Which schools in Fairfax County have homework in kindergarten?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Let's not be rude simply because someone has a different opinion than you! I think what PP is saying is that while too much HW can be bad for kindergarteners, there is a different recourse than simply telling your kids they don't have to do it. Respect for authority and hard work on areas that are difficult does not make a drone, but rather a kid who will learn to problem solve!

While "Rethinking Homework" may be a great read, and possibly a great model for elementary, there are proper channels to handle such matters! That is the PTA, the principal or the school board, NOT simply telling your children not to follow a teacher's instructions. While kindergarten homework will certainly not have a lasting impression on say, college acceptance, it certainly is the start of teaching your children to practice new skills, listen to authority, and work through challenges should they arrive. I mean if we tell them not to do HW in K y should they do it later in school? U already told them if it is too hard it's not worth the effort.

[Anonymous]

^^^ +1 I've grown up in FCPS and now as a parent I see that we have such an "entitled" group of parents.

Who are you to choose to rewrite curriculum just for your child? If you feel so strongly that it's wrong, talk to the teacher, talk to the principal, talk to the PTA or school board. OR get off your but, run for a PTA office, or school board.

If you want to dictate your child's curriculum that much, then home school. All this opting out of things that aren't optional simpy creates entitled children who think they can dictate what work they do and do not do later.

I agree that HW in K has gotten rediculous, as have the standards for our K students. However, this was created by parent's pushing for more advanced work for little darlas who they think are so gifted that they can read early etc. So blame yourselves, not the teachers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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 the PP who said homework was pretty optional in our house through second grade. I should clarify that I was not teaching my kids to disrespect the teachers. In fact, I told their teachers this was my view and most of them agreed with it. One son's teacher always made the homework optional anyway. The only reason she gave any, she confessed, was because it was school policy, but she had read the research and didn't believe in it either. Not every teacher or even school is marching in lockstep with drones that would wipe out childhood in a bunch of busywork designed to cram ever more facts at an ever earlier age into kids.

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.

Let's not be rude simply because someone has a different opinion than you! I think what PP is saying is that while too much HW can be bad for kindergarteners, there is a different recourse than simply telling your kids they don't have to do it. Respect for authority and hard work on areas that are difficult does not make a drone, but rather a kid who will learn to problem solve!

While "Rethinking Homework" may be a great read, and possibly a great model for elementary, there are proper channels to handle such matters! That is the PTA, the principal or the school board, NOT simply telling your children not to follow a teacher's instructions. While kindergarten homework will certainly not have a lasting impression on say, college acceptance, it certainly is the start of teaching your children to practice new skills, listen to authority, and work through challenges should they arrive. I mean if we tell them not to do HW in K y should they do it later in school? U already told them if it is too hard it's not worth the effort.

[Anonymous]

^^I'm the PP who said homework was pretty optional in our house through second grade. I should clarify that I was not teaching my kids to disrespect the teachers. In fact, I told their teachers this was my view and most of them agreed with it. One son's teacher always made the homework optional anyway. The only reason she gave any, she confessed, was because it was school policy, but she had read the research and didn't believe in it either. Not every teacher or even school is marching in lockstep with drones that would wipe out childhood in a bunch of busywork designed to cram ever more facts at an ever earlier age into kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Let's not be rude simply because someone has a different opinion than you! I think what PP is saying is that while too much HW can be bad for kindergarteners, there is a different recourse than simply telling your kids they don't have to do it. Respect for authority and hard work on areas that are difficult does not make a drone, but rather a kid who will learn to problem solve!

While "Rethinking Homework" may be a great read, and possibly a great model for elementary, there are proper channels to handle such matters! That is the PTA, the principal or the school board, NOT simply telling your children not to follow a teacher's instructions. While kindergarten homework will certainly not have a lasting impression on say, college acceptance, it certainly is the start of teaching your children to practice new skills, listen to authority, and work through challenges should they arrive. I mean if we tell them not to do HW in K y should they do it later in school? U already told them if it is too hard it's not worth the effort.

I'm sorry to rudely disagree with you, but again, everything you are saying is absolutely not what current research tells us. I do not subscribe to the theory of always forcing a kid to do what a teacher wants, even if the teacher is wrong. I have been a teacher my entire life, and while those students are certainly easy to teach, they aren't the best and brightest. Independent thinking and a willingness to go against authority when authority is wrong is essential for learning to trust one's instincts and have confidence in one's own ideas. I respect the student who corrects my mistakes and disagrees with me a hundred times more than the one who spends 2 hours on a pointless homework assignment because I put a typo into the assignment list and they were afraid to correct me. If we force kids to do homework when it is frustrating and pointless, we only teach them that it is OK and normal for school to be frustrating and pointless. Worse, we turn learning into an unpleasant chore. My kid loved to read and write before K. Now he won't touch a book or a pen. Nothing. He absolutely hates it. Pointless worksheets all day and then for homework destroyed his love of reading and writing. I was wrong not to stand up to the teacher and not do any of it.

