Public vs private different, or just 3rd grade ramp up?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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

I used to buy into that. I do regret it.

What did you used to buy into? What do you regret?

[Anonymous]

In our public it was not a ramp up year. There was homework in 3rd - 15 minutes of free choice reading daily (my kids usually exceeded, but they're readers) and a weekly packet that was about 4 pages of math work to do. My kids were in AAP in FCPS. However after 3rd the homework stopped. Turns out the only reason there was homework in 3rd was because the grade team lead felt strongly about it.

In our religious private my kids have a similar workload to what you describe.

My older kids show the impact of no homework. They are both decently good at math, understanding concepts quickly. However they make the silliest math mistakes, even my 8th grader in geometry. They would have done better having concepts from 4th on drilled in public. I'm grateful for the homework they have in private. I'm also grateful they actually do real, hands-on science instead of endlessly drawing yet another life cycle until they never want to hear that phrase ever again.

Will the rigor of the private continue to match what FCPS can offer in terms of advanced classes in high school (especially at TJ)? I don't delude myself it will. But for the younger grades the regular homework practice allows the kids to master subjects in a way that FCPS simply did not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In our public it was not a ramp up year. There was homework in 3rd - 15 minutes of free choice reading daily (my kids usually exceeded, but they're readers) and a weekly packet that was about 4 pages of math work to do. My kids were in AAP in FCPS. However after 3rd the homework stopped. Turns out the only reason there was homework in 3rd was because the grade team lead felt strongly about it.

In our religious private my kids have a similar workload to what you describe.

My older kids show the impact of no homework. They are both decently good at math, understanding concepts quickly. However they make the silliest math mistakes, even my 8th grader in geometry. They would have done better having concepts from 4th on drilled in public. I'm grateful for the homework they have in private. I'm also grateful they actually do real, hands-on science instead of endlessly drawing yet another life cycle until they never want to hear that phrase ever again.

Will the rigor of the private continue to match what FCPS can offer in terms of advanced classes in high school (especially at TJ)? I don't delude myself it will. But for the younger grades the regular homework practice allows the kids to master subjects in a way that FCPS simply did not.

I have a kid who just started AAP in third and there is a ton of testing. We get homework daily and the pace seems to be much faster than K-2. More than the actual schoolwork, our AAP center has a ton of academic extracurriculars like chess, Science Olympiad, math counts, spelling bee, etc so it is not necessarily in class.

We are exploring private schools. My child is more into reading and privates seem to have stronger language arts and public speaking opportunities. I don’t expect STEM to be better but my kid isn’t a STEM kid. I also don’t think my kid has any shot at playing sports at our large super competitive high school. I like the idea of her being able to be on sports teams at private.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:APS hw for 3rd:
Grade 3
Up to 45 minutes total
20–25 minutes independent reading

How long ago were you at APS. There is a no he policy for all of elementary school now as of a couple of years ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Third is a make it or break it year. Kids respond to different types of instruction but repetition at that age isn’t awful.

lol

[Anonymous]

Technically my 3rd grader (top MCPS public) has 45 minutes of HW per night, but it’s optional (not handed in or counted toward grade). In my experience hearing from friends, the parochial schools that assign homework do not make it optional. That’s the difference.