How We Prioritize Homework

Hey, what’s up? It’s me, Seth Perler. Welcome back.

I’m an executive function coach based out of Boulder, Colorado. I recently redid my office, and I hope you like it. I’m pretty excited about it—we’ve got a whole new vibe going on.

Anyhow, let me get to the point.

Today, parents, I’m going to talk a little bit about how I help students prioritize homework.

Here’s the deal.

Your child comes home from school and has a bunch of homework. What does a student who struggles with executive function usually do?

Typically, they look through their backpack, folders, or whatever system they’re using and chaotically grab something that needs to be done.

They’re often not using a planner effectively. They may not be fully aware of exactly what needs to happen. However, they generally have a sense that something needs to get done.

If they’re somewhat responsible, they’ll start looking for work, pull something out of their backpack, and begin working on it. Maybe they’ll glance at their planner, if they’re using one, and think, “Okay, these are the things I need to do.”

But generally speaking, students who struggle with executive function tend to approach homework somewhat chaotically.

When I’m working with these students, I help them create a daily plan.

I’m not going to go into depth about daily planning right now, but I help them answer one simple question:

“What do I need to do tonight?”

They make a list.

I always ask them to identify their number one priority first.

Maybe their top priority is finishing a math worksheet. Then they need to write a rough draft, read a chapter, or complete a Spanish assignment.

They write down everything they need to do that evening. We may also create a “back burner” list for things that are less urgent.

What I want to focus on today is this:

How does your child decide what to do first?

Why is this important?

Because if they don’t consciously choose an order, they’re likely to work randomly.

Sometimes that’s okay, but there are drawbacks.

When students jump chaotically from task to task, they lose focus repeatedly. For example, they may have 90 minutes of homework, but because they’re constantly switching gears, taking unplanned breaks, and getting distracted, those 90 minutes can stretch into several hours.

The quality of their work decreases. The time required increases. They complete fewer tasks overall.

So how do we prioritize?

After years of doing this, I’ve noticed that people generally prioritize tasks in five main ways.

Here’s the question I ask my students:

“Now that we know what you have to do tonight, what do you want to do first?”

I don’t want them randomly grabbing assignments. I want them to create structure.

Then I give them five options:

• The highest-priority task

• The easiest task

• The hardest task

• The longest task

• The shortest task

These are the patterns I see most often.

When students have listed the four or five things they need to do, I ask:

“What do you want to do first? The easiest, hardest, shortest, longest, or highest-priority task?”

Unless there’s a major deadline looming—such as a project due tomorrow—people usually have different preferences.

Of course, if there’s a huge project due tomorrow, that becomes the obvious priority. Everything else takes a back seat.

But on a normal day, it’s worth asking:

“What approach do you want to take?”

Personally, I like to do the shortest tasks first.

Why?

Because I can cross several things off my list quickly. It builds momentum and helps me get into work mode.

Whenever a student chooses an approach, I always follow up with:

“Why?”

Maybe they say:

“I like doing the hardest thing first because then it’s out of the way.”

Or:

“I like doing the easiest thing first because it helps me get started.”

Or:

“I like doing the highest-priority thing first because then I know the most important thing is done.”

Whatever their answer is, I want them to explain their thinking.

This is called metacognition—thinking about how you think.

I want students to become aware of why they’re making decisions.

The more conscious they are of their choices, the better their decision-making becomes in all areas of life.

Once they’ve chosen their approach, we put everything in order.

Maybe Task 5 comes first, then Task 3, then Task 2, and so on.

Now they have a roadmap for the evening.

It’s important to remember that students who struggle with executive function often won’t complete everything on their list every night.

That’s normal.

Maybe they complete three out of five tasks.

Maybe they complete three and a half.

That can still be a win.

You have to consider the bigger picture.

Students need downtime. They need self-care. They need time to relax and recharge.

The goal isn’t perfection.

However, there is one thing I insist on:

The number one priority must get done.

It doesn’t have to be completed first, but it does need to be completed.

When I ask a student for their number one priority, I’m really asking:

“If you only completed one thing tonight, what would make the biggest difference?”

That’s the task that absolutely cannot be ignored.

The reason I teach this process is because planning is fundamentally about thinking.

Planning isn’t just writing down tasks. It’s learning how to think through decisions, priorities, and responsibilities.

And that’s a very complex skill.

Here’s another benefit of deciding the order ahead of time.

When students finish one task, they don’t have to stop and figure out what comes next.

The decision has already been made.

They simply look at their plan and move to the next item.

This eliminates a lot of wasted time and mental energy.

Instead of thinking:

“What should I do now?”

They already know.

The choice was made at the beginning of the evening.

One final thought for parents:

This is not something students learn overnight.

You can’t teach this skill two or three times and expect mastery.

It takes persistence.

It takes patience.

It takes repetition.

It takes countless conversations.

As a parent, this can be difficult.

You know your child needs to finish their work. You know bedtime is approaching. You know they only have 40 minutes left to complete two hours of homework.

It’s easy to become frustrated.

But these conversations are part of the learning process.

Over time, your goal is to gradually release responsibility so that your child takes more ownership of planning and prioritizing.

These are extraordinarily complex skills, and they take time to develop.

So, to recap:

After your child has made a list of everything they need to do, ask:

“What do you want to do first?”

Do you want to do:

• The easiest thing first?

• The hardest thing first?

• The shortest thing first?

• The longest thing first?

• The highest-priority thing first?

Then ask:

“Why?”

Listen to their reasoning.

Help them think through their choices.

Create an order.

Then get started.

When one task is finished, they simply move on to the next task they intentionally selected earlier.

This helps students stay focused, work more efficiently, and get back to free time and fun sooner.

Again, my name is Seth Perler. I’m an executive function coach based in Boulder, Colorado.

If you haven’t signed up for my weekly blog, feel free to do so. Every week I share strategies to help students, parents, and teachers navigate this thing called education.

Have a great day, and I’ll see you soon.