3rd Grade, Nominal homework - Is this the norm?
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
|
My child is a current 3rd grader. Since Kinder, she has had nominal homework. By nominal, I mean 20 minutes of reading book of choice each night (reported on calendar), a rather simple math worksheet on T/Th, and DreamBox (computer program) on M/W. That's it. She had similar assignments for 2nd grade. 1st grade was only reading and a 1x week journal entry. The math seems pretty remedial and appears to be a repeat from 1st/2nd grade. I was initially very patient with the school thinking that at some point the workload and subject matter would start to get more weighted, but I've yet to see any changes. I'm incredibly frustrated. Is this the norm? My daughter loves school and says that it's fun, but I don't actually see that she's learning anything.
I sent an email to the teacher to see if the homework, or lack thereof, was normal. Her response: "The homework should be easy for students to complete, and serve as a chance to hone skills already learned. We want the kids to get the hang of having homework to do every night, but we want to be sure it doesn’t become frustrating or too time-consuming." While that sounds nice, I don't think that one math worksheet every other day is "honing skills". I've looked into supplemental math classes after school but ideally I'd like for the kid to learn something during the day, too. We're in FCPS. Move to new school or wait it out? |
Anonymous
| It's public school. What did you expect? |
Anonymous
| Kids don't need homework in lower grades. Your DD has good teachers. |
Anonymous
|
Seriously? You're considering moving simply based on the opinion that you think your 8 year old should have more homework???
Take a step back. Relax. Read: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2012/11/26/homework-an-unnecessary-evil-surprising-findings-from-new-research/?utm_term=.868bbec7fed8 |
Anonymous
|
We're considering moving school districts to go to a better school based on the four years of observation that we've spent in this one. As I mentioned above, it's not just the lack of homework for the past 4 years but what appears to be a lack of teaching any kind of valuable subject matter. We get weekly teacher updates, as I'm sure all parents do, and the material and subject matter has not changed since late 1st grade. The worksheets that come home are proof of that. Child complains that math is boring and the class appears to be at simple addition/subtraction from previous grades and rounding numbers. While I recognize that they're still young at this age, I would've hoped for signs of advancement. They play a lot of computer games, which in moderation is fine, but it seems to be in lieu of actual teaching. The no-homework model appears to reflect the lack of learning.
We've been at this school 4 years. I have two younger children so our thought is to move to a better school system, which we had hoped to do by high school. It appears that we'll be speeding that move up by a few years. And while I'd love to send my kids to private schools, the $30K per kid annually is not doable. |
Anonymous
| Normal we have 30 minutes reading and one math problem. We supplement. |
Anonymous
This is exactly what we get in MCPS. EXCEPT we don't get any teacher updates and have no idea what is going on. We get a worksheet back here and there but it is mostly kept secret in composition books. They aren't doing anything more in our MCPS. Lots of computer games. |
Anonymous
| I don’t feel hw is necessary at third grade. Most of their 6 hour 40 minute school day is structured. HW isn’t graded. If you are going to have 30 minutes of hw you may as well extend the day by 30 minutes instead. |
Anonymous
| Honestly, I think it's like that almost everywhere! |
Anonymous
| First, nominal means the optimal value. I suspect you mean minimal. |
Anonymous
| If you want more you need to supplement. My third-grader is in an after-school math class. They are capable of much more than they are being taught in public school. I’m frustrated like you are. |
Anonymous
Nominal also means existing in name only and is appropriate if OP means they call it homework but she doesn't really consider it HW. OP, obviously it's not just the homework you don't like, and yes, of course, it's appropriate to move if you don't like the schools where you live. |
Anonymous
| Our school gives way less than this for homework and no weekly updates. I blame the parents. They are the ones pushing the schools for no homework, more recess without any thought as to what would be taken out, project based and hands on learning without realizing how much longer that type of work takes and how planned out it needs to be for a large class, and no testing. It basically sends a message to the school system that the parents aren't that interested in kids learning and improving in the typical academic subject areas. These are the parents at our school and it becomes impossible to fight them and the administration. |
Anonymous
| Just supplement in subjects you find particularly important. If your kid isn't getting enough homework to suit your preferences for their education, create the homework you prefer to see them do. That's what we did with all of our kids. |
Anonymous
| If your daughter really finds it so easy, why isn't she in AAP? |