Students are hit with a huge burden of homework during distance learning, although this struggle is equally felt by their parents.

Homework has always been a struggle, but since school is online, everything feels like homework. On Thursday, March 19th, 2020 we were put on a stay-at-home order due to COVID-19. Since then, students and teachers have had to adapt to the new lifestyle of distance learning. This new lifestyle has left students with anxiety, depression, and stress. Students have had to learn in an environment that they aren’t used to. Even with everything that’s going on in the world or even what’s going on in the student’s life, the student is still required to stay focused. On top of that a hardship that has been laid on students during this pandemic is homework.

Homework can affect both the students’ physical and mental health. According to a study by Stanford University, 56 percent of students considered homework a primary source of stress. Too much homework can result in a lack of sleep, headaches, exhaustion, and weight loss. Homework can also affect the students’ social life and grades. The hours logged in class, and the hours logged on schoolwork can lead to students feeling overwhelmed and unmotivated. Navigating the line between developing learning skills and feeling frustrated can be tricky. But students who have large amounts of homework have less time to spend with their families and friends. This can leave them feeling isolated and without a support system. For older students, balancing homework and part-time work makes it harder to balance school and other tasks. Without time to socialize and relax, students can become increasingly stressed, impacting life at school and at home. After a full day of learning in class, students can become burnt out if they have too much homework. When this happens, the student may stop completing homework or rely on a parent to assist with homework. As a result, the benefits of homework are lost and grades can start to slip.

How does this affect parents? Studies have shown that the more homework students have, the more stress parents and caregivers tend to experience. The researchers, from Brown University, found that stress and tension for families (as reported by the parents) increased most when parents perceived themselves as unable to help with the homework, when the child disliked doing the homework and when the homework caused arguments, either between the child and adults or among the adults in the household.