Homework!

[houseelf]

Just want to add that I'm pretty pro-teacher, I'm anti testing phobia policies which generates these absurdities. I hate these policies because those who should be natural allies become adversaries.

[peggyfromwastate]

Our 1st grade homework is a big frustration to be sure... They send home a packet on Monday with 5 or so math sheets, plus a reading comprehension assignment, plus 5 words to learn to read and spell, plus a place for him to write in the title of the book he has read. I'm supposed to initial that of course. It's too much. I help him with the math bc my son is very anal and he would crumble to have his card changed to yellow for not turning in homework. That would crush him. But I have to read the assignment, explain it to him, and tell him basically the answer to almost everything. He's not learning or gaining from homework one little tiny bit.

We also have special projects, but no plays or anything. We had to do an African American doll and book report. It was stressing me out so much I made Dh do it. Lol. I didn't want to spend my weekend on homework battles too.

I resent homework and I think it's stupid.

I do not help my older kids with their work. They are in 4th grade. I think once they were solid readers I really stopped helping them, probably in mid-2nd grade or so. When I get the emails telling me that DD2 isn't doing her homework, she's not prepared, etc., I just respond that I don't let her do more than 1 hour of homework a night. I think that's enough, and if she can't finish it in 1 hour it's too much or too hard, and maybe they should move her to a different reading/math group or whatever. This approach has worked for me. Her teachers invariably think over 1 hour is excessive.

But for kindergarten/first grade all I can tolerate is about 15 minutes, but it usually takes 30. Plus another 15 for the reading...

Sucks.

[MissCrabette]

Seriously? We learned the alphabet in first grade, and I think we were able to read basic sentences ("Mary has apples" and such) by the end of the year. Granted, I already knew how to read and was a little bored, but this sounds like a lot of work for a first grader. I don't know whether to be in awe of today's kids or to say that the old system worked well enough for me, and that kids that age should have a little more fun.

We homeschool now, but my oldest did public K and 1st. His usual homework was the backside if a Saxon math worksheet and about 10-15 min of reading per night. Nothing on Fridays or weekends, and the teacher was very clear that if the homework got to be too much for the kid, that we were to just do what we could and they'd help them finish up the next day in class. What some of you are describing for grammar- age homework is astounding to me.

[diggitydot]

Here was her homework for every day this past week:

Complete Math worksheet
Read for 20 minutes and record title in planner
Choose a spelling acitivity
Lexia on the computer - at least 15 minutes
Timed Reading - Fluency page

Alexia is new to the class as of January because we moved in. We were never given any instruction on the spelling homework. Since that time we have done one big project with a diorama and poster board and research paper. It was even billed as a "family project". I shit you not. Like my family has nothing better to do than to sit around and glue rocks inside a shoebox together. We also had to affix 100 non-perishable items to a hat that the child was supposed to wear to school for the 100th day. This teacher is also wanting the kids to do a book report (WTF?) every month.

WTF?



Beyond ridic.

Don't get me wrong. I'm typically in the teacher's corner on most issues. I know when and where my kids will totally fuck off in class. I get that they're not perfect. But I also realize that there are some peeps among us who are clueless to reality. Sometimes they teach.

[GreyhoundsRUs]

But I also realize that there are some peeps among us who are clueless to reality. Sometimes they teach.

This!

[Meenah]

I shouldn't say, "all future diorama assignments can be shoved up your ass?"

One of the many reasons I love you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[DCJenn]

I actually liked dioramas as a kid. and I have to say the fact that my kid's "GT" assignment (and don't get me started on the hour and a half a WEEK of "GT enrichment" that he gets) involves needing a shoebox to make a sarcophagus for the Lego mummy he'd made...means mommy need to make the
rand sacrifice and buy a new pair of shoes.

J.

[Pollyanna]

FWIW, my husband, myself, and my montessori educated first born son had VERY little homework until fifth grade. Things turned out just fine for DH and me and the fifth grader earns fantastic grades. Maybe it is something other than homework in the tender years that garners success.
.

I have told teachers on more than one occasion that my husband and I both have graduate degrees so we completely support and understand the importance of an education but we also have some perspective on the amount of time our children will be in school. We would rather our children love to learn than to be burnt out by high school because they were doing hours of homework in the second grade.