And there is just no evidence at all for your assumption that following rules blindly teaches responsibility and refusing to have them do what you know is harmful is going to teach them to blow things off later. It just doesn't hold up. It really bugs me when people make these assertions as though they are simple truths, but you have not one shred of evidence to support this. In fact, were you to do some real research and reading, you would discover that your assumptions are all fallacies based on nothing but your own beliefs, which are based on a kind of mentality and not on any kind of fact or objective truth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^^^ +1 I've grown up in FCPS and now as a parent I see that we have such an "entitled" group of parents.

Who are you to choose to rewrite curriculum just for your child? If you feel so strongly that it's wrong, talk to the teacher, talk to the principal, talk to the PTA or school board. OR get off your but, run for a PTA office, or school board.

If you want to dictate your child's curriculum that much, then home school. All this opting out of things that aren't optional simpy creates entitled children who think they can dictate what work they do and do not do later.

I agree that HW in K has gotten rediculous, as have the standards for our K students. However, this was created by parent's pushing for more advanced work for little darlas who they think are so gifted that they can read early etc. So blame yourselves, not the teachers.

I am on the board of our PTA. The PTA has no power whatsoever to make suggestions regarding educational policy or, really, anything. We have, and I have, but the principal simply shoots everything down. I am also a teacher, and I strongly support parents' rights to have input into their children's education. Parents should not keep quiet or homeschool when they don't like things - they should speak up. They should take action. And as I've discovered, being president of the PTA doesn't make one darn bit of difference. And none of this was created by parents pushing for more work - it's all come out of NCLB and similar. Govenment/corporate reform trickling down to the lowest grades. Writing letters and signing petitions isn't doing it - we've been doing this for years. It's going to take more than that, and sitting around saying that parents who complain are "entitled" and should simply join the pta or write a letter or something is the mindset that allows this situation to continue and to snowball into something worse and worse. So I blame people like you - the proverbial sheep, who don't want to rock the boat and trust authority unquestioningly.

[Anonymous]

We had weekly homework and projects every month. Greenbrier West.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We had weekly homework and projects every month. Greenbrier West.

Sorry, pp here. I commented before knowing obsessively ignorant, opt-out hags had already taken over this thread.

Yes, let's continue teaching our kids that homework is really just an option. SMH

[Anonymous]

I worked with people who had the opt out mentality. I say worked because they were just fired for choosing not to do what their boss told them to do. Because they thought they knew better than their boss thought they were smarter they thought that they could produce more of what the customer wanted.

Turns out none of that matters because they are now unemployed and will not even get a recommendation from their most recent employer.

But by all means tell your kids that their parents are smarter that they are special and can choose to do what they want when they want .

[Anonymous]

I worked with people who had the opt out mentality. I say worked because they were just fired for choosing not to do what their boss told them to do. Because they thought they knew better than their boss thought they were smarter they thought that they could produce more of what the customer wanted.

Turns out none of that matters because they are now unemployed and will not even get a recommendation from their most recent employer.

But by all means tell your kids that their parents are smarter that they are special and can choose to do what they want when they want .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: I worked with people who had the opt out mentality. I say worked because they were just fired for choosing not to do what their boss told them to do. Because they thought they knew better than their boss thought they were smarter they thought that they could produce more of what the customer wanted.

Turns out none of that matters because they are now unemployed and will not even get a recommendation from their most recent employer.

But by all means tell your kids that their parents are smarter that they are special and can choose to do what they want when they want .

How did "opt out" come into this discussion?? Parents not forcing children to do homework (homework the children CAN'T do without parental assistance, such as in K) is hardly something they can be fired for. How do you get fired and end up unemployed because you didn't make your 5 year old cry every night over pointless worksheets? Add to that you have a PhD in childhood psychology or education and know it's bad practice, and doing it anyway creates more of a problem than not doing it.

[Anonymous]

I think pp was analogizing what opting out of non optional work in k looks like as an adult.

[Anonymous]

Willow Springs has homework. It's manageable and not difficult. But tedious. Site words. Reading log (we'd do anyway). And a couple worksheets/week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: I worked with people who had the opt out mentality. I say worked because they were just fired for choosing not to do what their boss told them to do. Because they thought they knew better than their boss thought they were smarter they thought that they could produce more of what the customer wanted.

Turns out none of that matters because they are now unemployed and will not even get a recommendation from their most recent employer.

But by all means tell your kids that their parents are smarter that they are special and can choose to do what they want when they want .

How did "opt out" come into this discussion?? Parents not forcing children to do homework (homework the children CAN'T do without parental assistance, such as in K) is hardly something they can be fired for. How do you get fired and end up unemployed because you didn't make your 5 year old cry every night over pointless worksheets? Add to that you have a PhD in childhood psychology or education and know it's bad practice, and doing it anyway creates more of a problem than not doing it.

If your 5 year old is crying over homework they probably think classwork is too hard as well. Homework issues usually signal a classroom issue.

[Anonymous]

My DD had 30min. or less K homework, reading nightly, word study. I think there's a homework time rule in FCPS, like maybe 3rd grade or less it's 30min. max. homework per night and goes up to 60min. for higher elementary school. Not sure if there's rules for middle and H.S.