I didnt like doing my homework at home. There were always too much distractions and better things to do. What I suggest is doing your homework at the school library after class. Honestly there is no better place to do homework. You have every thing you need in an environment that is optimal for reading/studying.
As far as staying up in class, once you catch up (or even a little ahead) and know whats going on then class gets a little more interesting.
See, my teacher, Mrs. N, shes psycho. She looks at me all the time and she sees me doing my homework, but she doesnt care. She's really psycho though because she says all these really stupid things and then laughs at them. Complete idiot.