Can you ask that a child be exempt from homework?

[Anonymous]

As a teacher, there is not much to say if you are allowing your child not to complete homework. If there is an educational reason, different story, but that needs to be properly addressed.
As a fellow parent, I wonder why you are teaching your child that she can be "exempt" from her responsibilities.
I've been in education long enough to see the results of these parent driven "exemptions", so many kids that just don't see why they need to follow through and complete work.
Good luck to you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a teacher, there is not much to say if you are allowing your child not to complete homework. If there is an educational reason, different story, but that needs to be properly addressed.
As a fellow parent, I wonder why you are teaching your child that she can be "exempt" from her responsibilities.
I've been in education long enough to see the results of these parent driven "exemptions", so many kids that just don't see why they need to follow through and complete work.
Good luck to you.

Some responsibilities are not actually responsibilities. If one kid was misbehaving and the teacher lost her shit and assigned busy homework to the whole class as a punishment, I will not make my kid do that busy work if they already know the concepts. Sometimes people hold out hoops for you to jump through. You don't have to always jump. Sometimes you do, but not always.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would think most 4th grade teachers, when presented with all of that, would be just fine with your daughter not doing homework. Just talk to the teacher and let her know your plans and rationale.
And who cares if it effects her grades? It's 4th grade. She won't need to submit her elementary school grades on her Harvard application.
But if you really wanted to be "offiical" you could probably get it included in her 504 or IEP (I assume she has one or the other for ADHD - if not, that's the first step)

She doesn't have an IEP or 504, her grades are too good, but only because I work with her at home so much. It seems like a double-edged sword. She can only qualify for a 504 if her grades are bad, but if I work with her to make sure they're not, she doesn't qualify.

Her grades are elevated because of all the work you are doing at home. Besides, you can qualify for an IEP and get good grades. You need to show how her ADHD is impacting her ability to learn. I would also get her tested for dyslexia too.

[Anonymous]

Well said. Take it into your own hands and expect the teacher to appreciate your support. Align your plans with the teacher weekly maybe? Use the agenda? No sense in school issued homework being an issue. They can't grade it anyway. I do appreciate a good teacher. You're about to find out whether or not you have a good one.

[Anonymous]

School doesn't test for dyslexia per se. They will need some kind of educational impact to learning before they will test for anything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I do wonder about that.

The homework gets a lot harder to track in middle school. My ADHD kid is capable of doing the homework but has difficulty with all the administrative aspects of it like bringing the worksheet home and turning it in at the next class period. It gets lost in the bag, left in the locker, or just lost and have no idea where it is. In middle school, homework counts towards the grade.

I am going to ask at the next 504 meeting.

How about asking for the 504 to help her with those executive functioning skills (teacher writes the assignment in a daily organizer and then double checks your child's HW folder at beginning of class, for instance). Asking to be opted out rather than given accommodations to help her succeed feels like setting her up for failure in HS and beyond.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well said. Take it into your own hands and expect the teacher to appreciate your support. Align your plans with the teacher weekly maybe? Use the agenda? No sense in school issued homework being an issue. They can't grade it anyway. I do appreciate a good teacher. You're about to find out whether or not you have a good one.

It seems a lot of posters are missing the fact that the OP is not only talking about not doing homework/studying, but then doesn't want the poor spelling grade from lack of homework/studying to be used against her child.

[Anonymous]

You choose to spend the time. The teacher really doesn't have a sense of how your child does independently because you are constantly coaching her through it. That's fine, but it's also your choice. Back off. Let her struggle. If she passes, she passes, if she doesn't she doesn't. But she should be required to do the same work the others do in order to get the same credit.

[Anonymous]

I think some people are missing the gist of my question. Yes, I do suspect my daughter has some sort of LD, but that's really besides the point. I'm wondering if on the elementary level, parents can request for their child to not receive homework for whatever reason they choose.

[Anonymous]

I was with you about the no HW, but now you don't want the teacher to grade the tests for material that the HW reviewed! I think that's going too far and you should just homeschool. Otherwise, it seems like school is just babysitting and socialization in your opinion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think some people are missing the gist of my question. Yes, I do suspect my daughter has some sort of LD, but that's really besides the point. I'm wondering if on the elementary level, parents can request for their child to not receive homework for whatever reason they choose.

Uh...ask the school maybe?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think socially it's not a good idea, and my dd has ADHD. How would your dd feel to be sitting there during spelling tests or spelling practice when everyone else is doing one thing, and she's doing another. Unless you get pull outs, I don't think it's a good idea. I know my dd wouldn't like to be in that position at school. My dd is also in 4th grade, and this is the grade where the teachers are really emphasizing to the students to take responsibility for their own homework, and I am very proud in how my dd has stepped up in this regard. She even does quite a bit of her homework in afternoon SACC when she would never have done that last year.

They don't practice the spelling at school, and even if they did, I wouldn't mind her practicing them. She could even still take the spelling quiz along with the rest of the class, I just don't want the grade held against her[i][u].

This is the rub. You seem far more concerned about her grades than about her success in learning the material.
Please start working *with* the school instead of trying to do your own thing with her. And stop drilling her ad nauseum so that she still gets As.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think some people are missing the gist of my question. Yes, I do suspect my daughter has some sort of LD, but that's really besides the point. I'm wondering if on the elementary level, parents can request for their child to not receive homework for whatever reason they choose.

There is no law that you have to do homework. CPS won't get involved because your daughter doesn't do homework. So sure, you can just not have your daughter do homework. But that's a different question from asking the teacher to not grade her the same way other students are graded (which may or may not include homework credit, depending on your teacher and school)

[Anonymous]

My sympathies, OP.
When DS was in 4th grade, we were in a similar situation, except he already had an IEP, but no meds.
We medicated him in 5th grade, this year, and homework is no longer a problem. He understands the material even though it's presented imperfectly, and I don't have that urgency to home-school and educate him my way anymore...

Ask the teacher first, and present her with all the reasons outlined above. At some point, parents with special children have to advocate for them, and if it means ruffling a few feathers, well, what can you do? Your child comes first. It took me 5 years to realize this before I spoke up!

[Anonymous]

14:48 again - you did have her evaluated, right? A full neuropsych would be best, to get the big picture plus all details of her strengths and weaknesses. That might get you an IEP (it did for us) and all accompanying services at school.