Homework in lower elementary school

[Anonymous]

3rd grader gets:

Expectation of reading 20min a day
Math worksheet to work on for the week
5 min practicing rote multiplication memorization

2 nights iready language/reading
2 nights of writing a sentence or two

I'm fine with this, I went to an elementary school that never assigned homework, then a middle/highschool that assigned a heck of lot of homework. It was a really hard shock and I still feel like better habits developed early would have made a long term difference for me throughout school.

I think a little bit of homework to develop good habits for later grades is fine.

[Anonymous]

Out EOTP elem gives a weekly HW packet in kindergarten. There is 1 reading/writing and 1 math worksheet a night Monday-Thursday. Things like write the letter of the week 10 times or cut and paste pictures that start with the letter worksheets. For math they are worksheets directly from eureka curriculum. I feel like it gives me great insight into some basic things they are learning and it helps me understand how my kid reacts to similar work. I’d rather do all of the pages over the weekend instead of each night during the week though.

[Anonymous]

Damn, my 1st grader has mandatory homework every night. We’re at a private, though. Math, phonics, reading comprehension, and spelling, plus we’re supposed to have them read aloud to us and also review a list of sight words. Every night.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:just wondering why the worksheets are bad? mine enjoys doing them and generally takes 10 minutes.

They are not bad for your child.

They are bad for the many children — and the families of children — who don’t enjoy them, because then it’s a struggle with no benefit. (Research says it doesn’t help learning.)

But is that because the worksheets are "bad" for these kids or is it because these children are struggling with something on the worksheet, which is what makes them unpleasant? So for instance, if a kid struggles with letters or numbers (maybe simply because they are still working on these concepts, which is fine, or because they might have an LD like dyslexia) doing a worksheet could be really not fun. But then that's useful information for a parent that they might not have gotten if a teacher had not sent home a worksheet. And you now have the opportunity to explore why this feels frustrating or why it's a struggle, and that's probably something that needs to happen if a kid is struggling to complete a worksheet with some basic concepts.

Also, for kids who DO like worksheets, they might not be learning directly from them, but I have observed that the process of successfully completing worksheets can feel really satisfying to them and encourage a love of learning. People always talk about worksheets like they are drudgery, but I've watched kids complete a phonics or math worksheet and get very excited, or ask for another. That doesn't seem like "no benefit" to me.

I completely agree with this. My first grader doesn't mind worksheets because they're easy and quick for her. And "new math" is so different that I feel like I need to see what AND HOW they're doing things to have any clue as to what's going on. It's all pretty straightforward at this stage, but I know that I'll be totally lost in a few years if I'm not familiar with the foundational techniques they're building now. And if she was struggling, I would want to see with what exactly so I could help. How else would you get that understanding if not through homework? Ours is optional and we skip it if we just run out of time, but at least it's there if we need it.

This is hilarious. So you are justifying homework in this age to know what math the child is learning? You mean the addition and subtraction and grouping that you can pick up in a few minutes by looking at examples?

Just ask the teacher for links or to send home some things they have done in class. That’s what our teachers do at our charter if parents want more details of what the child is learning. Absolutely no need to subject kids to daily busy worksheets that is inappropriate for that age.

If it takes your child more than 2 minutes to do a worksheet, that’s a different story. But for many of our kids, early elementary is very easy and the benchmarks are pretty mindless. Why bother the teacher and give them more to do when you can get daily updates in their backpack? If it’s that burdensome to your family, just don’t do it. Nobody’s forcing you to do it at this age.

We get weekly updates with links to see what the kids are doing. It is sent to all families in the grade, not class specific. It’s not burdensome for the teachers because the charter school is organized and have processes in place like this that is clear communication.

Of course parents can email or ask teachers more specific questions if they want.

That's different from watching your kid do a basic addition problem and seeing how they do it (or don't). Or watching them write out a sentence. A generic email sent to the entire grade will not capture what all kids are doing (there is always some differentiation because kids are progressing at different times) and importantly, it will not capture how your child is experiencing it.

And yes, you can ask teachers questions, of course, but it's also really useful to get firsthand exposure to what your kid is doing rather than having it filtered through the teacher.

I find it valuable to get direct exposure to what my kid is working on if for no other reason than it's honestly fun to see how she's progressing, especially on reading and writing.

I know how my kid does math or write by just giving them a problem and asking them to do it. If there’s a link then there is also examples of problems.

I don’t need worksheet homework every night to figure that out and neither do you.

I never said I wanted a worksheet homework every night. I said that I don't mind the optional worksheets my kid sometimes brings home because they give me insight into what they are working on at school and how she is approaching it. She'll often show me the process they've been taught at school for approaching a problem or a task, which I also find useful.

I have no idea why this is so upsetting for some of you. There's a huge difference between nightly mandatory worksheets (which I would not be on board with) and occasional optional worksheets. Worksheets are not inherently evil, and the difference between a 1st grade math worksheet and a 5th grade math problem set from a book is just a matter of degrees. Do you also think it's wrong to give 5th graders problem sets to do at home? Or do you make up your own problem sets for your child to do at that age as well?

The reason people care is that they (including me) hate when teachers give homework to all children because some parents *ask* for it under the mistaken belief that it builds skills (whether math or executive function). Just do whatever you want with your kid, but don’t advocate for homework for the class.

The same goes for you. Don't advocate no homework for the whole class because some parents don't want it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Damn, my 1st grader has mandatory homework every night. We’re at a private, though. Math, phonics, reading comprehension, and spelling, plus we’re supposed to have them read aloud to us and also review a list of sight words. Every night.

