One would think that I would look forward to my first grader getting off the bus each day, and spending time together. I do and I don’t. Of course, I love to see him, but I also know what the rest of the afternoon has in store for us. Homework.
We are in a school district where homework is given every weeknight as the default. I thought I had the homework situation under control, but recently, the amount has gone up dramatically. Here is the list of what must be done at home each night, four nights a week:
One math or language arts worksheet (15 min)
One spelling book written assignment (15 min)
One sight words written assignment (15 min)
Practice math facts with flashcards (10 min)
Reading for Reading Log (20 min)
TOTAL: One hour and fifteen minutes
So, roughly a total of one hour and fifteen minutes each night. IF it all goes smoothly, without interruption. With interruptions, breaks, we’re looking at a good two-hour slog each night. Oh yeah, and a monthly book report that always involves building something and purchasing odd materials.
It’s. Just. Too. Much.
After my child spends 6 hours a day in school, plus another hour of bus time, I really don’t want him to have to do more homework. I want him to hang out, go to the park, paint, draw, play outside, or read for fun. Even the reading, which is part of the assignment, often gets cut down in our chase to get all of the written assignments done!.
I don’t like the mother I become when I am supervising homework. On the outside, I look like I am calmly supervising. But on the inside, I feel antsy and impatient. I’m watching the clock. I’m plotting how I, I mean WE, can cut corners. I’m trying to think ahead about how I can speed the process up without leaving my mark too obviously on the assignment. Sometimes I even feel anger at the assignments that come home, if I think they aren’t worthy of my child’s time (or mine). I feel disempowered and my home life imposed upon. If I could get away with it, I would fill it out myself.
So what to do? Well, I pulled out my copy of Alfie Kohn’s, The Homework Myth, to see what he suggests.
The Issue
Many districts with default homework policies will vaguely claim that “studies show” that homework is correlated with school success. Kohn challenges this, saying that, at best, such studies only show a correlation, not a causation. Kohn also notes that such studies “confuse grades and test scores with learning.” And even where positive effects exist, they are very small. Finally, there is no evidence of any academic benefit from homework in elementary school, other than free reading.
So why is homework the default policy of many schools and school districts, even at the elementary level? Kohn suggests that the most troubling reason is that we, as parents, are too averse to asking questions:
One reason we don’t ask challenging questions about homework is that we don’t ask challenging questions about most things. Homework continues to be championed by policy makers, assigned by teachers, and accepted by parents, in part because of our cultural aversion to digging out hidden premises, pressing for justification and opposing practices for which justification is lacking…
Even if we do regard something as objectionable, that doesn’t mean we will object to it.
OUCH. I’m not sure about this part. Sure, I think our culture can be lazy at times, but I think the main reason parents don’t raise objections is because such objections can be met with defensiveness by the district. Sometimes you can cause more trouble for yourself and for your children by challenging the status quo. You know, pick your battles and all that. In other words, it’s quite rational, in my opinion, to just try to go along.
The Solutions
Ok, so are there any solutions in this book, for homework-weary moms like me?
Kohn suggests that homework should not be the default, but should only be given when it’s an activity that is suited to home as opposed to the classroom. He also supports reading books of the child’s choice. However, even on free-choice reading, he counsels caution on reading logs. He quotes Jim DeLuca, a middle school language arts teacher:
“The best way to make students hate reading is to make them prove to you that they have read. Some teachers use log sheets….other teachers use book reports or other projects….in many cases, such assignments make the students hate the book they have just read, no matter how they felt about it before the project.”
In general, Kohn suggests that at minimum, homework should be individualized to the student, designed by the teacher (as opposed to canned worksheets), and not graded. However, Kohn admits that parents have an uphill climb if they are in a district where homework is the default policy.
In the end, The Homework Myth is a fascinating read, but leaves an individual parent with little actionable advice.
And so, here I am, right where I started. Do I speak up that this homework situation is not working for our family? Or do I keep quiet?
What is your child’s homework experience like? What is your opinion on homework? Have you even spoken out about homework you thought had no value or was too much? What was the outcome?
wow, in first grade!
That’s the amount of homework my third grader does – right down to the monthly book reports. My two boys go to a private school that has strongly resisted intensifying the lower grades. No homework in kindergarten, a weekly packet in first grade of fairly easy worksheets plus a reading log. Daily homework doesn’t really start until second grade. Interestingly, some families have left the school because they think that other faster paced programs are better, but I can’t imagine imposing that level of homework in first grade.
And I’m not really sure what the rush is. It’s not like DS is not going to be able to take calculus in high school because he learned his math facts in second grade instead of first grade.
And I hear you on how frustrating it is. I hate arguing over homework. It’s even more frustrating because DS also does 15 minutes of piano practice a day so we get to argue over that too.
One of our local public schools did pull back on homework a few years ago. Interestingly, the impetus came from the primary grades teachers who had attended a conference. Maybe it’s worth feeling out the teachers to see how they really feel?
DS is 1st grade in public school
His homework is sent home in a Monday folder, due on Thurs. It has not been a burden for DS or my family. I don’t know what happens if a child doesn’t do it — when DS was sick for a few days the teacher did not expect it to be made up.
DS weekly homework folder:
Optional special project like creating a model house to go along with Native American unit, Science Fair project, or extra reading for the Read-a-thon (fundraiser for local literacy projects.) Parental involvement is not expected for homework. I sit near my child when he does homework but try to stay out of it unless he needs help with directions or concepts. Sometimes if he is procrastinating I set the timer for 15 minutes & tell him it gets put back in the backpack at that time, finished or not. He’d prefer not to turn in incomplete work (in case the teacher asks why), so that functions as a motivator with me being the bad guy.
I’d speak to the teacher to see if there is a consequence if he doesn’t complete all. Maybe she doesn’t care if your DS completes it or not as long as he keeps on level.
I view homework at this age as a tool for parents to stay informed on the day-to-day leaning of their child. It makes it easy to catch up with their progress when you can say “show me your homework & tell me what you learned today.” Otherwise in this busy life sometimes these kind of conversations fall by the wayside.
DS attends a small public elementary in Austin TX district. It is rated Exemplary based on test scores & other metrics. We are fortunate to be in this zone & won’t leave now because the school is so good. There are exclusive private schools nearby but many people choose this school in preference. I know one of the 3 1st grade teachers assigns more homework and I will use that info to request that my younger son not be put in her class.
Homework in Kinder was optional –1/week it was sent home but not required to be returned. I anticipate homework to increase slightly each grade. I will see when we get there.
forgot to write – Definitely Speak Up!
