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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OP are you talking independent Catholic? If not, I really don't think a Catholic school is better than MCPS, certainly in terms of rigor of work/curriculum.[/quote]

Teacher who just posted. My kid had nightly homework starting in kindergarten. Spelling tests each week, daily grammar and writing instruction, handwriting, midterms and finals starting in 3rd grade. He also wrote his own speeches and delivered them in yearly oratory contests each year. Yearly Ted talks with partners on current events too. He started reading novels in third grade. I think they read 2-3 each trimester. Summer reading was 3-5 books each summer plus essays on 1-3 of them.

His education was top notch and affordable. He was an atheist through most of his MS and HS years and his teachers encouraged him to participate in discussions in religion class. The brothers at his HS were happy to have engaged students like him.

I teach in public school and we aren’t allowed to give homework. Students don’t read books. They read passages and excerpts. It’s all to prepare them for MCAP testing. Very little grammar, writing, and spelling instruction. No public speaking, attendance doesn’t matter, etc. I could go on. It’s night and day. [/quote]

Homework isn't helpful or developmentally appropriate for early elementary kids (and can be actively harmful to the extent it crowds out things like free play, physical activity, and family time after school), but MCPS allows it anyway and most teachers give it, unfortunately. The idea of nightly homework for 5 year olds is frankly horrifying.  IMO any school that gives homework to little kids either a) doesn't understand what's actually appropriate and helpful for young children, or b) is pandering to parents who think that giving homework to little kids is a sign that the school is rigorous and challenging.  Neither one is a sign of good leadership at the school.[/quote]

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