That is crazy. Let me guess that your kid is at some parochial or Catholic school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:just wondering why the worksheets are bad? mine enjoys doing them and generally takes 10 minutes.

They are not bad for your child.

They are bad for the many children — and the families of children — who don’t enjoy them, because then it’s a struggle with no benefit. (Research says it doesn’t help learning.)

But is that because the worksheets are "bad" for these kids or is it because these children are struggling with something on the worksheet, which is what makes them unpleasant? So for instance, if a kid struggles with letters or numbers (maybe simply because they are still working on these concepts, which is fine, or because they might have an LD like dyslexia) doing a worksheet could be really not fun. But then that's useful information for a parent that they might not have gotten if a teacher had not sent home a worksheet. And you now have the opportunity to explore why this feels frustrating or why it's a struggle, and that's probably something that needs to happen if a kid is struggling to complete a worksheet with some basic concepts.

Also, for kids who DO like worksheets, they might not be learning directly from them, but I have observed that the process of successfully completing worksheets can feel really satisfying to them and encourage a love of learning. People always talk about worksheets like they are drudgery, but I've watched kids complete a phonics or math worksheet and get very excited, or ask for another. That doesn't seem like "no benefit" to me.

I completely agree with this. My first grader doesn't mind worksheets because they're easy and quick for her. And "new math" is so different that I feel like I need to see what AND HOW they're doing things to have any clue as to what's going on. It's all pretty straightforward at this stage, but I know that I'll be totally lost in a few years if I'm not familiar with the foundational techniques they're building now. And if she was struggling, I would want to see with what exactly so I could help. How else would you get that understanding if not through homework? Ours is optional and we skip it if we just run out of time, but at least it's there if we need it.

This is hilarious. So you are justifying homework in this age to know what math the child is learning? You mean the addition and subtraction and grouping that you can pick up in a few minutes by looking at examples?

Just ask the teacher for links or to send home some things they have done in class. That’s what our teachers do at our charter if parents want more details of what the child is learning. Absolutely no need to subject kids to daily busy worksheets that is inappropriate for that age.

If it takes your child more than 2 minutes to do a worksheet, that’s a different story. But for many of our kids, early elementary is very easy and the benchmarks are pretty mindless. Why bother the teacher and give them more to do when you can get daily updates in their backpack? If it’s that burdensome to your family, just don’t do it. Nobody’s forcing you to do it at this age.

We get weekly updates with links to see what the kids are doing. It is sent to all families in the grade, not class specific. It’s not burdensome for the teachers because the charter school is organized and have processes in place like this that is clear communication.

Of course parents can email or ask teachers more specific questions if they want.

That's different from watching your kid do a basic addition problem and seeing how they do it (or don't). Or watching them write out a sentence. A generic email sent to the entire grade will not capture what all kids are doing (there is always some differentiation because kids are progressing at different times) and importantly, it will not capture how your child is experiencing it.

And yes, you can ask teachers questions, of course, but it's also really useful to get firsthand exposure to what your kid is doing rather than having it filtered through the teacher.

I find it valuable to get direct exposure to what my kid is working on if for no other reason than it's honestly fun to see how she's progressing, especially on reading and writing.

I know how my kid does math or write by just giving them a problem and asking them to do it. If there’s a link then there is also examples of problems.

I don’t need worksheet homework every night to figure that out and neither do you.

I never said I wanted a worksheet homework every night. I said that I don't mind the optional worksheets my kid sometimes brings home because they give me insight into what they are working on at school and how she is approaching it. She'll often show me the process they've been taught at school for approaching a problem or a task, which I also find useful.

I have no idea why this is so upsetting for some of you. There's a huge difference between nightly mandatory worksheets (which I would not be on board with) and occasional optional worksheets. Worksheets are not inherently evil, and the difference between a 1st grade math worksheet and a 5th grade math problem set from a book is just a matter of degrees. Do you also think it's wrong to give 5th graders problem sets to do at home? Or do you make up your own problem sets for your child to do at that age as well?

The reason people care is that they (including me) hate when teachers give homework to all children because some parents *ask* for it under the mistaken belief that it builds skills (whether math or executive function). Just do whatever you want with your kid, but don’t advocate for homework for the class.

The same goes for you. Don't advocate no homework for the whole class because some parents don't want it.

DP. Let me correct the above to say don’t advocate homework for the whole class just because some parents want it who don’t understand the research that it is not developmentally appropriate for young kids and have absolutely no proven benefits.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Damn, my 1st grader has mandatory homework every night. We’re at a private, though. Math, phonics, reading comprehension, and spelling, plus we’re supposed to have them read aloud to us and also review a list of sight words. Every night.

That is crazy. Let me guess that your kid is at some parochial or Catholic school.

Yup. Independent Catholic.

[Anonymous]

There should be a no penalty opt-out for homework in elementary school, if a child is performing at or above grade level. In that way all families have a say.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There should be a no penalty opt-out for homework in elementary school, if a child is performing at or above grade level. In that way all families have a say.

That would not work at all - making homework optional for some but not all. The majority just would not do it, especially the ones that do need it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There should be a no penalty opt-out for homework in elementary school, if a child is performing at or above grade level. In that way all families have a say.

That would not work at all - making homework optional for some but not all. The majority just would not do it, especially the ones that do need it.

When I was a kid, you needed to do math homework between quizzes if you'd scored below a certain score on the previous one; optional if you hadn't. It provided both a good incentive to study for quizzes and ensured that kids who needed more practice got it. I'm sure it would never fly in DC, but it absolutely makes sense as a concept.