What is the negative consequence that could happen? None that I see.
Have you asked some of the parents of classmates what they think? Our school would be easy to do that — we have a Yahoo group set up by class. Just post a query & ask for feedback – everyone may feel the same. If it results in a change you could become “Teacher’s Pet” for lightening her grading workload.
moms
Yes, I’ve talked to the other moms, and they think it’s all too much too, but no one will say anything. I’ve tried to raise other issues or ask questions and have been met with subtle resistance or they’ll just give me the minimum answer. It’s a very “shut up and pay up” kind of district.
it’s awful
Yeah, and I can already see that it is starting to become a little bit of a power struggle and he’s starting now not to like it. Way to set the kids up to start hating school young.
That’s absurd
You might try talking with your kid’s teacher. My impression is that teachers for the most part know that the academic evidence doesn’t support time consuming homework. But parents, especially in the “better” school districts, expect to see it. They bought houses in the best district and want to see their kids being drilled so they know they are getting their money’s worth.
We are lucky we haven’t had this problem, and our teachers so far have stayed within the 10 min/grade/day guidelines. I discovered that DS1′s 1st grade teacher disapproved of homework but assigned it to comply with parental pressure and expectations. She told me privately that it was optional, so we dropped it that year.
I’m a long time Kohn fan, as I’m sure I’ve mentioned here before. But here a couple of other resources if you’re trying to marshal support for a reduction. Some teachers might be defensive I suppose, but you might be surprised – others might appreciate the support.
Duke Study: Homework Helps Students Succeed in School, As Long as There Isn’t Too Much
http://news.duke.edu/…
NEA Reviews of the Research on Best Practices in Education http://www.nea.org/…
yeah
I think teachers who keep up with research, as well as reflect on their own experience, know there’s not a lot to be gained from saddling young kids with homework. And there are potential downsides, like burn-out, parent-child conflict, and robbing a kid of his free time.
If I were in NJMom’s situation I’d politely feel the teacher out and then make a decision based on what was / was not working for my family. It’s not like the kid is not going to be passed to the next grade if he doesn’t finish his 1st grade homework. I’d be curious what, if any, objections a raise, and what kind of consequence a family might expect. It would have to be pretty severe for me to go along with that much homework on a daily basis though.
I agree
I agree, I think I have to at least reach out and see the kind of reception I get.
The teacher is quite confident in herself, so I think she is going to be defensive.
The other thing is, I don’t want to make my kid look bad, like my kid can’t keep up with the homework. I just think it’s too much homework, for everyone.
well, remember
The teacher doesn’t live with you guys. I would be cautious about making it all about pleasing her, though I agree you need to work with her to figure out her reasoning and then apply your own reasoning to making a decision. I do think some teachers feel pressured into assigning lots of work to make parents feel like their kid is working hard, getting ahead, etc. There just isn’t a great correlation between worksheets and academic progress, if the kid has already mastered the concepts.
She might be relieved to have one less kid’s work to correct
Well
That amount of homework isn’t developmentally appropriate. I’m guessing there’s not a single kid in the class doing it without a large amount of help and prodding. I feel confident that it’s not just your kid. You’re just the only parent that you know of who is aware of how useless homework is.
This makes me want to ask Simone’s principal if there is some kind of school policy on homework, especially for the younger kids. I hope they’re up on this research, or that since it’s a Montessori they agree with me that nothing should be assigned that a kid can’t handle on their own. Not that I’m averse to helping, but I don’t think a homework assignment should be counting on it.
definitely
Oh I know it’s not just my kid, I’ve talked to other moms about it. They actually are also aware of how useless it is, but I don’t know if anyone has spoken up about it.
book
I’m a Kohn fan too, but I didn’t find this book that helpful. He makes you feel better, that it’s not you, it’s them, but he really doesn’t offer any solutions. I guess there aren’t any solutions though, unless you’re willing to speak out.
I live in an area of NJ where people go berserk over test scores (the NJ ASK). We got the scores back before the holidays and the school went down across the board and the principal even sent out a letter saying they were looking at everything to try to address it.
Then, boom, they up the homework right after the holidays. I suspect it’s not a coincidence.
that sounds reactive
and not all that helpful. Remember, torture doesn’t work! LOL
Seriously, if there were empirical or theoretical data to support the idea of piling on homework I’d certainly take a look at it. But what I know from my experience and reading what I could find, adding lots of homework at the end of a schoolday amounts to a lot of macho handwaving.
IMHO, of course!
that’s the thing about Kohn
He’s not a solutions-oriented guy. None of his other books, like Unconditional Parenting, offer much in the way of concrete advice either. He doesn’t claim to have the answers. I like that about him, because I don’t generally believe than anyone else has the answers they claim to have. Kohn gives you information and makes his case and then you get to wing it – which is what we’re doing anyway.
We know that homework beyond the recommended amount does not correlate with test score improvement. But I’d be willing to bet that enrichment activities do – that’s got to be part of the high SOE scoring advantage. So maybe you can take the position that homework is lowering scores by interfering with extracurricular development time.
My first grader recently wanted to figure out how long it would take to travel around the earth, and we spent most of the time discussing variables. (In a space shuttle? A car? How long does the plane stop for refueling? Do you go to bed every night or does someone drive you while you sleep?) Or he wanted to estimate how many milliseconds everyone in the family had been alive – we did this in our heads without using pen and paper so we were probably off by a factor of a thousand or million or so. That’s math education. Flashcards just make you stupid.
Well put about enrichment activities
I couldn’t quite figure out how to phrase that with my other suggestions.
You should tread carefully with that, though, because there are some people who consider gymnastics, soccer, scouts etc as “frippery”, unable to see the connection to academic achievement.
Yes, but
it seems to be a pretty common sentiment that children need more physical fitness. So gymnastics, soccer, dance, swimming, etc are not activities that anyone could successfully argue against. Because even if they don’t actually value physical fitness, nobody is going to have the nerve to say so.
but
Enrichment isn’t just organized activities like sports and gymnastics, it’s also visits to the arboretum and local museums, as well as time to work in the garden, build a birdhouse, learn to cook, or work on origami projects. Or design and build an explosive device using popsicle sticks, string, tape, and a pulley (last night’s project).
Well, sure
I agree. I’m a weirdo who even sees value in children playing with their siblings and neighbors. But try telling that to one of those homework people!
I so agree!!!!
I’m not such a big trip taker during the week, but there is so much value in just going outside your house into the backyard or the playground and just playing, seeing who is there, hanging out. Informal.