I also think homework is assigned with the "ideal" student in mind. Sure, there may be one kid in the class that can sit down and bang out all the work in 30 minutes but I think the reality is more like my house where some kids are standing at the counter doing their work, some on the floor, some on their bed, etc. Then said kids get distracted by a variety of things, have to get dressed for other activities, etc.

FYI: I think nearly all homework is stupid until middle school. You have my kid for 7 hours, there is no reason that they should be coming home and doing MORE work.

[Vanquisher]

I completely agree, Tara!


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[Michele]

My sister teaches 4th grade and her rule of thumb is 10 min per grade level plus 20 minutes of reading. She said an hour for first grade is a lot, but I read Alexia's list to her and she said it sounded normal and appropriate. She says her math sheets are 5-6 problems and she expects it to take about 10 minutes. She expects the Fluency stuff to take 2 minutes. She said if it's taking longer the n either the child doesn't understand the concept (and the parent needs to re-teach it) or is milking the situation for increased parent time (her old school was in a poor area w parents who were largely unavailable to their children - kids came to school wo shoes, etc). She doesn't view the 20 min of reading as homework bc it's so important and "just something that should be done." Oh and she will send home any work that the child didn't complete in class.

She also said that many of the teachers she works with do the packet thing. Send home 4 or 5 math sheets, some spelling etc at the beginning of the week and let the kids do it on nights that are convenient.

I told her I think it's crazy! But we argue EVERY single time we talk about schooling and education. I often find her using circular reasoning and flawed logic when we talk about it....but she's obviously been "drinking the kool-aid" and to keep the family peace, we agree to disagree often. For example, she has told me that she can teach her kids (in her class) better than their parents can. So my question then becomes why send home work for the parent to do or possibly need to "re-teach?"

[Pollyanna]

either the child doesn't understand the concept (and the parent needs to re-teach it)

WTH!!! That's like a doctor sending home a patient to do their own exam because the doc didn't do it right.

For example, she has told me that she can teach her kids (in her class) better than their parents can. So my question then becomes why send home work for the parent to do or possibly need to "re-teach?"

Exactly!!!

[v-girl]

Homework is one of the many reasons we love homeschooling. When our girls were in Catholic school, homework wasn't outrageous, but there were a lot of projects. And costumes. I can make a St. Elizabeth of Hungary costume in my sleep. It was my go-to saint costume for the girls every year for 5 years.

I'll be the kind-of dissenter here. I was a kid who sailed through elementary & middle school, and had no concept if how to hunker down & complete assignments (or the need to) once I got to high school. My mom was too busy supporting us to notice/address the issue, and even though the schoolwork itself was easy for me, my grades suffered in any class where homework/projects were a substantial part of the grade. I never learned to study or how to truly research a project. While I don't enjoy the homework my kids get or my role in it ( which is substiantially smaller than some described here), I do appreciate that they're learning these skills from the start. We also don't have a ton of outside activities, which is more from a self-preservation standpoint as I am solo most evenings.

I know that many if us have a kid or kids on the high end of the ability curve & they may not need the same level of repetition that others get, but I dont feel as though it's fair to the teachers to ask them to remember or have different requirements for different students. As to the teachers being able to teach my kids better than I can - in our family - hell yes! (with the exception if one lousy teacher Jacob had) We butt heads too much for me to ever be aable to homeschool!

Some of the homework described here is truly off the rails, and I'd likely have a totally different opinion if faced with it. I don't think homework for younger students is entirely out of place, though.

[DCJenn]

Jenn-

I agree with you in that it's a valuable habit to learn. I wish the schools would think the same way. Nikolai's comprehension of his spanish words isn't going to increase by writing them five times at home in a non-Spanish speaking household. The only value the homework has is to teach him that he (someday) will actually have to hunker down and do meaningful homework. I never learned how to properly study until my second year at college after pulling a 1.5 gpa and nearly getting kicked out. I had NO idea what I was doing. Homework from high school was either ridiculously easy OR I just didn't do it and didn't care. (and back then there was no way for my parents to know what I was supposed to do and they stupidly trusted me when I said that I had done it.)

J.