Why are parents now expected to help with all their kids' homework?

[Anonymous]

I am so damn irritated that managing and helping with my kids' homework has now become my 2nd full-time job.

When did it become acceptable to give kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade kids homework that they can not possibly do on their own?

Do they expect a 5 or 6 year old to read complicated instructions on their own?

How come I get a sheet or 2 every day with Parent marked at the top?

And middle school is now like what I experienced in high school? my 6th grader got 2 150 pg books on first day of school to read, and book reports are due Monday. They haven't yet taught typing, and she has limited experience. I guess Mom is also supposed to teach kids to type too. We already have the math tutor and learning center, because they don't teach that well enough in school.

Teachers need to lay off. or push back on Administration that there's no way in hell, kids can pass these ludicrous tests without full-time parent involvement from 4pm-9pm daily.

Teachers- would it be acceptable if when these parent sheets came home, if I simply write "I have a full-time job and 4 kids. I opt out of homework."

Seriously, my mom NEVER did homework or study with me, and I'm in Senior Management. What the hell is going on these days?!?

[Anonymous]

Global competition from kids who work harder than our's.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am so damn irritated that managing and helping with my kids' homework has now become my 2nd full-time job.

When did it become acceptable to give kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade kids homework that they can not possibly do on their own?

Do they expect a 5 or 6 year old to read complicated instructions on their own?

How come I get a sheet or 2 every day with Parent marked at the top?

And middle school is now like what I experienced in high school? my 6th grader got 2 150 pg books on first day of school to read, and book reports are due Monday. They haven't yet taught typing, and she has limited experience. I guess Mom is also supposed to teach kids to type too. We already have the math tutor and learning center, because they don't teach that well enough in school.

Teachers need to lay off. or push back on Administration that there's no way in hell, kids can pass these ludicrous tests without full-time parent involvement from 4pm-9pm daily.

Teachers- would it be acceptable if when these parent sheets came home, if I simply write "I have a full-time job and 4 kids. I opt out of homework."

Seriously, my mom NEVER did homework or study with me, and I'm in Senior Management. What the hell is going on these days?!?

I do something similar to this. Seriously. I just write that my child was not able to complete the assignment on their own.

My requirement is that my kids spent 5min per homework assignment per grade per night. So my 1st grader has to spend 5 min on math and reading. My 4th grader has to spend 20 min per night on an assignment. If my kids are able to complete do the homework, they usually will ignore the time limit and just complete it. But if they can't, then at least they've spent some time reading it or looking at it and trying to figure it out. If an assignment is going to take multiple days, like a large project, than the 20 min allows her to break it up into manageable chunks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Global competition from kids who work harder than our's.

Nope, I don't buy it. My kids' school day only has 1.5 hours of reading/English and math, the rest is fluff. 1st-3rd grade doesn't need music, art, science (not real science), and social studies EVERY DAY. If I have to do 1 more diorama, I'll scream. If they were teaching more reading, writing and math at an early age, we would be globally competitive. Math doesn't even use timed tests or drills anymore to learn math facts, so we do it for an 1-2 hours at home every night.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am so damn irritated that managing and helping with my kids' homework has now become my 2nd full-time job.

When did it become acceptable to give kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade kids homework that they can not possibly do on their own?

Do they expect a 5 or 6 year old to read complicated instructions on their own?

How come I get a sheet or 2 every day with Parent marked at the top?

And middle school is now like what I experienced in high school? my 6th grader got 2 150 pg books on first day of school to read, and book reports are due Monday. They haven't yet taught typing, and she has limited experience. I guess Mom is also supposed to teach kids to type too. We already have the math tutor and learning center, because they don't teach that well enough in school.

Teachers need to lay off. or push back on Administration that there's no way in hell, kids can pass these ludicrous tests without full-time parent involvement from 4pm-9pm daily.

Teachers- would it be acceptable if when these parent sheets came home, if I simply write "I have a full-time job and 4 kids. I opt out of homework."

Does this affect grades? Like if HW isnt done?
I am in MCPS and only have a K child but just wondering because i hate that the kids get homework too.

Seriously, my mom NEVER did homework or study with me, and I'm in Senior Management. What the hell is going on these days?!?

I do something similar to this. Seriously. I just write that my child was not able to complete the assignment on their own.

My requirement is that my kids spent 5min per homework assignment per grade per night. So my 1st grader has to spend 5 min on math and reading. My 4th grader has to spend 20 min per night on an assignment. If my kids are able to complete do the homework, they usually will ignore the time limit and just complete it. But if they can't, then at least they've spent some time reading it or looking at it and trying to figure it out. If an assignment is going to take multiple days, like a large project, than the 20 min allows her to break it up into manageable chunks.

[Anonymous]

Does not doing HW affect their grades in Elem school?
I only have a child in K but hate the whole HW thing.

[Anonymous]

By middle school, students coming from public and private schools in this area will have had at least one year of typing on a laptop (MCPS now has laptops for nearly every elementary grade).
Parents should really not have to help their child after elementary school, unless there are special needs involved.

However, I do agree with you that elementary schools require parental involvement. That's as it should be, except that the work requested has in my experience been completely stupid and boring. I work with my kids on advanced math, writing and reading that I select myself, not the mistake-riddled, poorly worded problems from MCPS.

