The questions around homework

I have some memories of doing my homework when I was little: The phonics workbooks at the small table in the kitchen while my mother cooked; math homework with a friend where we didn't understand what we were doing and later found out we did the homework completely wrong; studying spelling words alone at my desk in my bedroom (that last one never worked out for me).

I want to make sure that my son has a good foundation for homework habits.

Even though my son hasn't started preschool yet, he has had lots of homework to complete. The assignments have covered everything from "parental" homework, where we had to cut out and classify pictures in magazines at the age of 3 or even - and I am not making this one up - build a robot, to "actual" homework, where he is responsible for writing his name and that week's sight words.

Despite my best intentions, I think I've been doing homework with my son wrong. After reading this blog post by a former teacher, I have some habits to help him reform. The blog post covers:

• Where you do your homework matters. The dining room table (where he's been completing those writing sheets) is a no-no. He needs a separate work area.
• Independent work is important. I should let him do his homework without checking on him. He needs to learn to do it by himself.
• Corrections are not needed. I'm actually happy about this one, since eventually I am pretty sure his homework will be too hard for me.

What is some of the worst homework you remember doing as a child? Pass along your notes in the comments.