Poll: Homework Elimination: yea or nay?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

quote]


Different poster than you were responding to - althoguh I posted before about my HS kids. Both kids are involved in lots of activites. Both do jv/varsity sports which is a 5-6 day a week commitment in HS. One does club sports on top of that. When they were younger they did music, scouts, sports, etc. Yes they have had a lot of homework since middle school but it hasn't stopped either one from pursuing other activities. It does mean that on school nights we can't plan anything but that doesn't seem to unusual to me - but maybe I am in the minority on this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What are other parents saying, 13:02?

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

FYI, I am 12:52 and I did not write 13:04. That was someone else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

Did/does your child get the recommended amount of sleep every night? 10-11 for elementary and 8-9 in MS/HS.

[Anonymous]

I would support eliminating homework if we went to a year round school calendar and eliminated the long summer break. American children need to spend more time in school vs. less.

[Anonymous]

13:25 Almost always. Occasional exceptions, no more than once a month.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What are other parents saying, 13:02?

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

Thanks. I'm not inconsolable and maybe that came off too grumpy but there's a difference between discussing whether it makes sense to have homework for young children (and what kind of homework it should be) and discussing coping strategies for whatever homework policies exist (and the fact that there may be coping strategies doesn't mean that the homework policy makes sense).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

I am 11:36. There are obviously multiple anti-homework posters here.

I am frustrated that every time this conversation comes up, whether at school or somewhere like DCUM, someone will state that their child has no problem with the level of homework which implies that anyone who complains must have a child that is somehow not as good of a student (or not smart enough or not hard working or something) and we should just deal with it. You should feel lucky that your child is able to handle soccer, piano, and homework in an immersion school. I am sure your DC is fabulous. My DC is fabulous also (and very smart which is really besides the point) but especially in the lower ES years, found homework to be a frustrating, tiring, boring, excruciating process that yielded little learning. So, why should both types of kids be handed the same level of homework? If something about school was making your DC hate it, wouldn't you want to advocate for change? Wouldn't it annoy you if the common refrain was "but my child (who is much better than yours) has no problem with it".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

I am 11:36. There are obviously multiple anti-homework posters here.

I am frustrated that every time this conversation comes up, whether at school or somewhere like DCUM, someone will state that their child has no problem with the level of homework which implies that anyone who complains must have a child that is somehow not as good of a student (or not smart enough or not hard working or something) and we should just deal with it. You should feel lucky that your child is able to handle soccer, piano, and homework in an immersion school. I am sure your DC is fabulous. My DC is fabulous also (and very smart which is really besides the point) but especially in the lower ES years, found homework to be a frustrating, tiring, boring, excruciating process that yielded little learning. So, why should both types of kids be handed the same level of homework? If something about school was making your DC hate it, wouldn't you want to advocate for change? Wouldn't it annoy you if the common refrain was "but my child (who is much better than yours) has no problem with it".

Would you tolerate a classroom that expected all children to learn using one modality, i.e lecture or just reading or only in cooperative groups or if all children had to stand during class? In the same way, not all children learn well in a homework situation and the learning styles of all children should be considered. There should be some homework but not necessarily every day and it should take into consideration how all children learn.

I do think the poster who feels the school has "hijacked her family" has a point, too. Children who struggle with homework or teachers who assign too much or the wrong kind can ruin family life for the entire family, not just the child who struggles. If this is happening in your family, I believe parents should take a stand to protect at least their other children and their family life.

Would you tolerate any other government agency telling you what you need to do at home and when to do it? Would you let any other authority figure, for that matter, tell you what you children should do, when they should do it and for how long?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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?

I agree.

The spelling quiz itself should not be optional. But the activities assigned each night for homework should be well thought out to really give practice in memorizing the spelling of various words. Parents and students should understand the rationale as to why those activities will help the child learn to spell the words. Words should not be assigned for homework if a pretest indicates the child has already mastered the words.

[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.

Actually at my child's school, there is a lot of optional homework. And as a teacher, I have assigned plenty of optional homework. If only 1/4 of the class is struggling with a particular skill, I assign that homework for that group but do not assign it for students who have already mostly mastered that skill. No one complained because the point of the homework wasn't just to get it done, it was to master a particular skill. All children were evaluated on the same test at the end of the unit; some kids just needed more practice to get good at the skill.

So optional is fine, and not a logistical nightmare at all, if the end result is that most children in the class master most end of year objectives.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Actually at my child's school, there is a lot of optional homework. And as a teacher, I have assigned plenty of optional homework. If only 1/4 of the class is struggling with a particular skill, I assign that homework for that group but do not assign it for students who have already mostly mastered that skill. No one complained because the point of the homework wasn't just to get it done, it was to master a particular skill. All children were evaluated on the same test at the end of the unit; some kids just needed more practice to get good at the skill.

