Which schools in Fairfax County have homework in kindergarten?

[Anonymous]

Most of the research on homework indicates that homework is pretty worthless in elementary school.
The book referenced earlier, Rethinking Homework, is an excellent resource that outlines the reasons.

Much better to spend the time reading TO and WITH your child, encouraging physical activity, and talking about current events with your child (age appropriate). Also, finding the learning in everyday events (If we want to eat dinner at 7:00, and the meal takes 45 minutes to cook and 25 minutes to make, what time should I start the meal?).
Also, playing board games, card games, and thinking games is a great way to help kids not only learn but to connect with family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We had a ton of homework in K. We couldn't keep up with it. There was a calendar full of useless activities, a reading log, 4 or 5 worksheets a week, and one "big" thing every two or three weeks, like a large poster to make or a presentation to prepare.

This is also what we had, but with 2-3 worksheets per week (some quite involved and requiring a spinner), weekly reading log, and a larger craft project due every couple of weeks. It wasn't unmanageable but more than we expected for K.

Then why not opt your kid out of it. Homework was pretty optional through second grade in our house, particularly after I saw how little outdoor time they gave my sons (canceling recess for behavioral issues was common). They're now in high school and college with no negative effects as far as I can tell.

I sort of did that. I told the teacher it was just too much for us, especially at the beginning of the year, when one worksheet (they were way above level) would take over an hour and involve a lot of whining and some tears. She gave me the stink eye, and I worried she would hold it against my son. He had a bad experience in her class as it was, so now I wish I'd just thrown it all out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We've never gotten any significant homework from FCPS. Just read for xx minutes or a couple worksheets. We've had to supplement the whole time.

Why do you feel you need to supplement homework? I'm genuinely curious. I'm in the "less hw is better" camp.

We believe in mastery of each level of knowledge. Practice makes perfect, that kind of thing.

School days are short and infrequent so outside school we try to balance their time and spend 2 hours on the brain (home work) 2 hours for exercise (hockey, baseball, etc) and 2 hours for fun & relaxation (whatever they want). Double each on the weekends, summer, and other days off. (it was half that in K since we wanted them to get 12 hours sleep) The schedule's not always perfect but it works pretty well for us. YMMV.

I don't get it - short and infrequent school days?? Ours are 7 hours long, every day. If we have no after school activities, it's about 4pm by the time we get home. My kid is starved and exhausted. I make dinner while he falls asleep or watches tv on the couch (he's totally out of it after school), and by the time we are done eating it's at least 5pm, maybe later. Then I have to give him a bath or shower and get him to bed by about 8 so he can get enough sleep. If there is 20 minutes left over for reading, that's an easy night. If we have a sport or after school activity, then there is no time for anything else. The fact that I have my own work to do also (I work at home) makes doing homework for an hour completely impossible. I am totally dreading the start of the school year - I just don't think I can handle the stress again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We've never gotten any significant homework from FCPS. Just read for xx minutes or a couple worksheets. We've had to supplement the whole time.

Why do you feel you need to supplement homework? I'm genuinely curious. I'm in the "less hw is better" camp.

We believe in mastery of each level of knowledge. Practice makes perfect, that kind of thing.

School days are short and infrequent so outside school we try to balance their time and spend 2 hours on the brain (home work) 2 hours for exercise (hockey, baseball, etc) and 2 hours for fun & relaxation (whatever they want). Double each on the weekends, summer, and other days off. (it was half that in K since we wanted them to get 12 hours sleep) The schedule's not always perfect but it works pretty well for us. YMMV.

Wait...so if you double each on non-school days, your kids do 4 hours of homework-type activity per day on weekends and over the summer? I must be misunderstanding your post.

[Anonymous]

I had twins in k last year. One had a nightly activity and 3 or 4 random project activities throughout the year. The other had a monthly packet and reading log.

[Anonymous]

The 2 hours on each acitivity lady is crazy

[Anonymous]

I'm a teacher and admittedly I do not assign much homework. At BTSN my colleague and I let parents know that any hw should be able to be completed independently by the child. If not, then we ask them to stop and let us know. We also tell them to not take a lot of time on it. If it seems to be taking too long or is a struggle, stop and let us know.

HW should be independent practice. As was mentioned earlier it's not graded (in FCPS elementary), so it shouldn't be overwhelming.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We've never gotten any significant homework from FCPS. Just read for xx minutes or a couple worksheets. We've had to supplement the whole time.

Why do you feel you need to supplement homework? I'm genuinely curious. I'm in the "less hw is better" camp.

We believe in mastery of each level of knowledge. Practice makes perfect, that kind of thing.

School days are short and infrequent so outside school we try to balance their time and spend 2 hours on the brain (home work) 2 hours for exercise (hockey, baseball, etc) and 2 hours for fun & relaxation (whatever they want). Double each on the weekends, summer, and other days off. (it was half that in K since we wanted them to get 12 hours sleep) The schedule's not always perfect but it works pretty well for us. YMMV.

Wait...so if you double each on non-school days, your kids do 4 hours of homework-type activity per day on weekends and over the summer? I must be misunderstanding your post.