[Anonymous]

I am a teacher and a mom of two. I teach high school and am also annoyed with the elementary homework that comes home. Last year I stopped helping my 2nd grader. Try what he can for a little while I was making dinner and that's it. If he didn't get to all of it or did it completely wrong we sent it back anyway. I never heard a thing. I believe homework is meaningless at such a young age.

[Anonymous]

I don't understand WHY a parent would not help and review the homework. Its part of parenting. If you don't want to help, then don't. That's pretty sad for your child that you cannot be involved with their education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a teacher and a mom of two. I teach high school and am also annoyed with the elementary homework that comes home. Last year I stopped helping my 2nd grader. Try what he can for a little while I was making dinner and that's it. If he didn't get to all of it or did it completely wrong we sent it back anyway. I never heard a thing. I believe homework is meaningless at such a young age.

If teachers did a better job at teaching and the school came up with a better curriculum, then homework might be meaningless. We find it helps teach what is being taught poorly at school and we supplement as the schools do not do enough with the foundation work, such as basic handwriting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Global competition from kids who work harder than our's.

There is no competition with the US. They have surpassed us and we are not willing to change and meet our kids needs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am so damn irritated that managing and helping with my kids' homework has now become my 2nd full-time job.

When did it become acceptable to give kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade kids homework that they can not possibly do on their own?

Do they expect a 5 or 6 year old to read complicated instructions on their own?

How come I get a sheet or 2 every day with Parent marked at the top?

And middle school is now like what I experienced in high school? my 6th grader got 2 150 pg books on first day of school to read, and book reports are due Monday. They haven't yet taught typing, and she has limited experience. I guess Mom is also supposed to teach kids to type too. We already have the math tutor and learning center, because they don't teach that well enough in school.

Teachers need to lay off. or push back on Administration that there's no way in hell, kids can pass these ludicrous tests without full-time parent involvement from 4pm-9pm daily.

Teachers- would it be acceptable if when these parent sheets came home, if I simply write "I have a full-time job and 4 kids. I opt out of homework."

Seriously, my mom NEVER did homework or study with me, and I'm in Senior Management. What the hell is going on these days?!?

If you are senior management, you have enough income to hire a tutor. If you choose to have 4 kids and work full-time, then you need to figure out how to meet those 4 kids needs. I don't get having multiple kids and complaining about how hard it is. What did you think you were getting into?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am so damn irritated that managing and helping with my kids' homework has now become my 2nd full-time job.

When did it become acceptable to give kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade kids homework that they can not possibly do on their own?

Do they expect a 5 or 6 year old to read complicated instructions on their own?

How come I get a sheet or 2 every day with Parent marked at the top?

And middle school is now like what I experienced in high school? my 6th grader got 2 150 pg books on first day of school to read, and book reports are due Monday. They haven't yet taught typing, and she has limited experience. I guess Mom is also supposed to teach kids to type too. We already have the math tutor and learning center, because they don't teach that well enough in school.

Teachers need to lay off. or push back on Administration that there's no way in hell, kids can pass these ludicrous tests without full-time parent involvement from 4pm-9pm daily.

Teachers- would it be acceptable if when these parent sheets came home, if I simply write "I have a full-time job and 4 kids. I opt out of homework."

Seriously, my mom NEVER did homework or study with me, and I'm in Senior Management. What the hell is going on these days?!?

I do something similar to this. Seriously. I just write that my child was not able to complete the assignment on their own.

My requirement is that my kids spent 5min per homework assignment per grade per night. So my 1st grader has to spend 5 min on math and reading. My 4th grader has to spend 20 min per night on an assignment. If my kids are able to complete do the homework, they usually will ignore the time limit and just complete it. But if they can't, then at least they've spent some time reading it or looking at it and trying to figure it out. If an assignment is going to take multiple days, like a large project, than the 20 min allows her to break it up into manageable chunks.

NP here. Thanks PP. I like this approach.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a teacher and a mom of two. I teach high school and am also annoyed with the elementary homework that comes home. Last year I stopped helping my 2nd grader. Try what he can for a little while I was making dinner and that's it. If he didn't get to all of it or did it completely wrong we sent it back anyway. I never heard a thing. I believe homework is meaningless at such a young age.

I do the same. I'm not doing anyone any favors by working with child to make sure the homework is correct when the teacher needs to know that in fact child didn't understand it well enough to do it independently.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand WHY a parent would not help and review the homework. Its part of parenting. If you don't want to help, then don't. That's pretty sad for your child that you cannot be involved with their education.

Homework should be a reinforcement of concepts learned in school. If it's reinforcement, then my child already knows the basic strategies of what's being asked of him or her. In which case, they are able to complete the assignment on their own and I'm happy to review it.

It's when my child says I don't understand this or We didn't do this in school yet that I get frustrated. Maybe my child is lying and they did cover the material in class. But over the years, she has demonstrated that when she can do the homework assignment, she will do it. If my child can't do the homework assignment, then it wasn't taught to my child in a way that she understands. If she doesn't understand it now, she won't understand it when it's time to demonstrate her understanding on the all important tests. By not doing her homework for her, we are telling the teacher that my child needs help in this area.