s/o APS middle school math homework question

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That’s excessive unless the child is behind. Our sixth grader mastered pre-algebra with straight days with no extra homework time. They are not some genius or anomaly.

Disagree. Throughout elementary school kids all had to read 20min each night. They didn't say to the advanced readers "oh, don't worry about it". Homework can strengthen skills, and in something like math where you often need to master concepts and then practice their application, doing a little bit each day can matter. More power to you if your child was able to have pre-algebra three times per week and fully master it with no other additional classroom time or practice.

That’s apples to oranges. The 20 minutes was assigned for every kid. This person is talking about creating extra homework for their kid outside of what’s required by the school. Your example was school required reading

[Anonymous]

Can I tagalong a question here about summer math homework? Last year my APS then-rising-7th grader had a math packet to do over the summer. This weekend the school hasn't posted math packets for any middle schooler. Is this right as far as folks know?

Kid completed like 3 problems a day last summer and it took weeks, so this was a surprise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can I tagalong a question here about summer math homework? Last year my APS then-rising-7th grader had a math packet to do over the summer. This weekend the school hasn't posted math packets for any middle schooler. Is this right as far as folks know?

Kid completed like 3 problems a day last summer and it took weeks, so this was a surprise.

Go to the APS website, the math packets are posted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That’s excessive unless the child is behind. Our sixth grader mastered pre-algebra with straight days with no extra homework time. They are not some genius or anomaly.

Disagree. Throughout elementary school kids all had to read 20min each night. They didn't say to the advanced readers "oh, don't worry about it". Homework can strengthen skills, and in something like math where you often need to master concepts and then practice their application, doing a little bit each day can matter. More power to you if your child was able to have pre-algebra three times per week and fully master it with no other additional classroom time or practice.

That’s apples to oranges. The 20 minutes was assigned for every kid. This person is talking about creating extra homework for their kid outside of what’s required by the school. Your example was school required reading

Because APS has almost no homework, which doesn't help with mastering and applying concepts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That’s excessive unless the child is behind. Our sixth grader mastered pre-algebra with straight days with no extra homework time. They are not some genius or anomaly.

Disagree. Throughout elementary school kids all had to read 20min each night. They didn't say to the advanced readers "oh, don't worry about it". Homework can strengthen skills, and in something like math where you often need to master concepts and then practice their application, doing a little bit each day can matter. More power to you if your child was able to have pre-algebra three times per week and fully master it with no other additional classroom time or practice.

That’s apples to oranges. The 20 minutes was assigned for every kid. This person is talking about creating extra homework for their kid outside of what’s required by the school. Your example was school required reading

Because APS has almost no homework, which doesn't help with mastering and applying concepts.

And many students are doing just fine without the helicoptering.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Because APS has almost no homework, which doesn't help with mastering and applying concepts.

And many students are doing just fine without the helicoptering.

Clearly YMMV. Not a debate about which approach is best, do what works for your kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can I tagalong a question here about summer math homework? Last year my APS then-rising-7th grader had a math packet to do over the summer. This weekend the school hasn't posted math packets for any middle schooler. Is this right as far as folks know?

Kid completed like 3 problems a day last summer and it took weeks, so this was a surprise.

Go to the APS website, the math packets are posted.

Sorry -- do you know where they are? They're not any of the recent announcements, and I don't see them on the STUDENT page, either. Or on the last two months worth of news posted?

I went to these places:
https://www.apsva.us/
https://www.apsva.us/students/
https://www.apsva.us/post/category/news/

I have my kid's math placement, but that's separate from the summer math homework. And my kid's school lists homework for other classes, but nothing for math for rising 8th graders.

Thank you!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can I tagalong a question here about summer math homework? Last year my APS then-rising-7th grader had a math packet to do over the summer. This weekend the school hasn't posted math packets for any middle schooler. Is this right as far as folks know?

Kid completed like 3 problems a day last summer and it took weeks, so this was a surprise.

Go to the APS website, the math packets are posted.

Sorry -- do you know where they are? They're not any of the recent announcements, and I don't see them on the STUDENT page, either. Or on the last two months worth of news posted?

I went to these places:
https://www.apsva.us/
https://www.apsva.us/students/
https://www.apsva.us/post/category/news/

I have my kid's math placement, but that's separate from the summer math homework. And my kid's school lists homework for other classes, but nothing for math for rising 8th graders.

Thank you!

Wait, I found it under "Summer Math Reviews" by searching the site for Math, doh! https://www.apsva.us/mathematics/summer-reviews/

[Anonymous]

https://www.apsva.us/mathematics/summer-reviews/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Having immediate classroom feedback on homework is good but that means there is less time for instruction. (With block scheduling, breaking up class instruction with practice is unavoidable, but that argues for not using block scheduling for math so you don't have to limit weekly instruction.) Also, as content gets harder each year, additional reinforcing homework (done at home) becomes more important.

Um ok. APS uses block schedules. It’s not developmentally appropriate to teach new material for the whole block. Practicing the lesson is not taking away from instruction time, it’s re-inforcing the lesson in a hands on manner.

Built in time to practice is called classwork. APS has kids regularly do "homework" during class, which by definition means it isn't homework.

I'm a PP, and we required DC to do 20min of math per night in middle school using either apps from school or in workbooks that we purchased. DC is a strong student but needed to practice and reinforce concepts taught during the day. If we hadn't done that it would have meant DC essentially did math only 3 days per week. No homework, no daily class. That's not enough to master pre-algebra.

That’s excessive unless the child is behind. Our sixth grader mastered pre-algebra with straight days with no extra homework time. They are not some genius or anomaly.

You may want to talk to families with older kids. Many kids follow one of these paths:

1) Families recognize that with block schedules and minimal homework, their kid is not going to build a sufficiently strong base in middle school math. They enroll their kid in AoPS or RSM or some other program. Those groups do assign homework and kids build a strong base steadily as they proceed through high school.

2) Families assume that good grades in middle school math mean their kid is proficient in math and let it be. Then as the kid gets to high school, courses assume firm knowledge of earlier concepts that they never developed fully or can't remember and they start to do poorly in math class for the first time. At that point, there are two choices: pull back to a lower math pathway or hire a tutor who will assign the homework that wasn't done earlier and build their math foundation.

Of course, there are some kids that do ok throughout without outside supplementation. However, those kids have to work very hard as they advance to both backfill and learn new content at the same time.

This is obviously just one person's view, so take it for what it's worth.

It's a little hard to answer OP's question because everyone whose kids were recently in pre-algebra were also impacted by the pandemic. Homework has recently dropped off a lot due to that and not sure if it will stay that way. I have had two kids who went through pre-algebra in 6th. The first had pretty heavy homework, they second not so much.

[Anonymous]

I had my daughter doing Mathnasium while schools were shut down, and she got into Pre-algebra last year as a 6th grader. We stopped doing Mathnasium at that point, and went with a self-timed AOPS for the 2nd semester - she did it half-heartedly - it helped a bit. Scored high five-hundreds on 8th grade SOLs, and we are doing a Mathnasium summer course to help fill in any gaps since next year will be high-school intensified algebra 1 as a 7th grader.