You’d be surprised what people can and will
argue.
Indeed, there are some people who would argue that your family trip to the Smithsonian should not interfere with little Timmy writing his spelling words 5 times each.
Here is
Here is a sentence from the homework pamphlet:
“We understand that our students have many after-school activities, however, please make certain that homework receives top priority over other activities.”
yes
Isn’t this precisely why higher SES families consistently produce higher functioning students — because of the opportunities the kids get in their families?
it’s not a bug, it’s a feature
I have actually seen the argument put forth that homework helps level the playing field not only by keeping, you know, “those kids” off the streets and focused on their schoolwork, but also by keeping the high SOE kids from taking too much advantage of their privileged status. By making sure all the kids are occupied with the same activity you reduce the spread between the haves and the have nots.
I kid you not.
Kohn argues the opposite
Kohn argues the opposite from what I remember from the book.
That homework policies increase the gap because high SES kids get a lot of help with the homework from educated parents.
UGH
Test scores. Last year our school district went from number 3 in California to flat out number 1 for test scores. When I heard this I immediately wondered (worried actually) if they’ll now feel obliged to fight like hell to stay number 1. Because who wants to go down, down is very very bad, isn’t it?
All of the districts around here are literally within 2 – 5 percentage points away from each other, but everyone knows that ours is number 1. Honestly, if all of the nearby districts are above 90% “highly proficient” or whatever language they use, who on earth cares if one district is 92 and other other is 95??
Our district gets raves from parents, but I am going to thoroughly check them out. Peeps say that it’s not drill and kill at all but I want to see for myself.
Ugh.
my condolences
I guess there’s only one way to go, and that’s down. Which means you have no hope of moving forward, and should expect NCLB sanctions as soon as you fail to meet program improvement goals. Who wants to be trapped in a declining school system? I recommend you sell now while you’re still on top, and move to a neighborhood with more hope for the future.
I still think the single biggest advantage of a spanish immersion school is that people look at our english scores and think, “whatever”, which I assume gives the teachers a little extra freedom to actually teach without worrying about the test. Our 2nd grade’s english language arts score is quite low for a high scoring school district, but I personally think it’s awesome (not to mention informative) that 62% score at or above proficient before they start formal english instruction.
Our local newspaper editor has it in
for the local dual immersion school, ripping on its test scores.
Thing is, the school has a long waiting list and its test scores are about the same as the rest of the district.
In the same essay, I was curious to see first her complaint that it wasn’t serving the kids to teach in spanish, that it was depriving them of a future …. and also that it was too exclusive, that kids who were older than 2nd grade with no spanish skills would not be admitted.
So was it so terrible that no child should be allowed to go, or was it so elite that more kids should have a chance?
Exactly
Only one way to go and that’s down. So apparently we are screwed!
OT but I wish we had access to a spanish immersion program.
Heh heh
If you drop down to a mere 89%, I’m sure someone will put you in Program Improvement.
But only
if you’re Title I. Because test scores matter A LOT but only for schools with enough poor kids.
snork
89%, the shame!
it’s so important
to check things out for yourself. As you know, psychologically it’s hard not to stand behind costly decisions we’ve made, so if you paid a fortune for a house because the API scores were over 900, the fact that the scores remain high might be the only thing you allow yourself to think about when evaluating your decision.
Humans are mysterious. Which economists don’t seem to have figured out, because they continue to tell us that we are rational and always act in our own best interest. Ha ha ha ha ha!!
yeah that’s hilarious
Rational, schmational. The tour I’m taking is this Thursday! I am so curious. Ds’s first preschool teacher who been around this area forever, did tell me that this school does “do” traditional pedagogy and is a “pressure cooker.” So I am wondering what that looks like on the ground. Homework starts in kindy I know that much.
They stagger the schedules kindy – 2nd grade so that all kids get reading and math instruction in groups of 10. So I’m just curious about it all and really really hoping I like it.
kindy
We had homework in Kindergarten which was reasonable in volume and considering it was a half-day program, not a big deal. I even added my own stuff. I enjoyed working with my DS last year and I loved having half day K.
Then things changed this year obviously on the homework front!
Good luck with the tour, let us know how it goes!
half day kindy also
Which I am glad about, too. One kindy homework I saw (a friend’s daughter) was to fill in the numbers of their monthly calendar. So not bad at all.
But that’s the thing …. how does the pressure ratchet up over the following years?? I hope I can get a sense of that.
I’ll let you know how it goes.
I’m flabbergasted
That’s about half the time I spent studying per night in college! I never had assigned homework until high school. Before that, you had homework if you didn’t finish something in class, or if you had a test (I remember studying spelling words), or something special like an end-of-section report on Native Americans. What do you do if you have more than one kid? Or any outside actvitiy in the evening? And still get in dinner, a bath, and bedtime by 9?
I get what you’re saying about pushing it and having trouble with the administration, but yes, I’d really be interested in what other options are available. I won’t have a first grader for almost three years, but it seems like I’m hearing things like this more & more, so I’d like to be prepared. And anything that would put a child off on reading is something I would fight against!
I know
I know, it’s nuts. I think I spent probably an hour or so a night in high school. I definitely don’t remember any homework in first grade other than reading and maybe flashcards.
We don’t have any activities going right now during the week. I don’t know how people do it if their child does have activities. It kind of helps that it gets dark so early now and it’s freezing out, but when the weather breaks and the clocks go forward, we’ll be outside after school until dinner at 5:30 or so. Then what?
It was hell the first few years
that Eldest was in school , because when he started first grade he was ADD, and had a younger brother with ADHD who was two and desperately wanted to do what Eldest was doing.
And I was single parenting, since Bear was a trucker.
What we finally did was to put him in after-school care; that gave him a non-distracting work enviroment to do his worksheets and such, and let me get dinner ready while only having to keep his brother from jumping off the roof or something. We kept that up right up through sixth grade; by then his brother was slightly older and had a little bit better impulse control, and he’d formed good work habits.
Damn!
No homework here (well…weekly spelling words to practice and nightly reading is expected), and I honestly don’t know how we would deal with more than an hour of homework every night! We just don’t have that kind of time. My daughter has gymnastics and art lessons after school…and on days when she doesn’t have anything after school, she needs the downtime. More often than not, they come home and want to do science experiments…but that’s their choice.
I have really bad memories of spelling homework (use every word in a sentence, write out definitions….even when I could easily spell every word in the book), and worksheets. They scarred me so badly (seriously…there is some major trauma around homework, 4th grade, family dynamics, etc…I still have resentment towards my mother for not defending me) that I will fight to the death before my kid has to do it. If they’re behind the class, I have no problem at all working hard at home to help them catch up. If they know the stuff, I’ll be damned if they’re going to do nonsense to prove it repeatedly.