Actually yes. Saturday mornings they go to a language immersion class for 4 hours and Sunday is Sunday school and some reading. I guess technically it's not "homework" but supplemental academic studies, same thing in my mind. I don't ask anybody else to do it but my kids love it and it works for us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our principal asked parents to read "rethinking homework" and adopted a no homework policy for k-6.

We aren't supposed to grade work that's completed at home, so that's probably not a bad policy.

As an elementary school teacher I'd like to know which building this is. Is it within FCPS?

It is a FCPS school. I'm not sure if I want to out the school, and I'm not sure why. Maybe because I have mixed feelings on the matter. My kids get immersed in a lot of brain activities at home (eg, coding/programming, board games, building with planks, lego, knex, etc), sports, going on hikes, etc. They learn a lot from these. However in some cases like math, I wish there was something more coming home than the calendar of suggested math activities (eg, see how far you can skip count by 2s). Once an understanding of numbers/mathematical operations is understood, I wouldn't mind a few suggested worksheets to help kids know eg, sums by rote. I largely support the principal on this no homework policy, yet I'm not sure when that rote knowledge will kick in especially in multiplication and spelling. Having said that ... this summer our rising 1st and 2nd graders played several games involving two 6 sided dice (eg, Catan, Quixx). They soon learned that 7 was the mostly likely number to be rolled, because there are so many ways to make 7 with those kinds of dice. They were also adding numbers on the dice quickly without counting on their fingers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We had a ton of homework in K. We couldn't keep up with it. There was a calendar full of useless activities, a reading log, 4 or 5 worksheets a week, and one "big" thing every two or three weeks, like a large poster to make or a presentation to prepare.

This is also what we had, but with 2-3 worksheets per week (some quite involved and requiring a spinner), weekly reading log, and a larger craft project due every couple of weeks. It wasn't unmanageable but more than we expected for K.

Then why not opt your kid out of it. Homework was pretty optional through second grade in our house, particularly after I saw how little outdoor time they gave my sons (canceling recess for behavioral issues was common). They're now in high school and college with no negative effects as far as I can tell.

I sort of did that. I told the teacher it was just too much for us, especially at the beginning of the year, when one worksheet (they were way above level) would take over an hour and involve a lot of whining and some tears. She gave me the stink eye, and I worried she would hold it against my son. He had a bad experience in her class as it was, so now I wish I'd just thrown it all out.

I'm sorry what? I get that they are 5 but what are we teaching them by saying, hunny i know your teacher assigned this for you, but it's too hard so go outside and play instead? If you think there is too much homework, then discuss this with the teacher, PTA, Principal but until it's changed have your kid do the work. Otherwise they grow up thinking it's ok to blow off work to do fun things. This is public school, you don't get to make the rules or assignments, we all brag about how great FCPS is, so why are we rewriting curriculum or "opting out" of non-optional homework. A big part of school is learning that things aren't always fun and games, respecting authority, and how to work harder on things that are difficult!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We've never gotten any significant homework from FCPS. Just read for xx minutes or a couple worksheets. We've had to supplement the whole time.

Why do you feel you need to supplement homework? I'm genuinely curious. I'm in the "less hw is better" camp.

We believe in mastery of each level of knowledge. Practice makes perfect, that kind of thing.

School days are short and infrequent so outside school we try to balance their time and spend 2 hours on the brain (home work) 2 hours for exercise (hockey, baseball, etc) and 2 hours for fun & relaxation (whatever they want). Double each on the weekends, summer, and other days off. (it was half that in K since we wanted them to get 12 hours sleep) The schedule's not always perfect but it works pretty well for us. YMMV.

This is really interesting. What do you do for the brain work?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We've never gotten any significant homework from FCPS. Just read for xx minutes or a couple worksheets. We've had to supplement the whole time.

Why do you feel you need to supplement homework? I'm genuinely curious. I'm in the "less hw is better" camp.

We believe in mastery of each level of knowledge. Practice makes perfect, that kind of thing.

School days are short and infrequent so outside school we try to balance their time and spend 2 hours on the brain (home work) 2 hours for exercise (hockey, baseball, etc) and 2 hours for fun & relaxation (whatever they want). Double each on the weekends, summer, and other days off. (it was half that in K since we wanted them to get 12 hours sleep) The schedule's not always perfect but it works pretty well for us. YMMV.

I don't get it - short and infrequent school days?? Ours are 7 hours long, every day. If we have no after school activities, it's about 4pm by the time we get home. My kid is starved and exhausted. I make dinner while he falls asleep or watches tv on the couch (he's totally out of it after school), and by the time we are done eating it's at least 5pm, maybe later. Then I have to give him a bath or shower and get him to bed by about 8 so he can get enough sleep. If there is 20 minutes left over for reading, that's an easy night. If we have a sport or after school activity, then there is no time for anything else. The fact that I have my own work to do also (I work at home) makes doing homework for an hour completely impossible. I am totally dreading the start of the school year - I just don't think I can handle the stress again.

ok so from 5pm to 8pm it takes you three hours to bathe your kid? Homework is not supposed to be done by you. So he can work on it while you work at home from 5pm to 8pm, though it shouldn't take 3 hours. I get that we all want more family time in the evenings but homework is a part of school and we shouldn't be telling our kids they don't have to do it!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We had a ton of homework in K. We couldn't keep up with it. There was a calendar full of useless activities, a reading log, 4 or 5 worksheets a week, and one "big" thing every two or three weeks, like a large poster to make or a presentation to prepare.

