and do homework, where there are no media devices, computers, iPods, headphones, cell phones, text messaging and all the other toys that have so encompassed and taken over your child's life. All they need is a desk or flat surface, a few writing utensils, paper, a quiet environment and a will to succeed.

I have a resource for you. I am creating an online course in the history of art around the world. It is question based and can be used as part of your child's social studies or history course. If you contact me I can make a page for your school I just have to know what part of history you are working on. The site is ahaafoundation.org

This site will be building for some time to come! I need to know from parents if what I have done so far is helpful or too wordy or boring.

If you can, after your child finishes a micro lesson find a way for them to incorporate the ideas into what they are learning in school that would be great. Even better would for you to tell me about that,
kbolmanahaa@gmail.com

It is a classic problem that students making the transition from elementary to middle school don't know how to schedule their time and homework, which often leads to the "I forgot my homework again” blues. You can find lots of tips telling parents and students that they should plan homework but very few that tell you how.

I couldn't find a single method or tool that gives students (and parents) at the same time a bird's eye view of their activities for a few weeks and a close-up view of what needs to be done tonight – all in one glance.

So, as a member of a professional planning team (and a parent too), we adapted professional planning methods and developed a free, ultra low-tech, easy-to-make solution for students. Our solution is a tool for the “How do you plan homework and projects”.

All the information is on a web site ( www.plan-it-yourself.com/ ) with a Creative Commons license so that everyone can use it.
The web site has ready-made planning sheets that can be printed and 3 videos that explain: “Why you need it”, “How to make it”, and “How to use it”.

Our solution is quick, simple, and free, thus giving students of all economic backgrounds an equal chance to get organized.

Projects are very popular in education right now and teachers can assign projects left and right - in addition to nightly homework. Many teachers will encourage students to tackle the projects 15 minutes every night a practice I found unworkable. 15- even 30 minutes every night doesn't get a project done well or sometimes doesn't even get it done. Leaving it for last makes sense - the project isn't due the next day - but students are tired by the time their other homework is done and time given to the project isn't their good energy time.
And it's hard to finish any project in bits and pieces - the ball doesn't get rolling and you spend time figuring out where you left off the night before and - what if you have several projects?
We knocked the projects out on a weekend - two if necessary but we did nightly homework at night and left the projects for the weekend. We might let the weekend homework go until Sunday night even and spent what time we could on Saturday and Sunday beginning and finishing the project all in one fell swoop if we could.
That would be my best tip for families with Middle Schoolers. Have a great school year!

Writing Papers:

before writing, consider 3-4 major subject areas. As he's reading, he's also taking notes and placing information under the appropriate subject area. Once he's done reading, he arranges each topic into subtopics. Where appropriate he divides lists even further. Then we work on intro and conclusion, and how to transition from one topic to another. He's gotten quite good at writing research papers.

Homework:

flash cards. I find that when he writes something on paper, he learns the order, moreso than the concepts. Flashcards you can shuffle them, and continuously switch the order, and you can also flip the cards over. So if he has gotten good at knowing the definition/formula/etc when you say the concept, flip the cards over, and see if he can get the concept based on the definition/formula etc. Flashcards have worked WONDERS. And he makes them as he goes. Every day when doing homework he makes flash cards on subject matter, and every weekend, he goes over all of the flashcards in that particular subject area.

My daughter hates spelling because she has a hard time learning the words. Through the years I have tried several methods, but the following ones are the ones that help her most. We break each word into syllables to help with the pronunciation, then she writes the word dropping one letter at a time, for example she writes learn, then lear, then lea, etc. Also, it helps her dividing the word list into smaller groups with similar spellings so she does not feel overwhelmed.

Also, she is a kinetic learner. It helps with some subjects to relate them with real objects or studying doesn't mean sitting at the table all the time. I let her play with a ball with her hands or stand and walk around while she is memorizing something.

Our son struggles with reading and writing. He wants to give only the shortest answer possible. Last year, for Language Arts/Spelling and History, we had him try using an outline method in order to help him get his thoughts together and down on paper. It was hard at first, but the process became easier as the school year continued. For our son to have to start with a blank page and fill it up with information was a daunting task. But having an outline gave him a way to get all his ideas onto his paper. He then was able to prioritize, add and delete as necessary. Once he had the “roadmap,” he was able to expand on the topics he needed to cover. Writing is still a bit of a struggle, but we believe that using the outline method has really helped our son in his understanding of a subject and then being able to explain his understanding.

Another trick we used concerned his History homework. He was required to read a short chapter, and then answer questions at the end of the chapter. We would scan the required pages, print them out and have him highlight key words and sentences within the section that applied to the question. This made History homework time go quickly. It was amazing to us that once we started these processes, our son actually looked forward to doing his homework and finishing it, so he could have more free time.