Not that I feel strongly about this or anything….
Of course, Monday starts the first day of year two. New teacher, new grade. Who knows what battles I’ll be fighting this year?!
memories
Those bad memories you have of those assignments? Those are exactly the assignments he is getting already.
Can he spell the words?
If so, tell the teacher to take a leap. I got so behind in my stupid spelling assignments that at one stage I had 16 to catch up on. There is no way that I was ever going to catch up. The feeling of dread and hopelessness is still there when I think about it. And the fact that my mother never even once said to the teacher “This is silly. She can spell every word in that book. And telling her that she has to finish every stupid spelling assignment when it’s obviously pointless is just causing problems.” Even a simple “Can we make a deal?” would have helped.
Man….I still hate that teacher. Who knew?
GOD.
I hated, HATED, that “copying definitions” busy-work. What BS. None of the definitions ever stuck–the only way I ever really learned words was to read books that used them! And my own experience with this is worsened by the fact that they sent me to fifth grade to have reading classes when I was in second grade, and my handwriting (and patience) just weren’t quite up to all the copying.
I spent a good chunk of time last night with DSD-11 talking about word-use sentences. The funny part of hers was that since she knew everything on the main list, the teacher gave her this huge honkin’ book of words used in the National Spelling Bee (ah, practice for that takes me back too, although I only ever got to state level) and told her to pick out five “challenge words.” YOU try coming up with sentences–unrelated to any circumstance that you’d actually write about–for “Schadenfreude” and “alacrity”! (She did actually get those into the same sentence.)
When there’s too much
I do it for them once I’m sure they get the concepts. We don’t do this a lot (in fact, it’s a fairly new strategy) but I’ve decided that a) I’m the mama and I’m in charge and 2) homework is total bullshit busywork and I’m not going to make my kids just a couple more cogs in the machine.
I recently got a snarky e-mail from the teacher asking why Harry’s homework was done in my handwriting. (This was a night when I’d scribed, so technically he’d actually done the homework- his brain, my hand) I responded that so long as my 3rd grader was doing negative multiplication and division in his head and had shown no problem with basic addition/ subtraction math facts, I wasn’t going to bust his chops over 25 problems that asked him to do three column addition and subtraction.
I think I may just win mother of the year this year. Screw it. We’re the parents. We decide.
That is so Badass!
You are so right but I think I’m still too afraid of teachers to do that!
Don’t be afraid.
I was a teacher for years and DH is currently one. Trust me- they’re more afraid of you than you are of them. It’s a well kept secret.
really?
Really? I don’t get that feeling at all.
oh, yeah
Especially as parents have become more litigious, teachers are nervous all the time. Unfortunately it leads to defensiveness and doesn’t necessarily breed open, friendly relationships.
I may be wrong but my hunch is that you asking to have the homework load reduced for your kid is so far down the list of “out there” requests, she probably won’t even blink. Seriously. I had a parent earlier this week ask me for 2 hours of OT a week because her son doesn’t like to touch spider webs. You will look very reasonable in comparison.
Heh
Put a spider in a jar, send it home with the parent, and suggest two hours of homework a day.
Or, I have this barn that needs cleaning…
makes sense
That makes sense. I sense extreme defensiveness any time I have tried to make contact with the school on any topic, whether its something that needs to be addressed urgently or even just a question seeking more information on something.
They are always courteous, but guarded with what they will share and often jump into defense mode very quickly.
True
I heard of a woman who requested that dictionaries be removed from the classrooms! And her wish was granted!
Permission slips for dictionaries
The world is a strange, strange place sometimes.
My sister got graded down a lot
in elementary school, because the teachers kept insisting she’d had my parents do her homework for her. (She hadn’t, actually.)
Just saying, be prepared to fight that battle someday.
Did
Did you ever look into the 504 plan and how it related to all that homework they were giving him?
Yeah
his 504 says he has to have as much time as he needs, so we can take an extra night for the homework if we want to. We’re lucky that our elementary schools are ungraded- kids get sort of a general 1-4 in a bunch of categories, but they’re not directly linked to homework and quizzes and the like. Or maybe they are- it’s not very clear. His test scores are off the chart and he aces tests and quizzes, so I feel like a missing homework assignment here or there won’t make much difference at this stage. When he gets olde it may be an issue, abut by then his hands should be strong enough that he can do the work without it causing pain.
And the whole “teachers being scared” thing? In my experience, parents have a lot more power than they’re really willing to wield. A couple of well placed phone calls (to the principal, your school board rep, the asst supt in charge of instruction) and a couple of letters to the editor can really have an impact. Districts need the voters to pass bond issues and levies, so they don’t like bad press or unhappy parents. There’s nothing wrong with throwing your weight around if you need to- especially when so much research supports the hypothesis that homework is at best a waste of time and at worst, detrimental to learning.
I say boycott.
Don’t do it. Send notes in every day. What’s the teacher going to do? Fail your kid? In grammar school?
I’m in a bad mood, and feeling reactionary. Meh.
I’m not looking forward to this.
Yes!
Don’t survive- subvert!
teacher
That’s what I feel like doing. And then I cave.
The thing is that this is “district policy.” So we get this little nasty pamphlet at the beginning of the year saying we are a homework-every-night district, so basically shut up. And sure enough, it does say that first grade will have an hour every night.
So it’s not the teacher, it’s coming from above her.
the passive agressive approach
Could you perhaps find a way to politely but firmly ask district representatives to explain and/or justify their rationale for ignoring the reams of academic literature, as well as the NEA and PTA recommendations? You want to educate yourself on their point of view but everything you find on your own points in the other direction. You want to be supportive, but conscientious parents need to fully understand so they can get with the program. :-)
Here are your options, as I see them
First, I would discuss it with the teacher, and say distinctly, not hostilely, but matter of factly, what my husband said: “She has plenty of years to learn to hate school; I’d just as soon we didn’t start her with that in first grade.” I would say that your child is learning the material, knows how to do the work, and that it’s just too much homework for every day. There literally isn’t enough time in the day to handle it, and especially not if there is anything else going on that evening.
Then let the teacher respond. What is important to her? Is there a way she can make the assignment less, or more tailored to your child, or set it up so that he takes the consequences of unfinished homework and that’s okay with everyone? As far as “grades”, that would not be a concern for me particularly at this age.
