Should public school parents be allowed to opt their child out of homework?

[Anonymous]

I check homework every night and my daughter does her homework at the kitchen table while her nanny does her own homework. Her nanny looks over the homework with her and asks my daughter to look twice at something if she sees an error. So our daughter usually finds the error and corrects it. She chooses whether or not to do her reading on her own or to have me read before bed. More often than not she asks me to read. I have made it just an ordinary part of her routine so she doesn't question it. And her nanny knows to tell me if there is anything that she really struggled with during homework.

[Anonymous]

To the poster that is doing her child's homework for him: Don't you realize that you are not helping him? You are enabling his "laziness." If you were really enforcing him to be more careful with his work, wouldn't he get it by now?? Wouldn't he know to check his work himself and edit/correct? No, because he knows mommy is there to make his half assed work perfect. I think he needs to hand in a couple of D assignments and learn a lesson the right way, not the easy way. I mean that literally as well as figuratively.

Sorry to be harsh--I know you think you are doing what is best. As you can see from the pps that are responding to your post, many see it differently.

[Anonymous]

So what do you do when your child asks you for help on his homework? Tell him "tough luck, you're on your own?"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So what do you do when your child asks you for help on his homework? Tell him "tough luck, you're on your own?"

Asking for help is very different from assuming your parent will correct your work every time. If a child asks for help because they don't understand something...of course you can step in. That is NOT the same thing as PP is describing. Her child is not asking for help, she is correcting (finishing, rather) his homework. Every time. Clearly, he is not learning to self edit and has no incentive to work on minimizing careless errors as he is still making them.

Furthermore, it's possible that her DS may have some learning difficulties. I have ADD and was horribly careless as a young student. My parents did not correct my homework and I was frequently penalized for spelling errors or simple things like missing puntuation. It was clear I always understood the material, I just got tripped up by the details. I was finally diagnosed with ADD and saw tutors to help me work on my self editing skills and to be more detail oriented. The PP's son's teachers should have a clear picture of what the child is doing on his own, without assistance from his parents. It sounds from PP that she has been doing this with her son for a while and there is no improvement. So either her son is becoming lazy with his work (because he knows it will be corrected without consequence) or he is really having difficulty with his work and that should be addressed not "fixed" by a parent.

[Anonymous]

10:18 here. Yes, I realize the irony that my post contains errors. I'm a grown up now. I don't care enough to edit my anonymous post.

[Anonymous]

I never corrected my son's homework. I did work with him to make sure he understood the assignment, to help him develop research skills, to help him hold himself to a high standard, to brainstorm ideas when he was stuck, to make sure he'd completed all the work, to write the teacher a note if there was something he did not understand. The goal was to make him a self-reliant student with high standards for himself, a student who gives his best and is self-aware about what he knows and doesn't know. He is now in high school and gets top grades.

[Anonymous]

Asking for help is very different from assuming your parent will correct your work every time. If a child asks for help because they don't understand something...of course you can step in. That is NOT the same thing as PP is describing. Her child is not asking for help, she is correcting (finishing, rather) his homework. Every time. Clearly, he is not learning to self edit and has no incentive to work on minimizing careless errors as he is still making them.

I am NOT finishing my child's homework for him, not am I correcting his work. HE completes his homework, then I check it for errors. If I find errors, I tell him he has some mistakes, and make him correct the mistakes before he turns in the homework the next day.

Furthermore, it's possible that her DS may have some learning difficulties. I have ADD and was horribly careless as a young student. My parents did not correct my homework and I was frequently penalized for spelling errors or simple things like missing puntuation. It was clear I always understood the material, I just got tripped up by the details. I was finally diagnosed with ADD and saw tutors to help me work on my self editing skills and to be more detail oriented. The PP's son's teachers should have a clear picture of what the child is doing on his own, without assistance from his parents.

My son's teacher HAS a clear understanding of what he is capable of doing, because she sees what he does without assistance, every single day in his classwork and on frequent tests and quizzes. However, at school when he makes a careless error, she just grades him down, and moves on. She doesn't require him to fix or correct his errors. So I don't know how exactly that's going to motivate him to pay more careful attention and double check his work before turning it in.

When the teacher sends home classwork or tests or quizzes on which my son earned less than a 90%, I make him redo the work correctly and take it back in again. This is not to improve a grade, this is just to be sure that he knows he should do the work correctly the first time, not turn in subpar work just to get it donw and go off and do your free reading.

I highly doubt my son has ADD. It's very likely he has DGC Syndrome.

It sounds from PP that she has been doing this with her son for a while and there is no improvement. So either her son is becoming lazy with his work (because he knows it will be corrected without consequence) or he is really having difficulty with his work and that should be addressed not "fixed" by a parent.

No, I don't "fix" his work. He corrects his work. I don't pick up a pen or do any writing or spelling for him. Everything is done by him. As for "without any consequence...." this child is all of 8 years old. The consequence of not doing his homework correctly is that he has to do it again, a second time, the correct way, so he's losing time doing other things he'd rather do. Seems like an appropriate consequence for an 8 year old to me. And yes, the method appears to be working as his errors are becoming less frequent. Here's hoping we can avoid having to hire specilized tutors to teach my son how to self-edit and pay attention to detail in middle school, by being an involved parent who monitors my child's homework in the early elementary years.

