Anonymous wrote:No way. A lot of recent research is showing that homework doesn't really help kids learn, so now way am I going to add onto that by giving them MORE academic stuff to do. I want my kids to be well-rounded and happy -- giving them extra work just adds unneeded pressure that takes away from them doing stuff like playing, reading for enjoyment, etc.

Homework in the form of worksheets with no guidance is not helpful and what the studies cover. Sessions with a tutor are in a different category. That's why kids with tutors do much better on tests such as the SAT.

Anonymous wrote:No way. A lot of recent research is showing that homework doesn't really help kids learn, so now way am I going to add onto that by giving them MORE academic stuff to do. I want my kids to be well-rounded and happy -- giving them extra work just adds unneeded pressure that takes away from them doing stuff like playing, reading for enjoyment, etc.

I don't view what we do at home as "homework". I view it as teaching my kids about interesting things that they're not learning at school. There's certainly no pressure. It's just part of our routine.

Anonymous wrote:
I can't see them achieving any other way. It's a scramble and the homework is simply too much. I have to keep them on target. It's a struggle. We're in the same boat here. I was naturally gifted and found pleasure in learning. I would have embraced the rigor (lonely lonely childhood). I've always been self-driven. I worry about how to create this in my children. It's been very difficult. I supplement and try to make it fun. I figure confidence and being able to meet the targets will give them a strong start to elementary. The goal is to have them 1) be successful within their program, AND 2) give them a love of learning within the structure. They are provided the structure (the prep) that I sought out on my own. It still takes the same about of effort. For them, it's me supplying the extras. For me, I was the one to seek out and create extra work for myself.

I agree with other posters that whether you prep or not, it's how you perform in class that matters.

---Not AAP but immersion PK4 and dual 1st. I don't mean to intrude on this AAP thread, just wanted to share why we choose to supplement work (or prep) for our children.

The homework is too much at PK 4 and 1st grade? How much homework are they getting each night?

I am the kind of kid who liked to do workbooks as a child on my own time (mom was a teacher, and I asked her to buy me workbooks at the teaching store). Unless my own kids ask for workbooks, though, I have no intention of giving them any.

Only supplementation we've done at home: At some point, both of my kids have come home and said they were supposed to do a math sheet for homework but didn't know how to solve the problems. In BOTH cases, it was multiplying multi-digit numbers.... so in both cases, I watched the Khan Academy tutorial video on the concept with them. Then they totally got it. (I could rant about how FCPS has dropped the ball on math, but that would be its own thread.)

Anonymous wrote:

We've done no home supplementation except that we read and talk about interesting things and I'll point out math in everyday life. I've got two kids in AAP doing very well. A third will join next year. But I only realized last year how many parents prep for the tests and have their kids attend extracurricular academic programs. I am shocked and disheartened. But I won't do that unless my kid has a great love for something that he wants to learn formally outside of school. I wish those parents would just stop and let the schools formally teach. But the goal is to get ahead. I'm not sure to what end.

Why are you "shocked and disheartened?" Honestly, if parents want to supplement at home, or hire tutors, it doesn't bother me. If it works for their family, great. There are kids who get into AAP based on scores but aren't strong academically across the board. If the parents of those children want their kids to be in AAP and are willing to supplement outside school to keep their kid from getting behind or slowing down the class, how is that a bad thing? Your philosophy is let the schools formally teach. Maybe their philosophy is teaching, even academics, is a part of a parent's job. I'm ok with that. There are way too many parents in our society who think everything is the school's responsibility, which is why a really good school system like FCPS has many underperforming schools.

Never.

We do handwriting practice at home. We were surprised they don't do it at school any more.

No way. A lot of recent research is showing that homework doesn't really help kids learn, so now way am I going to add onto that by giving them MORE academic stuff to do. I want my kids to be well-rounded and happy -- giving them extra work just adds unneeded pressure that takes away from them doing stuff like playing, reading for enjoyment, etc.