So optional is fine, and not a logistical nightmare at all, if the end result is that most children in the class master most end of year objectives.

Another teacher here (elementary) and I agree with this poster. I, too, have assigned different homework to different students based on their need. Is it more work for me? Of course. Anything that is individualized is more work, but, hey, that's my job.

Also, I believe that children should have lots of time to just play, because play is the work of children (and I don't believe childhood is over at middle school or high school either). So on beautiful fall days, I assign them homework to go outside and play. I don't automatically assign homework just for the sake of giving kids homework. That's just silly.

[Anonymous]

OP, is your child in a public school? If so does it have a homework policy or homework guidelines? You might wish to check and see.

Here is a link to Fairfax County's homeword guidelines. I think they are reasonable.

http://www.boarddocs.com/vsba/fairfax/Board.nsf/legacy-content/867SLA2A9049/$FILE/R3205.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, is your child in a public school? If so does it have a homework policy or homework guidelines? You might wish to check and see.

Here is a link to Fairfax County's homeword guidelines. I think they are reasonable.

http://www.boarddocs.com/vsba/fairfax/Board.nsf/legacy-content/867SLA2A9049/$FILE/R3205.pdf

You realize that these guideline exceed the amount of work allowed by children under Child Labor laws?

[Anonymous]

I am frustrated that every time this conversation comes up, whether at school or somewhere like DCUM, someone will state that their child has no problem with the level of homework which implies that anyone who complains must have a child that is somehow not as good of a student (or not smart enough or not hard working or something) and we should just deal with it. You should feel lucky that your child is able to handle soccer, piano, and homework in an immersion school. I am sure your DC is fabulous. My DC is fabulous also (and very smart which is really besides the point) but especially in the lower ES years, found homework to be a frustrating, tiring, boring, excruciating process that yielded little learning. So, why should both types of kids be handed the same level of homework? If something about school was making your DC hate it, wouldn't you want to advocate for change? Wouldn't it annoy you if the common refrain was "but my child (who is much better than yours) has no problem with it".

I'm the poster who mentioned soccer etc. I mentioned it because there's a poster here, and maybe it's you, who says they cannot do any activities because of homework in K-2. That is dreadful. How can that be? Please know: Homework was not always easy for my child. The years where my child depended on me for home were challenging.

I also noted in a post that every year there was a group of parents at my child's school who wanted less homework and a group that wanted more. (Believe me, I never wanted more!) Of course you should advocate for your child. If teachers will give some students less homework, great. The challenge for schools and teachers is that some students hate homework, some love it. For many years, my child was in between. (Low blow, implying I think he's better than anyone because he pulled off homework and activities. That is so not true, and unnecessary.) How to handle this range? That's the dilemma. Another dilemma: Homework limits. One hour of homework can be 45 minutes for one student, two hours for another.

I hope you meet with your child's teachers and find a solution to this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am frustrated that every time this conversation comes up, whether at school or somewhere like DCUM, someone will state that their child has no problem with the level of homework which implies that anyone who complains must have a child that is somehow not as good of a student (or not smart enough or not hard working or something) and we should just deal with it. You should feel lucky that your child is able to handle soccer, piano, and homework in an immersion school. I am sure your DC is fabulous. My DC is fabulous also (and very smart which is really besides the point) but especially in the lower ES years, found homework to be a frustrating, tiring, boring, excruciating process that yielded little learning. So, why should both types of kids be handed the same level of homework? If something about school was making your DC hate it, wouldn't you want to advocate for change? Wouldn't it annoy you if the common refrain was "but my child (who is much better than yours) has no problem with it".

I'm the poster who mentioned soccer etc. I mentioned it because there's a poster here, and maybe it's you, who says they cannot do any activities because of homework in K-2. That is dreadful. How can that be? Please know: Homework was not always easy for my child. The years where my child depended on me for home were challenging.

I also noted in a post that every year there was a group of parents at my child's school who wanted less homework and a group that wanted more. (Believe me, I never wanted more!) Of course you should advocate for your child. If teachers will give some students less homework, great. The challenge for schools and teachers is that some students hate homework, some love it. For many years, my child was in between. (Low blow, implying I think he's better than anyone because he pulled off homework and activities. That is so not true, and unnecessary.) How to handle this range? That's the dilemma. Another dilemma: Homework limits. One hour of homework can be 45 minutes for one student, two hours for another.

I hope you meet with your child's teachers and find a solution to this.

Truly, the answer is so simple: homework is not "optional" implying that the child decides whether and what to do. Rather, homework is at the parents discretion; parents are in charge of deciding what and how much of the assigned homework their child will complete on any given night. Why is this such a problem for people?