My DS started kindergarten this year so I was newly indoctrinated into the re-definition of kindergarten since my days of attendance. I, of course knew that the endless days of block building and dress up had disappeared. I knew he would be chained, I mean asked to sit at his desk all day…or at least all morning. I knew he would have homework.
I didn’t realize that he would have so much homework! A page a day doesn’t seem onerous. A densely packed page a day seems, to me, a little much. When 3 or 4 of those pages are a bit tedious, or above the child’s skill level, perhaps we have a problem.
Since school began I’ve been talking to mothers of school age children about homework. I hear various responses as to how homework is assigned: “10 minutes per grade†or “start with a sheet a day and add a sheet per day, per grade up to third grade†or “ Keep them seated for ½ hour each evening – if they finish the assigned work….give them more to do…color or dot-to-dot, etc.â€
Most parents admit that they never had so much homework as a child. Most parents seem to have homework battles at one time or another. (Actually, this is nothing new….we all had homework battles…but in kindergarten?) Most homework seems to require parental involvement…from the “read to them every night for 20 minutes†to “A parent may need to help you with this†which it seems many parents interpret as…†here’s your homework, momâ€.
Parental strategies for dealing with homework seem to vary. One high school teacher, I know, simply did her kindergarten son’s cutting and coloring homework for him. Like many boys, his fine motor skills just weren’t up to it at 5 and she, I think correctly reasoned, why force him?
Another routinely outlines her daughter’s essays for her. A third uses his amazing computer to skills to create killer projects and raises the bar for the rest of the parents at their school. I’m reminded of something my sister once said after writing a third grade paper. ‘Should I title this, what Thanksgiving means to me and my dad?†Maybe things haven’t changed THAT much.,
What’s homework like at your house? What strategies do you use to approach it?
by MC Milker
[tags]kids, children, parents, parenting, school, homework, amount, a lot, too much, enough, fine motor skills, parental assistance[/tags]
Photo graciously provided by Bukutgirl, through a Creative Commons license, some rights reserved
8 responses so far ↓
IntheFastLane // Nov 5, 2007 at 9:45 am
My son is now in 2nd grade and he has always had issues with homework. Not because it is too hard, but just because he likes to find things to have battles about. He does not have excessive homework. He might have one to two worksheets. Or a worksheet and a story to read. Since he is a very good reader and a good math student, none of this work is too hard for him. So, I have found myself, when the battle is just much, letting him tell me the math answers and then writing it down myself. I think he just does not see the point in doing more work that he already knows how to to and some days I agree with him. I am not sure if I am bending the rules by writing for him, but some days that is what it takes.
Green SAHM // Nov 5, 2007 at 11:02 am
My daughter is in kindergarten and we get the “read 20 minutes a day” rule, plus 4-5 sheets of homework per week, to be done one a day.
My daughter finds some of it pretty challenging. Haven’t done it yet, but one is to chart Halloween candy. My concern for that one is how do you know all the kids have Halloween candy? My daughter trick or treats, but her cousins do not.
nan // Nov 5, 2007 at 5:38 pm
I hate homework. I think it should be outlawed. After a full day of school, the kids should be out riding their bikes and practicing handstands. Read stories, yes, but all the other stuff? Bleah.
Jennifer Lance // Nov 5, 2007 at 9:23 pm
I’ll be addressing this issue on Thursday at a parent conference. My six-year-old spends between one to two hours a night on homework! I wouldn’t mind if the assignments were authentic, but more worksheets do not promote genuine understanding and transferability of big ideas. My daughter is asking me about negative numbers and multiplication, so I am trying to help her understand these concepts she is naturally curious about, why she does the same stupid subtraction worksheets she has been doing for weeks. I resent the time we don’t get to spend doing projects together because of homework. We don’t usually have power struggles over it, as she willingly does it, and does it well, but I think it is lame. It is interesting being a former K-8 teacher now on the other side of the fence. I definitely assigned too much homework as a teacher!
Sara Bennett // Nov 6, 2007 at 8:32 am
I’m so glad to hear Jennifer admit that she “assigned to much homework” when she was a teacher. My guess is that Jennnifer, like every other teacher I’ve ever met, never took a course on homework in her teacher training course. In fact, in my research for my book, The Case Against Homework: How Homework Is Hurting Our Children and What We Can Do About It, my co-author and I could not find any school of education that offers such a course.
I hope you are aware of the research that shows no correlation between homework and academic achievement in elementary school. So struggling with your kids over homework just isn’t worth it.
I’m a big believer in getting parents to work together to change homework policy in their schools and in their Districts. If we don’t stand up for our children, who will?
The Not Quite Crunchy Parent // Nov 6, 2007 at 10:21 am
Jennifer- since I love your honest and thoughtful blog, I’m not surprised to hear you discuss your experiences as a teacher.
Sara - I completely forgot I read your book awhile back until I tracked back from your comment. This is an awesome book that really discusses issues that concern parents today…I want to get involved with your organization!
Jennifer Lance // Nov 6, 2007 at 2:22 pm
You are correct Sara, I never took a course in homework or received any research on how it does or does not contribute to learning. Some teachers follow an old adage of 10 minutes of homework per grade level (ex: a 5th grader gets 50 min), or I remember hearing in an education course that homework should not take longer than an hour. The problem is these “rules” don’t factor in the quality of the assignments or an individual child’s pace on assignments or a child’s responsibilites at home. Where I live, many children have real chores…they take care of animals, milk cows, etc. I also remember when student teaching, my master teacher never gave turned in homework much attention. I felt if you are asking children to do this, the least you can do is read through it and carefully comment. Homework is one reason why I want to homeschool!
It is great to be in early childhood education now where homework does not exist.
I’ve been meaning to read Sara’s book for a long time!
Sara Bennett // Nov 6, 2007 at 4:00 pm
Jennifer–I think homework is starting to exist in early childhood education as well.
Many teachers do follow the 10-minutes per grade rule, although, as you so clearly point out, it’s pretty hard to judge what takes 10 minutes. One child’s ten minutes is another child’s hour.
And, the 10-minute rule relies on an assumption that children should work just for the sake of working, rather than on an assessment of why a child needs to do the work or whether it has any value.
The Not So Crunchy Parent–I welcome any help you’d like to give me in helping parents organize against homework and providing support to principals and administrators (believe it or not, I heard from lots of them) who’d like to change homework policy but are concerned about parents’ reactions.
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