I can't see them achieving any other way. It's a scramble and the homework is simply too much. I have to keep them on target. It's a struggle. We're in the same boat here. I was naturally gifted and found pleasure in learning. I would have embraced the rigor (lonely lonely childhood). I've always been self-driven. I worry about how to create this in my children. It's been very difficult. I supplement and try to make it fun. I figure confidence and being able to meet the targets will give them a strong start to elementary. The goal is to have them 1) be successful within their program, AND 2) give them a love of learning within the structure. They are provided the structure (the prep) that I sought out on my own. It still takes the same about of effort. For them, it's me supplying the extras. For me, I was the one to seek out and create extra work for myself.

I agree with other posters that whether you prep or not, it's how you perform in class that matters.

---Not AAP but immersion PK4 and dual 1st. I don't mean to intrude on this AAP thread, just wanted to share why we choose to supplement work (or prep) for our children.

Anonymous wrote:

We've done no home supplementation except that we read and talk about interesting things and I'll point out math in everyday life. I've got two kids in AAP doing very well. A third will join next year. But I only realized last year how many parents prep for the tests and have their kids attend extracurricular academic programs. I am shocked and disheartened. But I won't do that unless my kid has a great love for something that he wants to learn formally outside of school. I wish those parents would just stop and let the schools formally teach. But the goal is to get ahead. I'm not sure to what end.

I did not prep my kids, and have one in AAP (the other is too young, still.). If a kid is prepped, however and then "thrives" in the program, what's your beef about it? Doesn't bother me at all...

We've done no home supplementation except that we read and talk about interesting things and I'll point out math in everyday life. I've got two kids in AAP doing very well. A third will join next year. But I only realized last year how many parents prep for the tests and have their kids attend extracurricular academic programs. I am shocked and disheartened. But I won't do that unless my kid has a great love for something that he wants to learn formally outside of school. I wish those parents would just stop and let the schools formally teach. But the goal is to get ahead. I'm not sure to what end.

We do a fair amount of supplementing at home, but I don't know if it's really "academic". It's just stuff that's fun to teach them. Since this is the AAP forum, I certainly don't think it'll affect whether my kid gets into AAP (DC is only in 1st grade and the NNAT test results were not top-notch!).

I just have the kids do things that are fun for them -- online math programs, playing the Allowance Game, doing critical thinking exercises that I found online or from books from Critical Thinking Company, learning about maps, doing crafts and activities to learn about history, doing science experiments, etc. Ten Marks and Kahn Academy are good, free online resources I've looked into for the summer. I've noticed several children in my DC's class getting tutored when we're out and about (see them at the library, going into tutoring centers), which has surprised me.

I've done some patchy home supplementation, very little in general, and tried to keep it as practical as possible. For example, I wanted DC to have a good grasp of money (heh, I wish that were literal), so just emptied the contents of my wallet on the table and made him count. Sometimes I wish I've done more, but this is not because DC is behind but because everybody else seems to be so advanced. Now that DC will start AAP next year, I've found out that A LOT OF parents at our school have done systematic home tutoring, so that their kids routinely work ahead of the curriculum. Since I haven't done that, DC may well work out that if you have 20 apples and 4 kids, everyone gets 5, but then when asked to do division, will ask "what's division?". In short, at least in our Fcps school home tutoring is extremely common... which drives me nuts.

We have, but that is because our children needed it and the school was only willing to provide a portion.

I felt that adjusting to the chaos of elementary school was enough for my kid during the first couple of years, and have not given him worksheets unless there was a gap created at school (1st grade was pretty bad), and those were pulled from the textbook.

I am getting the impression from some parents though that they are spending a lot of time educating their DCs at home (not the tutoring center customers). I am interested in answers from parents who do not give computational worksheets repeatedly, but do teach their children content matter - would you have any advise on activities? We work on puzzles and some online reading comprehension quizzes for the books DC chooses to read (thankfully, he loves reading), but much of the educational workbooks in stores seem to be either boring or repetitive.