Which schools in Fairfax County have homework in kindergarten?

[Anonymous]

Do any? Do all of them?
If you have a kindergartener, and they have homework, what is a typical homework assignment?

[Anonymous]

At out fcps school, the kindergarten homework was a calendar with suggested activities and 20 were do by the end of each month. But they were mostly fun stuff. Play with a friend, take a nature walk, read with your family. Write your name in different colors, that sort of thing. There was no pressure. Just do what you can handle. Reading daily is sort of a given.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At out fcps school, the kindergarten homework was a calendar with suggested activities and 20 were do by the end of each month. But they were mostly fun stuff. Play with a friend, take a nature walk, read with your family. Write your name in different colors, that sort of thing. There was no pressure. Just do what you can handle. Reading daily is sort of a given.

That's about the same for my school too. Many of the older classes don't even get a lot of homework. It's been cut back quite a bit recently.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At out fcps school, the kindergarten homework was a calendar with suggested activities and 20 were do by the end of each month. But they were mostly fun stuff. Play with a friend, take a nature walk, read with your family. Write your name in different colors, that sort of thing. There was no pressure. Just do what you can handle. Reading daily is sort of a given.

That's about the same for my school too. Many of the older classes don't even get a lot of homework. It's been cut back quite a bit recently.

Same for us in K, calendar and reading.

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

Our principal asked parents to read "rethinking homework" and adopted a no homework policy for k-6.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our principal asked parents to read "rethinking homework" and adopted a no homework policy for k-6.

We aren't supposed to grade work that's completed at home, so that's probably not a bad policy.

As an elementary school teacher I'd like to know which building this is. Is it within FCPS?

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

Our FCPS Kindergarten had a single worksheet a week, either a reading log with letter practice on the back or something else fairly simple. Occasionally we were asked to go out and observe nature or collect something to bring in.

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

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.

My DH and I were just talking about this yesterday. There is a teacher in my building who gives a lot of hw. If I was a parent I would give my child a reasonable amount of time to work on it. If it didn't get completed, no worry. I would just send it in with a note saying that's how much was completed in x amount of time.

[Anonymous]

We've never gotten any significant homework from FCPS. Just read for xx minutes or a couple worksheets. We've had to supplement the whole time.

[Anonymous]

We've never gotten any significant homework from FCPS. Just read for xx minutes or a couple worksheets. We've had to supplement the whole time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We've never gotten any significant homework from FCPS. Just read for xx minutes or a couple worksheets. We've had to supplement the whole time.

Why do you feel you need to supplement homework? I'm genuinely curious. I'm in the "less hw is better" camp.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We've never gotten any significant homework from FCPS. Just read for xx minutes or a couple worksheets. We've had to supplement the whole time.

Why do you feel you need to supplement homework? I'm genuinely curious. I'm in the "less hw is better" camp.

We believe in mastery of each level of knowledge. Practice makes perfect, that kind of thing.

School days are short and infrequent so outside school we try to balance their time and spend 2 hours on the brain (home work) 2 hours for exercise (hockey, baseball, etc) and 2 hours for fun & relaxation (whatever they want). Double each on the weekends, summer, and other days off. (it was half that in K since we wanted them to get 12 hours sleep) The schedule's not always perfect but it works pretty well for us. YMMV.