If the teacher cannot work with you, then I would suggest you attend a school board meeting. If it is “policy”, then the board is the only place the policy can be changed. It will be helpful if you can get the exact language of the policy. You might want to speak with the principal or superintendent first, just to get a chance to see what you’re dealing with in private, and then if possible, attend the public meeting with some documentation and with some others who feel as you do. It will be uncomfortable, but most likely, not too unpleasant. And if you attend every meeting for a while, they’ll get used to you being there and perhaps that will make it more likely that they’ll address your concerns. I would stay as matter of fact and polite as possible, and I would probably be very specific to first grade.
Points I would make would be:- time your child actually gets home- bedtime for your first grader- an hour for dinner time- that there are special occasions, like meeting family for dinner, etc.- “an hour” of homework generally means if the child is fresh and working well. By 4:30 pm, my child is no longer fresh! Naturally, the actual completion time will vary. (My own daughter could spend half an hour writing her name at the end of a school day, writing and erasing and rewriting the letters until they were “perfect”.)- studies that asked about a correlation between homework for first grade and achievement- suggest options like lengthening and including the reading time in the hour, asking for the policy to be say 4 hours a (7-day) week instead of one hour a night, etc.- express your belief in the importance of achievement and your concern that your child be in the habit of completing all assignments.
At our public meetings, each public comment is limited to three minutes and the board is not allowed to take action on an item or even really discuss it until it has been placed on an agenda.
Good luck.
sorry my nicely separated bullet points
ran together like that. I suppose I should have actually read the preview, sigh.
I love, love, love your suggestions
I just wanted to jump in and say how much I’ve enjoyed your comments throughout this thread. Practical, insightful, focused, and sensible – it really makes me feel that there are effective ways to advocate for my kids. I don’t have this particular battle to fight, but I’ll keep this in mind as a template if I ever need it for the future.
It actually seems
worth bookmarking this thread to pull up for advocating purposes later.
Thanks y’all
I’ve already learned a lot from just the training, and right now is when the dichotomy between “this is totally opaque and bizarre” and “oh, now that makes sense to me” is very fresh.
For example, there was an informal community meeting last year about the 4 day school week, and only two board members attended. I remember feeling annoyed about that, that only two of five cared to attend. Didn’t they want to hear what people said?
In California, we have the Brown Act, which means that any government board cannot meet in secret except for very special conditions, and even then there must be an agenda and public notice. A quorum of the board (ie, no more than two of us) cannot meet and discuss education issues without it being a full legal board meeting, duly noticed and agendized and run by the board chair.
Well, that put a new spin on things.
Also, if I have to attend a meeting by teleconference, I can do so, but we have to give 72 hours notice of my physical location, and the full agenda must be posted at that location, for example the door of my hotel room.
And by “meeting”
all the loopholes have been covered. Two people can talk about school stuff at the soccer game, but not three. Three of us can appear at an unrelated community meeting as long as it is not about education. (This is good; it’s a very small community and that’s rather likely.)
There was a big brouhaha in the county last year when 3/5 of our Board of Supervisors went to Sacramento to testify about something. All of a sudden, everyone freaked out that this was a secret meeting in violation of the Brown Act.
Of course, all five county supervisors share an office and are frequently co-located there…
I agree with lyn
thank you Shenanigans.
You’re welcome
and best of luck with a solution. I think sometimes people forget how hard it is for these primary kids to do these tasks that are now so simple to us.
I forgot one other thing in my list, which is
that even if my daughter could keep up when she was 100% healthy and happy, that being sick threw a loop into everything. She might come home, have a snack, and then fall asleep at 5 or 6 pm. So that middle ground of “not sick enough to stay home, but too sick to cope with one more thing after” is another piece of the struggle for all of us.
That is a lot!
We haven’t had any homework yet. I would resent the intrusion into my family life if my kids had anywhere near as much as your son has. Including the commute, Simone is already gone from 8:30 to 4 every day. In the afternoons, like aussieyank, we either have activities or she’s getting some down time.
I guess I feel like, if a child is getting more homework than they can realistically handle without help from parents, it’s too much. Parental help is great but shouldn’t be necessary. Homework should be between a kid and their teacher.
oh get ready honey
get ready.
Liza’s in fifth grade – and its midterm week and we’ve been busting our chops each night studying — the science mideterm alone nearly gave me a nervous breakdown.
Between now and the end of March we have curriculum fair project, curriculum fair written report, science fair project and social studies journal project — every week there are multiple deadlines for these projects on top of the homework. her math packet over the weekend took her FOUR HOURS to do –
good times. But hey it’s catholic school i knew what I was getting into.
mid-terms in 5th grade?
That is ludicrous.
well … it’s mid year testing
so mid terms or whatever you call it — all I can hope for is by the time she hits high school nothing will phase her homework wise LOL
I know I shouldn’t complain after she got 4 A+s, 4 As and a B+ on her report card and she does juggle all this with rehearsing 3 shows and dancing – I think I resent the homework more than she does…. sigh.
That’s a lot more
than my two kids get, and they are in first and fourth… both in public school. And, they only have homework 3 out of 5 days and never on the weekend.
What you posted up there seems like way too much for a child that age who has already spent a full day at school.
that
That’s what gets me mad and where my inner homeschooler starts to come out. If I send my first grader to school for six of his waking hours, I expect them to get done what needs to get done. It’s first grade for crying out loud. What are they doing for six hours that they need to do another hour+ when they get home?
I don’t mind doing a little bit at home, but this is ridiculous. I wonder if the teacher even gets this much work done every day at school!
Seriously
You have to think of the point of it all…. I guess they feel all this work will somehow make students smarter. But, it actually ends up making them (and the parents) frustrated and tired.
My biggest fear for my kids is for them to end up losing “the love to learn”. Busywork will eventually do that to a kid. :(
test scores
You get that the district you chose for its high test scores gets them through drilling, right?
realize
I’m coming to realize that, but what’s the alternative? All the school systems around here in this area are pretty much the same. We don’t have any public school choice, they all use the same programs, have the same philosophies. The schools with lower test scores don’t have lower test scores because they are more focused on learning. They drill just the same.
Depressing
we’re so out of whack
with education in this country, it’s pretty depressing. From the President on down, it seems like we’ve decided to cram as much as we can into the little brains starting as early as possible, even though there’s research to suggest it’s not beneficial, and no research to support it at all. What we seem to end up with kids who barely know how to form a question and test a hypothesis independently because they’re so focused on bubbling in the one “right” answer (that was supplied to them by someone else, not based on their own discovery).
