Here you go posters who despise homework. Maybe this will spread to other districts:


http://foxbaltimore.com/news/local/grade-smarter-not-harder-baltimore-co-public-schools-revises-grading-system

Except for one or two projects, I haven't experienced this, and both my kids have now entered middle school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Homework sucks! They go to school for 7 hours. Isn't that enough to learn something. High school homework is ridiculous and my kids barely sleep.

kids in other countries work harder. Your kid will be competing with these kids for jobs.

But does that 'working harder' result in better outcomes? Work smarter, not harder. In some cases that looks identical, in others it does not.

I wish I could stay out of my children's academics, but school is now so much about collaboration and creativity and testing, that it seems the teachers don't have time for anything else. They're tasked with helping kids come up with new ideas all the time and meeting each child at their level, so they can never have the same curriculum for all of their children. They also have to keep re-teaching material with spiral curriculums, so subject content switches all the time before the students achieve any mastery. I like the emphasis on collaboration and creativity, but it seems like the change is leaving my child with a lot of holes in their education and a lot of unfinished work. Half the time the teacher doesn't even check the homework nor the classwork, so there's no way for them of knowing whether or not the child understands the assignments. We've gotten assignments returned back that aren't even started much less completed with no teacher comments and no requirement to finish them. I just can't stand by and watch when I'm seeing this stuff happen regularly. I don't blame the teachers. They have too much to teach with too little resources and too many kids.

Anonymous wrote:Homework sucks! They go to school for 7 hours. Isn't that enough to learn something. High school homework is ridiculous and my kids barely sleep.

kids in other countries work harder. Your kid will be competing with these kids for jobs.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My K child never had homework last year.

That said, I absolutely had homework as a kid in the DMV from 1st on up. By about mid first grade, your child should be able to read most of the instructions. That said, helping a child with homework is something you need to be prepared for from now until they graduate. This was always the norm around here, and I never knew anyone whose parents made excuses not to.

By about 9th grade the math curriculum will have surpassed my current math capabilities. I went to RM and took B/C Calc my senior year. That was some 25 years ago. I haven't used it since. No way will I be able to help my HS Senior with that homework. I also took AP Chem--couldn't calculate a mole today if my life depended on it. That thermal dynamics I learned in AP physics--nope, can't help you there either. I could read an english or history essay for substance and grammar though.

My parents did not help me with my homework in HS. If I didn't understand a concept, it was my responsibility to let the teacher know and schedule time to review the material with them. If that meant missing lunch, that's what I did or if I had to miss PE to sit through the class lecture again, then I did. But counting on mom and dad to explain those concepts was not an option.

This is interesting, if inadvertent, commentary on the usefulness (or lack thereof) of a lot of what we learned (or rather briefly memorized in many cases) in school.

NP. Once my kids are in later elementary school, that is something I directly teach them. Some of what you learn in school will be useful; some of it is only a hoop-jumping exercise that you need to do in order to get other benefits. Good grades don't only measure knowledge and don't always measure knowledge or learning effectively. And yes, some stuff in school is pointless, but good grades are the gateway to many things that will help build a desirable future.

It's up to them to decide what they need to do to get what they want. Some homework can (and in our cost/benefit calculations, should) be ignored but that doesn't exempt anyone from the consequences of not doing it or doing it poorly. There's always a cost that we have to be prepared to pay for every choice about how to use our time. In some cases, doing the homework is NOT worth it; in other cases skipping or hurrying the homework is the choice that would NOT be worth it.

In grades k-2 the kids do all of their homework with as much of my support as is needed, in order to 1) teach study habits, and 2) make sure they have a solid academic foundation. Even if the work itself is pointless, they need to learn that sometimes the world requires pointlessness in order to get useful or desired things. And in early elementary, most of the homework was either beneficial or fun. In 3rd, I start to help them prioritize and very occasionally this would mean an assignment is not done or not done with much effort. In 4th grade and beyond, I had/have nothing to do with homework unless asked as long as all progress report/report card grades are a B or better. With 3 kids older than 4th grade, so far this has meant most homework is at least attempted but some is poor quality or just ignored. In middle and high school, my older three have definitely prioritized some assignments over others based on the utility of the assignment to their learning and/or the impact on their grade.

My daughter had the notoriously bad music teacher (who makes about 90,000 as per Fairfax underground. She would have gladly done math during that time. My son got the uppity art teacher (who makes over 70,000. He too would have preferred math.

I'm all for the arts if you make it truly worthwhile. Otherwise, what a waste of taxpayer money to have Music 2x a week with an angry nut who hates the job.

Homework sucks! They go to school for 7 hours. Isn't that enough to learn something. High school homework is ridiculous and my kids barely sleep.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My K child never had homework last year.

