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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Why wouldn’t they have hmwk over spring break?[/quote]
It's called spring "break" for a reason.[/quote]

My kid had about the same amount of homework over spring break that they would have had on a regular weekend. Plenty of time to do it and also have a weeklong break.[/quote]

But it’s not a regular weekend, it’s supposed to be a break.  Imagine if you took time off for work and your boss gave you two days of work saying there was plenty of time to do it and still get a weeklong break.  Some families plan vacations months ahead of time.  If their plane leaves the evening they get out of school and gets back the day before classes resume, then there may not be plenty of time to do it in-between without disrupting the entire family’s plans. [/quote]

Do it on the plane on the way home.[/quote]

Sure, they could do it on the way home (assuming it’s not a project that requires them to spread out art supplies), but they shouldn’t have to.  It’s supposed to a BREAK.  Similarly, you COULD take work along and do it on your vacation, but you shouldn’t have to.  Breaks and vacations are not regular weekends.  Schools assign plenty of homework during the regular calendar (which is most of the year), they should leave the breaks alone.  Doing one additional weekend’s worth of homework isn’t going to significantly improve learning outcomes, but it will significantly impact a break. [/quote]

And this, my friends, is what teachers have to deal with.  You, Mom, have the choice of telling your child to get zeros.  Or plan a trip that is a day shorter.  Decide what you think is important: education or vacation.  But don't tell me that you know better about whether those assignments were needed.[/quote]

I think they’re both important.  When school is in session, we prioritized school.  When the kids are on vacation, that is the priority.  While education is vital, so are outside experiences, which can include, but is not limited to, travel.

I’m not saying the work didn’t need to be done, I’m saying it didn’t need to be done on break.  Hypothetically, if a child had to do 20 math problems over break, would they have learned less if they’d done 10 before and 10 after, or 24 for each day of the first week following break?  Not to mention that MCPS takes most assignments lightly, checking them for completion rather than actually grading them.

I generally supported my kids doing work during the school year, even when it practically obliterated our family, with 2 exceptions - I refused to let my kids grow mold at home as I am allergic, and I refused to make my fluent, enthusiastic readers resent reading by requiring a daily minimum.  I did occasionally modify assignments (for example, when my kindergartener said she needed to count the number of boxes, cylinders, etc. in the pantry, I limited her to one shelf rather than have her spend hours emptying my pantry, which would have required her to stand on a stepladder and reach blindly for breakable things over her head).

My kids excelled academically and became examples for MCPS to brag about.  I actually did discourage them from doing summer homework in elementary, and would have supported them getting zeros on it in higher grades, but they did the summer assignments anyway.

And by the way, while they duly did their assigned homework, including projects like display boards about their aura, I taught them how to read, count, add/subtract, multiply, understand negative numbers, understand that you need a common denominator when working with fractions, do long division, do basic math without a calculator, hold a pencil, write in print and cursive, use a dictionary, know the parts of speech, know capitalization rules, know that a sentence needs both a subject (even if it’s the understood you) and a verb, use a textbook, work with significant digits, exposed them to more than the scraps of elementary science MCPS provided pre-2.0, and showed them the Bill of Rights when they were given a worksheet asking students to list the (some arbitrary number, I think it was 3 or 5) rights that Americans had.  I also taught them that doing their homework upside-down on the back side of a torn piece of paper was unacceptable to me, even if the teacher allowed it.

I also taught them to be courteous and respectful of everyone, especially their teachers.  My kids were generally well-behaved, but on the rare occasions a teacher informed me of an issue, I dealt with it immediately.  When I had an issue to bring up, I did so respectfully. When a teacher requested more classroom supplies I always sent them in and when there was a request for volunteers, I’d sign up.  If a teacher wanted help I did whatever I could to make their job easier. If they didn’t, I stayed out of their way.  If it’s any comfort to you, I don’t think teachers have to deal with this level of respect and support from most of their students’ families.

Incidentally, we normally didn’t travel at all over Spring Break, but that’s irrelevant. That time doesn’t belong to the schools, it belongs to the families.  Just as an employee shouldn’t be expected to work over their vacation, even if it would still leave the employee most of their vacation, students should have the chance to relax and de-stress without the burden of homework hanging over them. [/quote]

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