I know there are conspiracy theorists who believe we are intentionally being dumbed down so that we won’t challenge our Owners. I don’t think we’re that organized
I haven’t read this whole thread (getting home at 6:30 p.m. after a 5-hour IEP meeting — another area of whacked-ness), but have you heard from parentalunit1? She has experience going from a proper school to a high-stakes-testing school in an affluent community (maybe similar to your situation) and my sense is that she was pretty disappointed with what the kids took away from their experiences.
In our case, we put our kid in what we considered to be a good alternative to the drill and kill methods we found in our local public schools. It was expensive, time-consuming, etc., and of course it was not perfect. And most kids that apply don’t get in, so it’s not exactly easily available even if you have the $$$. I definitely sympathize!
how not to educate a scientist
Have you read Richard Feynman’s autobiography, “Surely You’re Joking, Mr Feynman?” He loved the country of Brazil, and taught there on sabbatical. The Brazilian PhD students all had a knowledge of the textbook material that astonished him, no American student could come close. But they couldn’t think.
There was one section of the book that made a huge impression on me. He describes an undergrad class in which he passed out strips of polarized film and asked the students how they might use this to figure out the direction of polarized light. They couldn’t. He pointed out that there was a body of water outside the window. Nothing. He reminded them that the sunlight coming in was reflected off the water. Nada. He asked them to recite the equation used to calculate light polarization off a reflective surface, and they could do that easily. He asked what the angle or direction of polarization would be and they knew that. They could recite equations an American student wouldn’t know, and would certainly have outscored any American on any exam. But even after all his hints and leading clues not one student could make a connection between the material they’d memorized and the light coming in the window.
He gave a devastating and famous lecture to Brazilian scientists telling them bluntly that there was no hope of Brazil producing any physicists under their educational system. The students could do nothing but pass exams.
I haven’t read that book
But it seems so obvious to me that teaching facts in isolation is no way for children to learn. Hands-on experience with stuff that is meaningful, yes. Failure, yes (when it leads to divergent thinking and problem-solving).
It’s not hard to figure out how to do this. We already know how. What we lack is faith in the kids, so we cram them full of “right” answers and thereby short-circuit their thinking. It’s tiresome for them, soul-sucking for the teachers, and unproductive when it comes to bringing up a new generation to tackle our problems. Not that I have an opinion or anything.
Whoever can figure out a new measurement
for the kids that really captures learning and creativity and understanding can do more good than a thousand new teachers.
I see in our own school a group of people really interested in learning, really wanting our kids to be the best, really wanting our kids to get great scores on those measurements. We know and value the enrichment. But we don’t want our kids left behind in math. If the state says stuff ‘em all into algebra in 8th grade, we’ll try. Because, we think it would be great if every child in school today could do what we only expected of the most gifted kids when we were kids.
Not only great
but de rigeur.
Every kid’s got to be able to do calculus by 12th grade.
Dr. Feynman was an amazing man
Gifted and intuitive and never afraid to look like a fool. And he was also always interested in students and teaching.
private schools
We looked for private schools over the summer, and you know what, there just aren’t many around here.
I think that the housing prices and property taxes are so ridiculously high and the public schools considered so “good” that there is just no market for private schools. Even the richest of the rich people around here, let’s say in the ten towns in this area, use the public schools.
There are some Catholic schools, but they are struggling and don’t offer anything academically different than the public schools anyway, other than the faith instruction during the school day. There is a Waldorf school, but I wasn’t too into that philosophy. And there is a Montessori school that goes up to 8th grade, but I wasn’t sure about that theory past the early elementary years and it’s really really small. We could afford private if we really wanted to, but there was nothing appealing out there.
I taught in a struggling Catholic school
If it was in my community I would consider sending my kids there even though the facilities are much more humble than our public schools. We are in a similar area where the public schools typically are the best choice but maybe you wouldn’t have to deal with the insane homework policy at a Catholic school. I know that because the competition was so intense from the public schools, our principal would give into almost every parental demand so if you told the principal you disagreed with the homework policy, he or she may work to come with an agreement with you faster than the public school where it looks like you would have to take on the administration at the level of the superintendent and the board of education.
Catholic schools
Our Catholic schools are struggling so much around here to stay open that it would be a risk even enrolling at grade one, because they may not be there by grade 8. They’re just being suffocated out due to the property taxes, and they don’t offer a superior product. I do agree though that the pressure would be a bit less as they don’t have to take these state tests. If there was one close by I probably would have used it anyway, just for the faith instruction during the day.
we have districts surrounding us
like yours. Some of those kids were at my son’s school because the parents didn’t think the pressure was appropriate. But most parents like the high test scores and high property values and even if they are vaguely uncomfortable with giving their kids coffee to keep them up long enough to finish everything, they believe in the end that it’s the right thing to do.
If a family moves to a high-cost district for the schools, the incentive to search for an alternative goes way down, and without demand there won’t be a supply.
Exactly
You make your education purchase when you buy your house. And I agree, most people think that it’s the right thing to do, even if it they complain about it in the meantime.
I would like to see more public school choice, even within an existing town. We have really small districts here in northern NJ, but even our small town has three elementary schools within a 2 mile radius.
I would love to see the principals and the teachers empowered to reach the goals in the best way they see possible, maybe even have different programs and philosophies, etc. And then let families apply to attend the elementary school they want and see what happens!
that’s the idea
behind charter schools. What I’ve observed here, watching charters come and go, is that there is no easy formula or quick fix for making a great school. It takes a lot of work from a smart, compassionate, altruistic, dedicated, effective group of people, without a lot of resources and with a large number of regulations. And that group is not rewarded in the ways their private enterprise peers are rewarded (money, comfortable work environment, respect), and turnover ensues, which leads to the problems associated with lack of continuity. Plus the people who went along for the ride but never particularly gave a sh%t are still there.
Schools are a popular bully-boy, and lots of times school employees are beleaguered and over-worked. And then there’s an op-ed in the paper about how you can look up oral sex in the dictionary! which of course would only happen in a godless, depraved place that cared nothing for children or family values, and there’s a collective sigh from all the people who try to make the school great that Really? Out of all our thoughtful efforts on behalf of your children, this is what gets your attention?
