homework in gradeschool

My DD doesn’t have much homework and what she doesn’t have I don’t mind. Oh yeah, the standing “assignment” is to read to/with her 20 minutes every night but we already did that. She brings home projects every few weeks – a turkey to decorate, a child to decorate as herself, that sort of thing. Usually, we have a week or so turn-around time. Her school does a “passport Club, where kids can voluntarily participate to learn anames and locations of other countries. She does that and it tatakes a few minutes every night for a week or so.

If she had more than that, I wouldn’t bee to happy about it.

Kelly, it sounds like you have found a great school!

I have been looking at pre-schools in all of the areas where the army may send us and man, it's a bizarre world out there. Where is my non-church affliliated, progressive, small, educational but not pressured pre-school? Where? (and I think we can all safely assume that my home-schooling probably would consist of my telling the state people to bite me, so that probably wouldn't work so well)

Jenn

This is EXACTLY what I was saying to myself when we moved here. Everything, EVERYTHING is affiliated with a church - except a handful of montessori schools. I was interested in montessori before we were moving here, and that was the final factor in our decision. I am not an athiest, but I'm not at all a fan of organized religion, and here deep in the heart of the Bible belt I was worried that Jacob would come home and tell me we were going to hell b/c we don't go to church. Jacob is in a montessori 2 full days a week and is really thriving and loving it. I wish I could afford to give him more time there - but it's really pricey.

It's funny that Kelly started this thread today, b/c the topic was just on my mind. SueC's daughter gets homework, and for some reason I was pondering it today, trying to remember if I ever got homework in early grade school, and when it changed.

I think kids should still get to be kids, but I was wondering (during my pondering) if the early grade homework helps to develop better work ethics. I NEVER did my homework. It all seemed like busy work to me, and eventually it was my downfall. I'll let you know how I feel about it next year when he starts getting assignments.

[Rapunzel]

I just remembered that I got homework in first grade - and that was in 1981! Maybe my school was just ahead of its time?

I remember it only taking about ten minutes or so to do and I don't remember homework in gradeschool interfering with important stuff like, oh, playing. I would say that if homework took a child under the age of 11 more than 30 minutes then that is excessive and more detrimental than anything else.

I'd venture to say that the reason homework is sometimes assigned is due to the beauracracy of keep up with the paperwork; as well as the continuous distractions a teacher has of keeping the peace in the classroom; along with the logistics of getting 20-odd children to the bathroom, to lunch, to recess, etc. They simply cannot get to all of the subject matter they need to in a day. Sure, maybe some of it is busywork, and some of it - like reading to your kid everyday - is just commonsense. But, I'd venture to say that there's a component to it that is caused by the current classroom model itself.

There. Had my say. Fightin' The Man. :>

Jennifer

[mommax3]

Still have company.....but popping in with a couple of things.

First of all, I have read/heard that the time spent on homework should be no more than 10 minutes/grade level, so up to an hour for a sixth grader. I agree with that. However, my fifth grader reads and works very fast, so he rarely has homework, and when he does, it is always 30 minutes worth or less, and is usually vocabulary for science, something for spelling, or >20 problems in math. He has had three science projects and two social studies projects so far this year, and he chose to make one of them a PowerPoint presentation, but that was not a requirement. My second grader, however, has an appropriate (I think) amount of homework, usually math or reading, but he hems and haws and takes his time and complains, etc., etc., so 20 minutes takes him more like an hour sometimes.

Second, when my oldest son was in public school, he had a TON of homework, and the impression I got was that the teachers were assigning it not so much for the kids, but so they had documented (hence the parental signing of anything and everything) proof that they had assigned stuff and were doing their job, which is a sad state of affairs imo. When my son moved to private school, I am not kidding.....the papers and junk I had to sign were cut by MORE than half.

Last, a lady I taught with last year had a great saying....."the kids should work HARD at school and be tired when it is over, and then go home and do other things and relax" and I very much agree with her. She had 25 years of public school teaching experience, and then retired and had been teaching at the private school for 4 years when I knew her. My oldest son had her for two years in a row and she was fantastic. He learned a TON and rarely had homework from her.

So, I don't think a ton of homework is necessary, and I think it can actually mask the fact that not much "learning" is taking place.

And btw, jloreine, have you checked out this preschool in San Antonio?
http://groups.msn.com/TheAcorn It always looked great to me, but it was too far from my house. Check http://www.naeyc.org for other accredited preschools, and keep in mind that many of the mainline denominational preschools (United Methodist, Episcopal, Presbyterian) are EXTREMELY ecumenical in their approach to religion, almost to the point of espousing nothing much at all......they might be more acceptable than you might guess. There is also another preschool in San Antonio (or used to be) that enrolled hearing-impaired and non-hearing-impaired students.....they had a really neat approach that seemed to me would benefit both groups of students. I will try to come up with the name of it.

Sally

[Vishenka69]

I went to elementary school in Ukraine and the experience was so different, that I was able to totally breeze through both middle and high school in NY with barely any effort. I did go to one of the better schools in Kiev and had to take an exam (which involved reading, writing and math) in order to get in. Needless to say everyone in my 1st grade was already reading, writing and doing basic math. We also started English in 1st grade and Ukrainian in 2nd (Russian was the main language back then). When I started 7th grade in a NYC public school, I was bored to tears. Instead of listening to the teacher, I would do the homework for the next day. The only challenging classes were the APs I took in high school and even those weren't a huge stretch.

Since I don't have any kids yet, it's hard for me to judge the current state of the educational system. However, I do think that the reason American kids are so far behind their European counterparts is because they're aren't challenged enough, which is the result of "kids need to be kids" philosophy. There's plenty of time for both homework and play.

[spotty_dog]

However, I do think that the reason American kids are so far behind their European counterparts is because they're aren't challenged enough, which is the result of "kids need to be kids" philosophy. There's plenty of time for both homework and play.

Alternatively there's the idea that they need more hours of *instruction*. All too often, gradeschool homework is just busy work when, as Rapunzel points out, the day at school is more full of wrangling children than engaging them.

Rafe Esquith's kids come in early, stay late, and work with him on the weekend -- but they aren't assigned any homework.

[Meenah]

Jenn (jloreine),
Mine went to a Quaker school and it was great and not a usual church related school. When they got to high school one went to public and the other to a private Quaker prep school. Definitely pros & cons for each.
Luanne

[SueC]

We're new to the game here, but my kindergartner does have homework. It's about 2-3 worksheets a night, but she loves it and it probably doesn't take her more than 10 minutes to do. Usually it involves coloring things with a particular pattern, etc. It seems pretty basic, but that is because they are being taught in Spanish, so while it seems like typical work for "preschool" the added element of being instructed to color it in "verde" as opposed to "green" reinforces the language. Our teacher puts the responsibility on the kids to pay attention to the instructions, so I'm not involved at all, which I actually like. The directions are in Spanish, so I couldn't really tell her what to do, unless I wanted to crack open a Spanish dictionary or something. I personally have no problem with her having homework. It doesn't really interfere with our evening activities.