This is also what we had, but with 2-3 worksheets per week (some quite involved and requiring a spinner), weekly reading log, and a larger craft project due every couple of weeks. It wasn't unmanageable but more than we expected for K.

Then why not opt your kid out of it. Homework was pretty optional through second grade in our house, particularly after I saw how little outdoor time they gave my sons (canceling recess for behavioral issues was common). They're now in high school and college with no negative effects as far as I can tell.

I sort of did that. I told the teacher it was just too much for us, especially at the beginning of the year, when one worksheet (they were way above level) would take over an hour and involve a lot of whining and some tears. She gave me the stink eye, and I worried she would hold it against my son. He had a bad experience in her class as it was, so now I wish I'd just thrown it all out.

I'm sorry what? I get that they are 5 but what are we teaching them by saying, hunny i know your teacher assigned this for you, but it's too hard so go outside and play instead? If you think there is too much homework, then discuss this with the teacher, PTA, Principal but until it's changed have your kid do the work. Otherwise they grow up thinking it's ok to blow off work to do fun things. This is public school, you don't get to make the rules or assignments, we all brag about how great FCPS is, so why are we rewriting curriculum or "opting out" of non-optional homework. A big part of school is learning that things aren't always fun and games, respecting authority, and how to work harder on things that are difficult!

You are horribly ignorant. There is ample evidence to show that homework is not beneficial in K, and that it is actually harmful and counterproductive when there is too much or it is too hard. There is also no evidence at all to suggest that playing instead of doing homework teaches young children anything at all, or that kids given sufficient play time and appropriately leveled work grow up to be irresponsible. Perhaps you should do some reading on the subject - try "Rethinking Homework."

As for public school, it is supposed to be directed by the public. And I am a teacher and I don't think FCPS is so great - I think it sucks, like most fcps teachers today. Fact is, I am way more educated and qualified than my kid's teacher, and completely qualified to rewrite any curriculum I want. Sounds like you think education is about teaching kids to be drones that do whatever they are told, no matter how tedious or pointless.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We've never gotten any significant homework from FCPS. Just read for xx minutes or a couple worksheets. We've had to supplement the whole time.

Why do you feel you need to supplement homework? I'm genuinely curious. I'm in the "less hw is better" camp.

We believe in mastery of each level of knowledge. Practice makes perfect, that kind of thing.

School days are short and infrequent so outside school we try to balance their time and spend 2 hours on the brain (home work) 2 hours for exercise (hockey, baseball, etc) and 2 hours for fun & relaxation (whatever they want). Double each on the weekends, summer, and other days off. (it was half that in K since we wanted them to get 12 hours sleep) The schedule's not always perfect but it works pretty well for us. YMMV.

This is really interesting. What do you do for the brain work?

After any school work, lot of reading, some worksheets, codecombat.com, hour of code modules, puzzles, legos, science projects, journal, etc. We try to vary it but keep it educational.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We had a ton of homework in K. We couldn't keep up with it. There was a calendar full of useless activities, a reading log, 4 or 5 worksheets a week, and one "big" thing every two or three weeks, like a large poster to make or a presentation to prepare.

This is also what we had, but with 2-3 worksheets per week (some quite involved and requiring a spinner), weekly reading log, and a larger craft project due every couple of weeks. It wasn't unmanageable but more than we expected for K.

Then why not opt your kid out of it. Homework was pretty optional through second grade in our house, particularly after I saw how little outdoor time they gave my sons (canceling recess for behavioral issues was common). They're now in high school and college with no negative effects as far as I can tell.

I sort of did that. I told the teacher it was just too much for us, especially at the beginning of the year, when one worksheet (they were way above level) would take over an hour and involve a lot of whining and some tears. She gave me the stink eye, and I worried she would hold it against my son. He had a bad experience in her class as it was, so now I wish I'd just thrown it all out.

I'm sorry what? I get that they are 5 but what are we teaching them by saying, hunny i know your teacher assigned this for you, but it's too hard so go outside and play instead? If you think there is too much homework, then discuss this with the teacher, PTA, Principal but until it's changed have your kid do the work. Otherwise they grow up thinking it's ok to blow off work to do fun things. This is public school, you don't get to make the rules or assignments, we all brag about how great FCPS is, so why are we rewriting curriculum or "opting out" of non-optional homework. A big part of school is learning that things aren't always fun and games, respecting authority, and how to work harder on things that are difficult!

I'm a teacher and I would want you to let me know if the assigned homework was too difficult. Homework should be review and should be able to be completed independently by the student. I would say stop if it gets frustrating.