And then a lot of good people walk away. Or they grit their teeth because they feel trapped, because they’ve chosen a lower-paying career and figured the pension would help balance things out, and walking away is like giving that away, and where does that leave you? Or they start to check out. Not put in as many evening hours. Not bend over backwards for a parent. Not extend themselves with a creative solution that has a possibility of failure, because failures will be crucified.
i’m terrible-
no problems w/ homework here, but only because at my daughter’s after school program all of the kids have to do all of their homework before they can play. then my husband or i pick her up a little before 6:00.
my son is good about schoolwork- when he was little he went to a private school where they didn’t give out homework- the principal felt the kids should be able to manage their time and get it all done during the day. i loved her. sometimes he might have had to do 15 minutes of math per night, but it wasn’t a work sheet- we just had to do something that had to do w/ math.
now he’s a junior in high school and he does really well. in school i was a disaster- i used to procrastinate and feel doomed and put myself through hell. but he’s ok- he really is.
that’s great
That’s great that the afterschool program lets her get it all done!
Liza’s is like that too but come 5th
grade the home work is CRAZY so even by the time I pick her up at 4;30 she still has stuff to do at home..
Go after the “low-hanging fruit”
For example, when I was a kid, I would regularly be assigned seek-and-finds for homework, even through middle school. My mom hated it because they had no educational value. She eventually got so fed up with it that she scheduled a meeting with the principal. The principal initially told her that he thought they were “kind of fun”. My mom explained that instead of working on a seek-and-find of negligible educational value, I my time could be better spent practicing my violin or spending more time on the math homework I always struggled to complete. In the end, the principal agreed with her.
awful!
Seek and finds. Ugh. That’s awful.
We used to get a lot of word searches but they’ve gone away now.
my first-grader
has a reading log but doesn’t have to fill it out every day. I think it’s fine to encourage kids to read at home, but worksheets are mostly mindless busywork. So far we haven’t had to confront that at my son’s school.
In your situation I would probably try to get homework on the agenda of the next parent-teacher organization meeting.
PTO
Our PTO is entirely focused on fundraising so they can buy a big gift at the end of the year. And other nice things, like planting flowers and buying bagels for the teachers and decorating the lobby. All lovely things for sure. But they are not interested in engaging on the hard academic issues.
sounds like an opening?
You could maybe form a subcommittee (with one member?) to survey parents on their opinions on the homework load. You could stay out of the bagel-and-flower ladies’ hair while locating like-minded parents.
if it’s district policy, it’s set by the
school board. The PTO can be a place to find like-minded people and network and get a sense for the general views.
I suspect that there are many parents who feel the same way. Every parent I’ve spoken to rolls their eyes about dealing with homework. There is nothing so maddening as standing over a first grader while she erases what she’s written for the 5th time because it wasn’t as neat as she intended.
Yep
Yes, it’s set by the school board and the pamplet explaining the policy came from the superintendent I don’t think the teacher has any leeway. Also, there are multiple classes in the grade and they work as a team and they all follow the same schedule.
The teacher’s leeway is in the realm of
Don’t ask, don’t tell. But, it depends too on how much autonomy she is allowed. It sounds like not much.
(Dear god, they have a pamphlet on the subject of Why Our Teachers Give Too Much Homework? Okay, I’m sure that’s not what they titled it.)
Oh yeah
There’s a brochure. Comes printed on pink or gold paper so you know it’s important! : )
Reading logs
DS10 is finally a consistently strong reader and loves to read every day – sometimes for hours on the weekend – but he really really resents the reading log. He sees it as a lack of trust in him, and told me that when we are looking for Middle Schools we should ask them just one question “do you make your kids do reading logs?”
I say you should talk to the teacher and principal about the homework – we’ve had some success in our school when multiple parents speak to the principal, and some teachers don’t realize the cumulative amount of time in homework
Wow
Wow, he dislikes the reading logs so much he wanted to know that! So did you find a school that doesn’t use them?
I haven’t actually asked that question
yet – but we are trying to decide between schools that are more and less structured – one school is very “different” and I doubt they do logs!
I’m just curious.
Can you shop public schools for the one you prefer? So you are not assigned to a school? Is transportation provided to the selected school?
We have “middle school choice”
This year, we can 1) stay in our elementary school which will have a 6th grade, 2) move to our zoned middle school, 3) apply to a magnet school, or 4) apply to a new “lottery-based” school in our neighborhood. There are also a couple of other application based schools.
spelling-best method for us is spoken not written
is to practice spelling list while driving in the car. Most days we take 1 trip in the car so now I keep the spelling list in the car. As I drive I quiz DS, it is much faster & he likes it better than writing it down.
so far
So far, he’s known every word so we just run through them once verbally, like you said, and he gets them all right.
Oh, but the spelling book is a whole other story! Basically the classics, write a sentence using three spelling words, write three riddles using three spelling words, that kind of thing.
that repetition & volume would be too much for DS
ARGH!!!
I’m feeling stabby just reading that. Seriously. I hated that crap. I got to the point where insted of writing ten sentences using one word in each, I would make one sentence that managed to contain all of them. At least it sort of used my brain. And my stupid teacher marked it wrong and told me that I hadn’t followed instructions and that I had to do it again.
ARGH!!!!
My daughter writes sentences like
The giant pickle went to the orange barn and spoke to the crowd. “I will eat you all soon,” he roared.
So cute!
As a kid, I enjoyed that particular assignment.
me too, actually
Much as I hated the definitions, I never minded the sentences, and I did exactly the kind of thing shenanigans is describing. I still remember “We were flabbergasted when the mechanical man walked into our garage.” (We also had to take dictation tests in the sixth grade or so, which I enjoyed–and probably the reason I never forgot the sentence above was that the teacher actually used that sentence for the class in a dictation test!)
I did a series of interrelated sentences for this assignment in eighth grade, and my teacher told me that I should write stories after that. Did that for the whole year. I wish I still had them.
yeah
I hated that shit too, passionately. I was too timid to openly resist but sooner or later every kid is going to find a way, even the “good kid” who nobody every notices. I became something of a problem student for a few years in the middle. I started refusing to do assignments that I didn’t approve of. In fact I boycotted all math homework for an entire year because I considered it scutwork. It was pre-algebra and probably legitimate to review foundation material, but all I saw was stuff we’d learned already being reassigned. Nobody could make me do it. I never told anyone why, or even told them that I was deliberately refusing to do it – I never said anything. I just never turned anything in and accepted the hit to my grades. I was a top math student so it only brought me down to a B+, but I was too proud and angry to want the As I could have had.
I was exactly that way with History
but I told my teacher, dear Mr. R, precisely why I was doing it. I asked him, “What is the purpose of homework?” He replied, “To reinforce the material…” I said, “What do I get on my tests?” He answered, “105, usually.” (He always gave extra credit.) I said, “Does it seem like I need reinforcement?” The next year (too late to benefit me) he changed the policy that you did the first homework assignment, but if you maintained an A average you did not have to do any more of them. I think that is fair. I was in 8th grade at the time and I still consider this one of the more bad-ass moves of my life.
