Poll: Homework Elimination: yea or nay?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:[quote=Anonymous
I think elementary school homework just sucks the joy of learning right out of them. Habit? Give me a break. Kids don't need years of "practice" to get into the "habit" of doing homework anymore than they need years of "practice" doing anything that older children are expected to do but that is inappropriate for younger kids. When they need to do it, they will develop the habit then. The habit excuse is so lame.

I agree. (The only "habit" that gets instilled is having parents be responsible for making sure it's done-- how does that help anyone?)


The only "habit" that homework helped my kids establish was to hate school. They also learned to get their homework over with as quickly as possible which means that very little learning was involved. Homework really is counterproductive for so many kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think this documentary says it all. And the majority of responses from parents on this thread only confirm this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uem73imvn9Y

This movie is screening tonight at Walt Whitman HS
http://www.racetonowhere.com/

[Anonymous]

Optional? This week's spelling quiz?

Habit: Talk to parents who switched to traditional schools from progressive, no homework schools about the shock of the workload in middle school.

Trust me...when your children are older, many of you will see that homework in elementary school was sound.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Optional? This week's spelling quiz?

Habit: Talk to parents who switched to traditional schools from progressive, no homework schools about the shock of the workload in middle school.

Trust me...when your children are older, many of you will see that homework in elementary school was sound.

Not optional: spelling quiz

Optional: how to learn the words. I have seen some ridiculously stupid and time-consuming spelling homework assignments. I still remember the time my 1st grader had to clip letters out of the newspaper and then glue them together to form all 10 of her spelling words. Took her about an hour. Yep, that was really useful.

Did you have homework in K-2? Did you do well in school when you were older?

[Anonymous]

Yes, that is an idiotic homework assignment.

Of course I did not do homework K-2, no one did. My child did starting in K. Yes there were maddening assignments but homework was great for my child in elementary school and beyond.

Starting in first grade parents engaged in an annual push-pull over homeowork, every single year there were parents who wanted more and parents who wanted less.

[Anonymous]

So what is the problem with giving more homework to parents who want more and giving less to parents who want less? Not all kids learn the same way so why is homework basically one size fits all?

[Anonymous]

Class instruction is one size fits all, is it not? Think about what you have suggested. This would be a logistical nightmare for the teacher. It would also accentuate the divide between students with involved and available parents and those without. Look, the high homework years do not last forever. Maybe you should brainstorm ways to make this work better for you. Laugh at the silly assignments. Start a support group of like-minded parents. If this is your family's biggest stresser, you are damn lucky.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Class instruction is one size fits all, is it not? Think about what you have suggested. This would be a logistical nightmare for the teacher. It would also accentuate the divide between students with involved and available parents and those without. Look, the high homework years do not last forever. Maybe you should brainstorm ways to make this work better for you. Laugh at the silly assignments. Start a support group of like-minded parents. If this is your family's biggest stresser, you are damn lucky.

Great response. I would add that the issue of how much homework should really be secondary to the quality of homework assignments. Homework can be useful, fun, and challenging. It can also be tedious, unnecessary, and redundant. If you're not happy with the your child's homework assignments, I would urge parents to lobby for better quality, more thoughtful assignments that have a real purpose which can't be achieved in during classtime. Perhaps also request more coordination among teachers so that multiple big projects aren't assigned at the same time, if that's an issue at your school.

To the poster who mentioned that students in other countries don't have the homework load that Americans do-- Maybe so, but they have many more hours of classroom instruction time. American school days and school years are short.

[Anonymous]

12:09 here. Look, homework used to stress me out, too. The thing that drove me to the edge was the Science Fair in Grades Four and Five. Sales of Pinot Grigio went up in NW DC during those stretches! What kept me going? My child loved the process. He got something from it. I found a venting partner, and we'd laugh it off.

One thing that helps is kind of obvious. I make sure I always have supplies on hand, poster boards, color markers, Spray Mount, tracing paper, graph paper, flash cards, construction paper.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Class instruction is one size fits all, is it not? Think about what you have suggested. This would be a logistical nightmare for the teacher. It would also accentuate the divide between students with involved and available parents and those without. Look, the high homework years do not last forever. Maybe you should brainstorm ways to make this work better for you. Laugh at the silly assignments. Start a support group of like-minded parents. If this is your family's biggest stresser, you are damn lucky.

You say the 'high homework years don't last forever. Of course, it is only 12-13 years of my child's 17-18 years at home. The childhood years do not last forever either and my child's school is stealing her childhood AND my RIGHT to parent my child AT HOME. Yes, mandatory homework also takes away a parent's right to parent their child at home by not allowing parents to make decisions about what is best for their child.

I also believe that school are using parents as free labor and pushing much of their responsibility (teaching) onto the students themselves. They don't want to spend $$ on smaller classes and more teachers so that more learning can happen at school. Why should they when they can just enlist parents to help at home or make the child teach himself? I'm surprised more parents haven't caught on to this.

As it stands right now, with the amount of time needed to complete homework, the school is dictating how my child will spend their free time and what activities are a priority (that is, doing schoolwork. period.) Maybe its not a big stressor at your house but it is a major disruption in ours and I think you are in the minority if homework is a minor blip in your child's day.

Also, homework itself already accentuates the divide between kids w/ involved, educated and available parents. Not having homework levels the playing field considerably.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:12:09 here. Look, homework used to stress me out, too. The thing that drove me to the edge was the Science Fair in Grades Four and Five. Sales of Pinot Grigio went up in NW DC during those stretches! What kept me going? My child loved the process. He got something from it. I found a venting partner, and we'd laugh it off.

One thing that helps is kind of obvious. I make sure I always have supplies on hand, poster boards, color markers, Spray Mount, tracing paper, graph paper, flash cards, construction paper.

There do seem to be two camps here: kids who love homework and kids who don't. Those who love it may get something out of it, but those who don't, don't. In fact, its counterproductive. Homework should not be essential to a child's school success. If it is, then the schools aren't doing their job. Thus if some kids benefit from homework, they can go at it. But not at the expense of those for whom it is a detriment to their education.

[Anonymous]

12:52 By high homework years, I mean where it's your job to make sure it happens. That's not 12 years. My Seventh Grade, most students are self-reliant provided they've got supplies.

I agree that homework already accentuates the divide. But I think some homework is fine.

As for homework controlling your day, doesn't school control your life, when you can vacation, etc.? Homework is an extension of that.

Have you looked at other schools, progressive or Montessori? Are you in a position to unschool? Also, if I may: I would think that your intensity over homework is palpable to your child/children during homework time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:12:09 here. Look, homework used to stress me out, too. The thing that drove me to the edge was the Science Fair in Grades Four and Five. Sales of Pinot Grigio went up in NW DC during those stretches! What kept me going? My child loved the process. He got something from it. I found a venting partner, and we'd laugh it off.

One thing that helps is kind of obvious. I make sure I always have supplies on hand, poster boards, color markers, Spray Mount, tracing paper, graph paper, flash cards, construction paper.

I'm not even talking about science fair projects in grades 4-5-- I'm talking about rote homework every night in grades k-2. Having color markers on hand doesn't really help with that.

[Anonymous]

One more thing, 12:52 You experience is so different from mine. My child has played travel soccer started at age eight and rec soccer though Sixth Grade and took piano lessons for four years. We managed to do that and homework, and DC had tons of homework, DC attended an immersion school.

[Anonymous]

What are other parents saying, 13:02?

I'm trying to be helpful. You are inconsolable. Good luck.