Homework in lower elementary school
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Anonymous
| I'm curious about homework in lower elementary schools in DC. Do your lower elementary students have homework? If so, how much and how long does it take? What school do they attend (or at least DCPS vs. charter school)? Also, do you require your child to do the homework or have you opted out (to save the time for other extracurricular activities, etc.)? Does it matter in any way or affect anything if they don't actually complete the homework (assuming they already understand the material and don't need extra practice)? |
Anonymous
Homework is not developmentally appropriate in lower elementary. Our charter never had any homework until 3rd. They just recommended in lower elementary that parents read to their kids or if kids were already reading to read 20 minutes a day. |
Anonymous
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Mine is to read aloud or be read to, 10 mins a day. Supposed to be from the book bag and keep a reading log, but I ignore that. 1st grade.
Some teachers will give homework if specifically asked and if there is a specific deficiency to correct. But only if asked. Or if the child asks, they will play along for a few days. |
Anonymous
| We had it in kindergarten (about 5 worksheets per week). It was very hard to get my son to do it - we ended up doing it on the weekends and he got more used to it as the year went on. 1st grade - we don't have any this year which is fine with me. DCPS - He does have to do a big packet in his DCPS aftercare which I don't really like. |
Anonymous
| We are at a charter and my 2nd grader has a homework packet in his backpack every Friday. I think some parents were asking for it because other classes don’t send any. The teachers say it’s optional. We don’t do it. DS is doing fine academically and likes to do a lot of extracurriculars. |
Anonymous
| My DCPS first grader gets a math worksheet every night that takes about 90 seconds to complete. The teachers surveyed parents at the beginning of the year about homework and I actually asked for optional homework. It’s the only way to really track what they’re working on, particularly in math. We skip it and do two nights worth the next night (so 2-3 minutes) if we’re busy. |
Anonymous
| I can’t believe 5 and 6 year olds are getting worksheet homework. No way, that is going in the trash. |
Anonymous
+1 one of the many reasons we chose our charter. |
Anonymous
| Our DCPS never had any in early grades except for reading every night. A little math homework got added in in 3rd grade. |
Anonymous
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My neighbor’s child went to our neighborhood title I school for preK 3
They had worksheets for homework which is ridiculous. She also said they did a lot of worksheets in class instead of play base learning. She pulled her child out after that year. A generalization, but many title 1 schools and low performing schools push academics way too early. |
Anonymous
| just wondering why the worksheets are bad? mine enjoys doing them and generally takes 10 minutes. |
Anonymous
Same here. We were asked to read to/with our child for at least 20 minutes daily. A math game or something might be sent home once in a while. In third grade, there was a little math homework, mostly memorizing the times table. |
Anonymous
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We're in a DCPS, just K so far.
We get a homework packet (like 2 pages) each week and it is optional to do it. However, kids can earn rewards in class for turning it in completed. But it's not really not onerous. The main thing is a reading log, which I was skeptical about at first but is actually really positive -- my kid is really into reading and likes listing her favorite books from the week (we don't list all) and she copies the titles from the books to the sheet herself so it's reading/writing practice as well. There are sometimes very short math worksheets but it's the kind of thing you could finish in a minute. And then there's a game that is actually kind of fun to play and my kid likes it (it's like tic tac toe but using concepts from whatever they are studying at the moment). If you'd asked me before this year if I thought kindergarteners should get homework, I would have said a firm no, and initially I thought we'd opt out. But my kid wanted to earn the reward, and as we did it, I found it's a good way to know what's going on in class. From the homework, I get a pretty clear view of what they are working on at the moment, which is great since a kindergartener is not really reporting the curriculum back to me very well. It doesn't take much time at all and aspects of it are fun. So I've come around on it. Some weeks we fill it out in 5 minutes before leaving for school, so we're barely talking homework here. |
Anonymous
They are not bad for your child. They are bad for the many children — and the families of children — who don’t enjoy them, because then it’s a struggle with no benefit. (Research says it doesn’t help learning.) |
Anonymous
My kid loves worksheets. They are like games to her and often include things she can color in, which is also an activity she enjoys. She would rather do a workbook on a plane than watch a movie. I've therefore never quite understood the worksheet hate on these boards. I wouldn't want her to go to school where she was learning all concepts via worksheet, but I know that's not the case at all at her DCPS. I don't mind if they send home a worksheet now and then. |