Woo, Suzanne the game-changer!
You rock, and so does the teacher for listening to you and making a change because of your extremely fair point.
I figure as long as she gets them right on the
test, we’re doing OK.
The sentences with spelling words are some of my favorite homework that she gets. We make up silly sentences together. This year the challenge we added (it’s not directly part of the assignment) is to write a silly story with all the words with as few distinct sentences as possible. It has really improved her writing and creativity, and it’s something she and her dad have fun with. Makes it more fun for the teacher, too.
thanks for that suggestion
I tried that with my son today, and he enjoyed it. We will do that sometimes instead of practicing writing the words.
No homework in grade one
so far this year.
I think homework has a place in learning when it’s valid – I mean, when you learn to play an instrument you have to put in time outside of your actual class to practise the skills. BUT. Homework just to have homework is bullshit.
When I taught the homework was whatever didn’t get finished in class – I didn’t assign homework just so they’d have homework. And I was asked many times by parents why I didn’t give homework for homework’s sake. I don’t know who those wackadoodle parents are but they’re out there asking for homework.
And also…falling test scores resulting in more homework…also bullshit.
homework
I don’t have a problem with homework as a concept at all. I actually like to see a bit of math or phonics or whatever it is they are doing that week so I can keep up. And I like the reading log, it’s a good record for me to see what and how much we are reading.
I can’t believe you had parents who were looking for homework. Maybe they just wanted to see what their kids were doing? Even if it was just one sheet? They couldn’t have been asking for the pile we get!
thank you!
Homework vs Own Work
I too have a first grader and we do a lot of work at night. The reading is assigned and we have to sign a sheet. Weekly spelling words are assigned and we drill them every night. And we practice math facts using flashcards or math worksheets that I write myself, depending on what he needs to work on.
I asked DS what he thought about our homework and he said he really enjoyed doing it. He likes the reading because every seven signatures he gets a treat. he hates reading so I guess I have to be OK with the reading log, since he is motivated by it.
He loves doing the math worksheets I write for him. He’s good at math and has fun doing it. Who is this kid? Hates reading, loves math? Well, whatever.
And weekly spelling isn’t so bad. He gets a bit stressed by the test though.
Even though it feels like a lot of work (30-40 minutes), the vast majority is us deciding how we are going to practice spelling words and work on math, which he loves. There are no assigned worksheets, and even the reading is optional. So, altogether, not bad.
But I can’t help thinking that I spend an awful lot of time teaching him things he should be learning in school. DS wants me to homeschool him, but I don’t think he really gets it would be pretty lonely for him.
interesting
That’s interesting. So your DS wants you to homeschool him? He even knows such a thing exists? Wow.
I feel that way a lot too, that I am teaching a lot of things that aren’t being taught well in school.
I do know some kids in the class who are fine with the workload, they enjoy the work.
The neighbors were homeschooled
So he knows that it exists. I think it just comes down to the facts that (a) he is a homebody who needs a fire lit under his butt to leave the house and (b) we’ve really come to enjoy our homework time. It’s the one time of the day I’m completely focused on him and he has the run of the show. At the beginning of the year, homework was so stressful for both of us, but for some reason, we both have gotten into a groove together and like it.
use email list or direct contact to find parents
with the same feeling about homework. You won’t feel as alone in the journey to make changes or at least you can have a few more students/parents to protest the homework. You can also vent to each other & work for changes as a group rather than individual.
I would immediately write an email (from you & DH) to the teacher & administrator, succinctly explaining your situation & asking if your DS will face consequences if you return the undone homework with a note saying “I have reviewed this assignment with DS- he has mastered this material. I choose that he not complete this work. signed/dated, parents”.
You have a younger child too so you want to get it resolved now or you will stay frustrated for the same reasons in the future.
I would start with just the teacher
because she may have more flexibility if it stays private between you and her. Of course, if she throws up her hands, then you have to escalate.
I agree – start with teacher
first of all, most principals WANT you to start small with the teacher – that way it gets resolved without being a huge issue. In my experience with DS, parents going one-on-one to the teacher sometimes get success. If not, then you can go to principal for support. Then parent contacts.
I agree too.
It sounds like they did a lot to try to get you to shut up, but if there are other parents feeling the same way I would gather a bunch together and request a meeting with the teacher to discuss it.
One hour
I think I would put the work in order with the items that seem most helpful to the child first. I would have my child work for 1 hour total (broken up whatever way works- 20 minute chunks?).
After he had done the “district required hour” I would send the rest back blank.
For me, this would be the middle ground between refusing to do it and spending way too much of my child’s time/energy on it.
good idea
That’s a good idea. I think I need to keep really close track of the time and then adjust or neglect the work accordingly.
Homework power struggles
I could rant about homework in our school for ages, and how it’s really just stupid busy work designed to force parents participation… but that’s totally how our school operates. They’re big fans of manipulating parental behavior through kids – like having a school parade – the victory lap – for kids with perfect attendance for the month and no tardies., like the kids drive themselves to school? But that’s a really long rant that would take all day. :)
In my experience, the teachers we’ve had send homework home because it’s expected and the administration demands it. Even the teachers acknowledge that it’s basically busy work – nothing with new or confusing concepts is ever sent home for homework. The administration has even said that it’s just to establish good habits, so they’re prepared to do homework when they’re older. I’ve taken the position that, as long as it’s a reasonable about of homework (can be done in less than 10 minutes for my kindergartener and 20 mins or less for my 2nd grader), we will give it our very best effort to have it done. But, since my goal as a parent is to raise well rounded children and our school does not provide everything I need to meet that goal, we’re pretty busy after school. If we start having any academic problems at school, we’ll make it more of a priority. Even then, I’d probably just focus on whatever area needed the attention, and not stupid worksheets. The teachers have all been remarkably cool with it – I set it up by saying, “Look, it’s just too much for me to juggle everything we’ve got going on, so can you just tell me where I need to focus our attention…” They may roll their eyes about me (but I photocopy enough for them that I doubt it), but they don’t take it out on my kids.
Yes
Yes, our district’s pamphlet on the subject says that too, using words like “responsibility” and “self-discipline.”
Alfie Kohn
tweeted this: Grades & test scores (for what they’re worth) rose after Ontario school eliminated homework
It’s worth a look.
Dang
the link is broken.
The same content is here, basically: http://stophomework.com/