Public vs private different, or just 3rd grade ramp up?
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Anonymous
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We just switched DS to what I think is a middle of the road Christian elementary. Mostly families send their kids there for the religious formation, not academics because the publics have great test scores. I was not expecting this but:
My 3rd grader is being slammed this year with workload! He has had 2 quizzes and a chapter test (filling out and reviewing an actual REVIEW SHEET with word bank was involved) over 2 weeks of school. He's brought home probably 100+ graded math problems. Pretty soon they will start weekly spelling quizzes and I'm told he should expect to do at least 30 minutes of homework per night Mon-Thurs. Is this a normal ramp up that happens in 3rd, or was our K-2 public experience below par? He had very little homeowork K-2nd. He couldn't tell me the state capitol last year, but after 2 weeks of school here he is already telling me about land forms, the major rivers in the US, and so on. |
Anonymous
| *sorry, the title should say "Public vs private difference, or just 3rd grade ramp up?" |
Anonymous
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My child attended a K-8 private. There was no homework in K, about 15 min a night in 1st and 2nd and then 30 min a night in 3rd. So my experience is that there was a ramp up in 3rd in the same private school. Mostly it was extra reading or worksheets to reinforce what they had been doing in class.
There was another jump in 4th when they started more complex homework (short essays, projects). |
Anonymous
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30 minutes of homework per night is a reasonable expectation.
A loose rule of thumb is 10 minutes per grade level per night. So 30 min in third grade is spot on. |
Anonymous
| Does not sound middle of the road, it sounds like a great school. Your public just sucked which is typical for this area. |
Anonymous
| The homework expectation for our 3rd grader who is at a secular private is 20 mins of reading/night plus one math sheet handed out on Monday and due on Friday. |
Anonymous
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APS hw for 3rd:
Grade 3 Up to 45 minutes total 20–25 minutes independent reading |
Anonymous
45 minutes including the reading? What kind of work & subjects are typically given for homework? |
Anonymous
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It sounds like your school follows an old paradigm — the more homework, the better — often to impress parents, especially those from public schools where the homework load may be lighter due to economic disadvantages, like when parents can't help much at home.
We're happy with our well-balanced school. There's no homework for the first two weeks in 4th grade, and for me, it would be a red flag if a school started piling on academics without emotional accommodations. A lot of research has already been done on child development, and it shows that comfort and a relaxed atmosphere come first — that’s what fosters a true hunger for knowledge. Of course, it also depends on the parents and cultural background. Some worry about a lack of homework, fearing it could impact their child’s future. But for us, we’d be more concerned if our kid ended up needing a therapist later on because the pressure started too early |
Anonymous
| Third is a make it or break it year. Kids respond to different types of instruction but repetition at that age isn’t awful. |
Anonymous
| Third is a make it or break it year? As the parent of a senior in HS, your comment is hilarious. |
Anonymous
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Schools that don't give homework might (or might not) have excellent in-class instruction, and schools that have a lot of homework might (or not) get into that situation through poor management of class time or a desire to impress parents. It really varies.
It sounds like your kid is engaged, which is great. Keep an eye on things so he doesn't get burned out or anxious. |
Anonymous
DP. “Make it or break it” is probably overstating it, but it’s widely noted that third is about the time the focus switches from “learning to read” to “reading to learn”; that is, it’s when kids start getting true academic exposure in subject knowledge vs just building foundational skills. It’s a key year in the academic progression. |
Anonymous
There's no reason to be snotty. Third is when kids learn real study skills and math facts start to matter, and it's when privates start doing a little bit of differentiation. It's a big year. |
Anonymous
This is basically what our parochial K-8 follows. Most of the ‘homework’ in 1rst/2nd was reading and third was when other HW started. |