Student Forgetting to Turn in Homework? | Life Solutions of Dallas-Fort Worth

Students who struggle with sustained attention and working memory problems often forget to turn in their homework. Not getting credit for homework that’s finished on time is extremely frustrating to everyone involved! If this is a problem for your child or teen, try these suggestions.

Identify the Problem

There are a number of ways that homework can get lost between home and the classroom. Talk through these situations with your child to identify the problem.

Is the homework left at home?
Is the homework lost in the bottom of the backpack, the bottom of the locker, or elsewhere?
Is turning in the homework in being forgotten in the classroom?

Once you have identified the problem, consider these suggestions to address it.

Leaving Homework at Home

If your student loses track of homework at home, try these suggestions.

Talk about the fact that her homework is not really completed until she puts it in the right folder or notebook, and packs the folder and notebook into the backpack.
Have her make a written list for completing her morning routine including putting the homework in the backpack in the morning. It is important that she make the list so that she will take ownership of this process.
Have her make list all the things she needs to put in her backpack each day including homework. Either put this in a clear luggage tag on the backpack or place this list on the wall where she packs up to go.
Help her link putting the homework in the backpack or notebook to a previously formed habit. For example, if she easily remembers to take her trumpet, she could put her homework folder with it.

Losing Homework in the Backpack or Elsewhere

If the homework gets lost on the way to the classroom, help your student try different ways of keeping better track of her homework.

Some students like to use a homework folder so that all the assignments that need to be turned in are in one place.
For others, it works best to put the completed homework in their notebook(s) organized by subject.
Where the homework goes is a matter of preference: the key is to put it in the same place every time so she can find it.

Forgetting to Turn in the Homework in Class

For a student who forgets to turn in the homework in the classroom, these ideas may be helpful.

Have her create a written checklist of things to be done when she enters or leaves the classroom.
Try associating turning in the homework to something that he sees when he walks into or out of the classroom. Recently while working with a student on this problem, he stated that his teacher has a “Bob the Minion” toy beside the basket for homework. I suggested that he needed to go see Bob as soon as he walks in the classroom. He hasn’t missed turning in his homework since!
If your student uses a planner for tracking assignments, it could also be used as a way to remind her to turn in assignments. Your student could add “Turn in homework” so that when she writes down that day’s assignment, she will remember to turn her completed homework.
Have your student ask a friend to give him a secret signal (pat him on the back) to remind him to turn in his homework. This needs to be a really good friend who has no problem turning in homework and can be trusted not to tell others about this.
There are now smart phone apps and smart watches that can be set to vibrate and show a reminder at a specific time. If this works for your student, talk to her teachers about allowing her to use these tools to address this specific need.

Any or All of the Above: Try Technology!

When she prints out a completed assignment at home, your student might also send it to her own email account. Then, if she misplaces it somewhere along the way, she could print it out during class or free time (with teacher permission).
An alternative is to have her store completed homework documents on an online information organizing tool like Evernote.
An innovative approach might be to ask her teachers if your student could email completed assignments directly to them thus avoiding any possible losses along the way. A number of high school teachers are using Google Docs and other online file sharing tools for this purpose.

Life Solutions of Dallas-Fort Worth

Tips to Help Your Student Remember To Turn in Homework

Students who struggle with sustained attention and working memory problems often forget to turn in their homework. Not getting credit for homework that’s finished on time is extremely frustrating to everyone involved! If this is a problem for your child or teen, try these suggestions.

Identify the Problem

There are a number of ways that homework can get lost between home and the classroom. Talk through these situations with your child to identify the problem.

Is the homework left at home?

Is the homework lost in the bottom of the backpack, the bottom of the locker, or elsewhere?

Is turning in the homework in being forgotten in the classroom?

Once you have identified the problem, consider these suggestions to address it.

Leaving Homework at Home

If your student loses track of homework at home, try these suggestions.

Talk about the fact that her homework is not really completed until she puts it in the right folder or notebook, and packs the folder and notebook into the backpack.

Have her make a written list for completing her morning routine including putting the homework in the backpack in the morning. It is important that she make the list so that she will take ownership of this process.

Have her make list all the things she needs to put in her backpack each day including homework. Either put this in a clear luggage tag on the backpack or place this list on the wall where she packs up to go.

Help her link putting the homework in the backpack or notebook to a previously formed habit. For example, if she easily remembers to take her trumpet, she could put her homework folder with it.

Losing Homework in the Backpack or Elsewhere

If the homework gets lost on the way to the classroom, help your student try different ways of keeping better track of her homework.

Some students like to use a homework folder so that all the assignments that need to be turned in are in one place.

For others, it works best to put the completed homework in their notebook(s) organized by subject.

Where the homework goes is a matter of preference: the key is to put it in the same place every time so she can find it.

Forgetting to Turn in the Homework in Class

For a student who forgets to turn in the homework in the classroom, these ideas may be helpful.

Have her create a written checklist of things to be done when she enters or leaves the classroom.

If your student uses a planner for tracking assignments, it could also be used as a way to remind her to turn in assignments. Your student could add “Turn in homework” so that when she writes down that day’s assignment, she will remember to turn her completed homework.

There are now smart phone apps and smart watches that can be set to vibrate and show a reminder at a specific time. If this works for your student, talk to her teachers about allowing her to use these tools to address this specific need.

Any or All of the Above: Try Technology!

When she prints out a completed assignment at home, your student might also send it to her own email account. Then, if she misplaces it somewhere along the way, she could print it out during class or free time (with teacher permission).

An alternative is to have her store completed homework documents on an online information organizing tool like Evernote.

An innovative approach might be to ask her teachers if your student could email completed assignments directly to them thus avoiding any possible losses along the way. A number of high school teachers are using Google Docs and other online file sharing tools for this purpose.

Need Help with This Concept?

If teachers have set up a system that is not working for your student, talk with them about allowing alternatives.

If you need any additional help implementing this concept, call 817.421.8780 to set up an appointment today.

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© 2016, Monte W. Davenport, Ph.D.

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