[Anonymous]

15:05, I am the pp you quoted. I didn't mean to offend. I was just giving my take on what I thought was going on. Obviously, you know your son and his situation better than any of us do. It sounds like you are a very involved and attentive parent and I'm sure you will do what you feel is best.

[Anonymous]

As a teacher, I dread the day when my DD has loads of homework (only in preschool now). Research indicates that the amount of homework that students are now doing is NOT beneficial. I've seen too many teachers who give an unreasonable amount of homework to elementary school children. And for what reason?!?! I do wish some of these "elite" local school systems would finally get on board making homework more effective. They seem to jump on every other bandwagon but are missing this one.

[Anonymous]

whether the school assigns it, or I assign it, either way the kid is going to have homework.
At least one hour per night is not unresonable.

[Anonymous]

My kids get homework and housework. The school is immaterial in that regard.

[Anonymous]

Back in my day we loads of homework every night.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One complaint I have about homework is that it interferes with the additional work we need to do at home. Everyday Math is garbage so that means about 30-60 minute of night of "homeschooling" in math for my daughter.

Wow. I could not agree more with this sentiment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Asking for help is very different from assuming your parent will correct your work every time. If a child asks for help because they don't understand something...of course you can step in. That is NOT the same thing as PP is describing. Her child is not asking for help, she is correcting (finishing, rather) his homework. Every time. Clearly, he is not learning to self edit and has no incentive to work on minimizing careless errors as he is still making them.

I am NOT finishing my child's homework for him, not am I correcting his work. HE completes his homework, then I check it for errors. If I find errors, I tell him he has some mistakes, and make him correct the mistakes before he turns in the homework the next day.

Furthermore, it's possible that her DS may have some learning difficulties. I have ADD and was horribly careless as a young student. My parents did not correct my homework and I was frequently penalized for spelling errors or simple things like missing puntuation. It was clear I always understood the material, I just got tripped up by the details. I was finally diagnosed with ADD and saw tutors to help me work on my self editing skills and to be more detail oriented. The PP's son's teachers should have a clear picture of what the child is doing on his own, without assistance from his parents.

My son's teacher HAS a clear understanding of what he is capable of doing, because she sees what he does without assistance, every single day in his classwork and on frequent tests and quizzes. However, at school when he makes a careless error, she just grades him down, and moves on. She doesn't require him to fix or correct his errors. So I don't know how exactly that's going to motivate him to pay more careful attention and double check his work before turning it in.

When the teacher sends home classwork or tests or quizzes on which my son earned less than a 90%, I make him redo the work correctly and take it back in again. This is not to improve a grade, this is just to be sure that he knows he should do the work correctly the first time, not turn in subpar work just to get it donw and go off and do your free reading.

I highly doubt my son has ADD. It's very likely he has DGC Syndrome.

It sounds from PP that she has been doing this with her son for a while and there is no improvement. So either her son is becoming lazy with his work (because he knows it will be corrected without consequence) or he is really having difficulty with his work and that should be addressed not "fixed" by a parent.

No, I don't "fix" his work. He corrects his work. I don't pick up a pen or do any writing or spelling for him. Everything is done by him. As for "without any consequence...." this child is all of 8 years old. The consequence of not doing his homework correctly is that he has to do it again, a second time, the correct way, so he's losing time doing other things he'd rather do. Seems like an appropriate consequence for an 8 year old to me. And yes, the method appears to be working as his errors are becoming less frequent. Here's hoping we can avoid having to hire specilized tutors to teach my son how to self-edit and pay attention to detail in middle school, by being an involved parent who monitors my child's homework in the early elementary years.

What is DGC Syndrome?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 3rd grader would have a D average if homework didn't count! I always check his homework and note careless errors and make him correct them and homework counts for 50% of his grade. At school he makes the same errors but no one makes him correct them so he gets a D at school but an A on homework which averages to a B or C. I think it is a weird grading system but I suppose the teacher has some reason for it.

You're doing his homework for him by making him correct the answers before turning it in. Let him turn it in with mistakes and he'll learn better and won't do so poorly at school.

Nah, tried that route last year but he didn't learn not to make careless errors. Theonly thing that helps him not make careless errors is knowing that someone will force him to do them over. At least at home I can make him do them over. At school, I wish his teacher would make him do his work over but she just accepts the mistakes as the best he can do.

Let me guess - you're just going to be shocked when he goes to college and flunks out. Unbelievable.

You don't have school-age kids, do you?

Not the above poster, but I check my third grader's homework. One of the things we're working on is NOT RUSHING through the work to get it over with. So yes, as (ahem) "my child's first teacher," I make him do it over if there are goofy careless mistakes. E.g., spelling things wrong that are laid out right in front of him with the textbook or worksheet. Or, if he is writing something and puts hardly any effort into it. I don't give him the answers. I point out errors that are careless and tell him to look again.

As an aside, I realized recently that what most of us know as adults about written language is not obvious to an eight year old and really needed to be pointed out. I.e., that the whole point of a written language is to be able to convey a complex idea without being there in person to explain it further. It seems obvious, and my son had his suspicions, but when I just out and explained it recently, I saw a light bulb go on over his head.

This is the kind of thing that takes practice, and frankly there isn't enough time in the school day. So yes, I'm into the idea of homework.