Ensure Your Child Completes Homework with a Homework Contract

Is homework a problem in your home? Here are a few signs that it’s time to make some changes.

• Your child leaves projects until the last minute and then wants your help to complete the project.
• Your child realizes at the night before a project is due that he needs some supplies to complete the assignment and you end up heading on a midnight trip to the store.Your child sits down to do homework and then realizes that he never wrote down the homework assignment.
• You find out that your child isn’t turning in homework assignments, yet your child always tells you he’s done his homework.
• When it’s time for bed, your child suddenly remembers that he hasn’t done his homework.
• You find out that your child isn’t turning in homework assignments, yet your child always tells you he’s done his homework.

Many families end up struggling with these problems every school night. Over time, these problems can become extremely stressful. However, there is an answer to the problem – a homework contract.

What is a Homework Contract?

A homework contract is a contract between parents and students, and the contract gives the responsibility of completing homework to the student. The contract includes terms that both the parents and the child must follow and those terms can be individualized to meet your family’s unique needs. To ensure the homework contract is effective, the terms of the contract can be negotiated and then agreed upon by the child and the parents. In most cases, it’s a good idea to give the contract a trial period and then take a second look at the contract to see if changes need to be made. Basically, the homework contract gives the child a clear set of rules that must

Benefits of a Homework Contract

A homework contract offers benefits for both students and parents, including:

• Fewer arguments over homework
• No need to nag a child about doing homework
• Improved grades
• Reduced stress over last minute projects
• Reduced problems with procrastination
• Student learns to take responsibility for his own actions

The Terms of a Homework Contract

While every parent and child should come up with a homework contract that best meets their specific needs, it’s nice to have some suggestions. Here are some suggestions for the terms and rewards.

- Parent Terms

    Provide transportation and tools required for the completion of homework
    Provide a space for completing homework
    Offers assistance but only when the student requests assistance
    Will offer rewards when they are relevant
    Checks the assignment notebook for assignments
    Will check homework for both quality and completion

- Student Terms

    Keep track of assignments in an assignment notebook
    Provides parents of notice whenever homework supplies are required
    Sticks to a regular homework schedule
    Use homework/study time to read, review or study if no homework assignments are given
    Will ask for some help when needed
    Homework will be done without interruptions, such as games, television, phone calls or unneeded web surfing

- Weekly Reward Options

    Student will have Saturday evening free if requirements are met
    Student will not need to complete weekend chores if requirements are met
    Etc.

A homework contract is an excellent way to end the constant battle over homework. You can customize it to work for your family, helping your child improve his grades while removing some of the stress that often surrounds homework time.

Troubled Teen Help: Struggling Teens Need Structure

Troubled teens resist structure. They constantly push boundaries set by authority figures. Adolescence is about finding identity, even when seeking independence involves drug and/or alcohol abuse, hostility and breaking laws. If you're a parent seeking troubled teen help, consider a structured environment like The Pinnacle Schools.

Since 2005, The Pinnacle Schools have focused on high quality help for struggling teens. With firm, but fair behavior parameters and positive peer modeling, troubled teen help is imminent. When teenagers are in structured surroundings, they learn what signifies positive behavior, appropriate language and proper etiquette.

Your teenager will come to understand they cannot use drugs, have sex, curse, fight or harass other students and/or staff. However, punishment is never punitive; rather it always "fits the crime". Teens may have to relinquish their cell phone for fighting or face suspension for using illegal substances.

Think about it, wouldn't it be easier to enroll your adolescent in residential treatment instead of visiting him/her in a juvenile detention center? There is no blame assigned to parents who need professional help for struggling teens. Where troubled teen help is concerned, it's much wiser to be proactive than to react when their behavior escalates out of your control.

Try to understand that teens, who yell the loudest about autonomy, actually need and want a structured life, even if they don't consciously realize it. Some teens test parent's limits because they are allowed too much freedom. Others may have a brain malfunction that leads to poor impulse control, depression and/or displaced anger.

Regardless of the root cause leading to teens troubling behavior, evidence based practice and clinical research have demonstrated that constant structure is non-negotiable. But, there is a huge difference between beneficial structure and inflexibility. Parenting by intimidation, where it's "my way or the highway", usually just triggers rebellion. Adolescents typically cooperate more when they have a voice in parental expectations. Respect, compassion and even fair compromise for your teens wants and needs gain positive mileage.

Once rules are established, they should remain consistent. Changing expectations are confusing to the teen, who might think 'what's the use of trying when I never please them'.

Still, the kindest, most loving parents can't always provide troubled teen help that experienced professionals can offer. Statistics say one out of five adolescents will demonstrate emotional issues far more devastating than typical teenage behavior.

If this sounds like your current situation, mightn't be prudent to explore residential treatment centers such as The Pinnacle Schools for troubled teen help?

Blog on The Pinnacle Schools Complaints

"Since I left wonderful Pinnacle Schools, so many wonderful things have happened in my life."

The Pinnacle Schools shares top complaints from parents and teens..

