After being on a computer all day at school, do you lose motivation to restart that computer again at home to work on your homework? Fortunately, BFA English teacher Jim Hill, and paraeducator Penelope Gratton, understand your troubles and are here with a solution: Homework Club. This club is advised by Hill and Gratton to help students better manage their time by giving them a quiet space to do their homework and ask questions after school in Room A203 three times a week: Monday, Tuesday and Thursday from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m.

“We want to be here and support in the best way we can in whatever capacity that is. [It could be] helping them do research. I’m an English teacher. [I can help] with writing or … grammar usage mechanics, whatever it is, but really it’s the space just knowing that they have a place they can come and rely on that space…” Hill said.

Hill and Gratton want to give students a comfortable place to work without distractions from siblings, a ringing telephone or internet issues. This is an opportunity for students to be successful with all of the work that they are facing in a one-hour block. A diligent hour is adequate “time where [students] can get most of their work done,” Hill said. 

There have been prior instances of Homework Club at BFA.

“There was a homework club when I moved here in 2002. I was at Town School, and my son used to have to stay in school and wait for me until Town School was finished. And … he used to go to the Homework Club, get the help that he needed and have a warm, dry place to stay until I came to get him,” Gratton recalled.

Homework Club has even been held at the Complex for athletes waiting for their practice to start.

“[Five years ago], I held a Homework Club at the Complex. And, it was a very different situation because students were there if they weren’t, for example, on the varsity program. So, they might be waiting an hour-and-a-half for their practice to begin…  it provided a space up there for them to work, rather than … sit idly and waste time,” Hill said.

Current Homework Club students are able to get their work done in the time allotted.

Ethan White (‘21) heard about Homework Club through announcements and utilizes it to avoid the procrastination he faces at home. He said he only wishes “for more people to [attend].”

According to a blog on craniumclubs.com,”kids who join homework clubs will be in groups with other students or instructors they may not know and will need to be able to articulate the kind of help they need with their assignments.” This club will provide a great opportunity for students to improve their communication skills in a safe and relaxed environment.

Hill realizes that students in high school know a lot about their learning habits and their study habits. However, he wants students to be a little introspective and ask themselves, “would I benefit from this club?”