 In a recent survey top five teen complaints were identified.

1. Comparisons - making a comparison between their own teen and another.
   "I hate it when my dad is always telling me he wishes I could be like my friend Mark."
2. Lack of praise.
   "Even when I'm busting my butt my parents tell me I'm lazy. I really am trying my hardest."
3. Being out if touch with fashion or music.
   "I like what I like and it's not my parents style. Fine, I don't like 80's music either.
4. Parents being overprotective or overly strict.
   "I know they are trying to help me but I need to live my own life."
5. Fighting in the home, between parents or parent and another family member.
   "I can't stand the screaming" 

Pinnacle Schools Elk River is a Therapeutic Intervention Program. The program offers teens an their parents assessment, diagnostic, educational and treatments options at the main camp. The length of the programs depends on each child's individual needs and ranges from 8 to 52 weeks.
 

Elk River Academy is an Individualized Transitional Therapeutic School that allows teens to stay as long as a year.


Elk River Healthy Lifestyles - This is a Teen Weight Management Program dedicated to teaching positive behaviors and nutritional information to help increase self-esteem.
Alina Reviews The Pinnacle Schools Elk River


"Since I left wonderful Elk River so many wonderful things have happened in my life. Today I have a great apartment and three roommates who I get along with very well as well as a new job with City Year. To say I am excited about my life would be an understatement. Everyone of you will always have a special place in my heart and I miss you so much. Soon I will send you a picture of my new smile without braces and will try to keep you updated on my progress."

Alina 

Talking to Your Kids About Drugs

You are the first line of defense for your kids against drug and alcohol abuse. The best thing that you can do for your children is to give them all of the advice that they need before they get into a situation that is risky or dangerous.

When your kids don’t feel like they are at ease talking to you, they are going to talk to someone else. That someone else may be someone who isn’t well versed on drugs, who would like to see them get into drugs, or who would help them to experiment with things that are not going to be good for them.

The best way to prevent your kids from testing drugs is to give them the preparation that they need and deserve from you well prior to the time that it might be a consideration.

Depending on the age of your child, use age appropriate materials that they can understand. Begin at age five or six which is not so young when you think about the fact that many young children are exposed to older kids on the bus. They need to know that taking candy or pills or other things from older children or from teens isn’t an activity that they should be doing.

Explaining in a way that they can understand what might happen and why you want them to be prepared is simply good sense. Arming your child to deal with the things that may come their way when you are not with them is far better than allowing them to be blind to the hazards that are out there.

A wide range of books are available today to help you if you have problems speaking to your kids about drugs and alcohol. Finding the right materials which are appropriate to their age group means looking for several different types of material for each child. Their needs and their understanding will be different at age five than at age eight, but both children need to be equally prepared to live a healthier and happier life.

The Purpose for The Pinnacle Schools

Some dedicated professionals first opened TPS (The Pinnacle Schools) during 2005. They wanted to provide affordable and effective reliable services, to problem teenagers, along with their families. The programs provided by The Pinnacle Schools use assessments to develop the right treatment for trouble teens.

This started as just one outdoor program in 2005 to provide therapeutic help to at-risk teenagers. It has now grown and expanded into four distinct and separate programs and each one the programs is designed to help the unique needs of each teenager, along with the teen's family.

The Elk River Treatment Program is a program for therapeutic intervention to assess, diagnose, educate and treat troubled kids conducted on the base campus. The length of the programs will vary depending on the teenager's needs, but they typically last from 8 to 52 weeks.

The Elk River Academy is a school dedicated to individualized transitional therapy that offers flexible schedules of treatment up to a year.

The Elk River Healthy Lifestyles is a program focused on teen weight management. The staff educates the kids on positive behaviors and nutrition, and helps them increase their self-esteem.

The Huntsville Campus of the Pinnacle Schools is a private high school held year round located in Huntsville, Alabama.

The programs at TPS (The Pinnacle Schools) offer such things as assessment, diagnostic, intervention and education assistance to at-risk teenagers, who are 12 to 18 years of age, and also to their family members. These programs are designed using medical models and include physician oversight of medications, and also medical and nursing care available 24 hours a day. The TPS professional referral services and staff doctors work together prescribe and watch over your teen's medications. The Pinnacle Schools will not alter the child's medication in any way without consulting the parents first and also the therapist helping the child.

It is essential to educate the child. We will not leave any child behind educationally, if we can at all help it, and we apply this belief in our teen resident programs for treatment. TPS is a pioneer in the field of comprehensive academics held in a residential short-term facility, and due to the stay length being flexible, the students are able to finish on a quarterly, semestral, or yearly basis. The grades your child earns during treatment, more than likely, will be transferable to either his or her high school or university. The approach of combining psychological and medical therapies with education is the only way to guarantee success for long term. The TPA academic administrator closely works with counselors, kids, and parents to come up with a specific study program geared to the special needs of each student, along with maintaining a safe environment for learning. This will also build the child's self-esteem, which further leads to school success. We have courses suitable for students from grade 6 to grade 12.