That said, I absolutely had homework as a kid in the DMV from 1st on up. By about mid first grade, your child should be able to read most of the instructions. That said, helping a child with homework is something you need to be prepared for from now until they graduate. This was always the norm around here, and I never knew anyone whose parents made excuses not to.

By about 9th grade the math curriculum will have surpassed my current math capabilities. I went to RM and took B/C Calc my senior year. That was some 25 years ago. I haven't used it since. No way will I be able to help my HS Senior with that homework. I also took AP Chem--couldn't calculate a mole today if my life depended on it. That thermal dynamics I learned in AP physics--nope, can't help you there either. I could read an english or history essay for substance and grammar though.

My parents did not help me with my homework in HS. If I didn't understand a concept, it was my responsibility to let the teacher know and schedule time to review the material with them. If that meant missing lunch, that's what I did or if I had to miss PE to sit through the class lecture again, then I did. But counting on mom and dad to explain those concepts was not an option.

This is interesting, if inadvertent, commentary on the usefulness (or lack thereof) of a lot of what we learned (or rather briefly memorized in many cases) in school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here again. I help my kids for 2-3 hours each night (after a 10 hour workday). 1 hour would be acceptable.

We all do it and don't like it, but accept it. What if parents rallied together at school district meetings and said "this is unacceptable. Find a way to teach our kids better."

As several of you posted, they don't do drills anymore. They don't take time reviewing homework. They don't focus enough on the core skills- they fill the day with nonsense. Our school year is too short compared to the rest of the world (thanks teachers' unions) We have to supplement all summer long.

I'm a teacher and I have seen a lot of blame placed on unions before but this is new. I'm interested in how it is the fault of the unions that our school year isn't longer. To make it longer, they would need to pay to put a/c in all of the schools. Then they would need to come up with more money to pay teachers to work the additional days. Hmmm. Could it be that this is simply too expensive? Parents complain about paying for school supplies for goodness' sake. I doubt they would want their taxes hiked up a lot more for more instructional days.

This! I'm a journalist who covered education for years. The school year isn't longer because it would require an increase in taxes. Teachers would mostly support a longer year.
As a general rule, I agree that way too much homework is being assigned.
My kindergartner grandson received homework before his first full week of classes.

What's wrong with that? We got weekly homework in prek. It took 30-45 minutes per week and reinforced what was going on in school and let me see how my child was doing. 1st grade was maybe an hour, sometimes more weekly with a special project every so often. It starts good study habits.

WRONG. It can cause power struggles and discourage kids from enjoying school. Zero benefits.

We don't have power struggles. We have a set routine and it gets done. Maybe how you are approaching it and your attitude is the issue. We have a snack and sit down together and get it done.

PK & K students gain more by playing after school than by doing homework. There's plenty of time to develop good study habits when kids are older & homework is age-appropriate.

15 minutes of homework is no big deal. There is still play time, activity time, snack and dinner as well as bath/shower time. Why can't there be a balance of learning and play.

Because the homework is 100% unnecessary.

Yep. And even 15 minutes (which I am sure ends up being more like 30-45 minutes if you don't have the Model Child and you need to wrangle them to sit down) takes up a big chunk of the daily time I have with my child, as a working mom. With an 8:30 bedtime (which we might have to push even earlier when naps get dropped), that means I have around 2 hours to accomplish cooking dinner, PJs on, and bedtime stories. 30 minutes ends up being 25% of the evening time I have with my child M-F. Something's gotta give, so that's going to mean fewer bedtime stories, fewer conversations, fewer games, less time to coach DS to do chores, less time for me to cook a wholesome dinner so he develops good eating habits ... NO THANKS!

I let my kid do his homework. I review it when he is done. If something is wrong or is he doesn't understand it, we go over it together. I use homework as a way to learn what my kid understands, give him a chance to ask questions, and to help him develop a deeper understanding of things. Does he understand it fully or is he missing parts? A teacher may not catch that a child doesn't get part of a math concept when they have 24 or more kids to teach, until its too late. Why wait for the teacher? If I feel that my kid truly didn't understand a concept, I will send a note or email the teacher. IMO, grades may not convey the complete picture.

I don't mind looking on the internet about particular methods being taught in school. I often find better ways to convey the info to my kid and its helps me understand some of the new techniques as well.

I do mind the amount and variety of homework being assigned. K students having the same repetitive homework every night, except Friday is a bit much. I have re-written assignments to make them a little more engaging and turned in the re-written assignment with no problem.

I would never dream of cutting things like music, art, and PE just to stay competitive. Many kids would get these classes if they didn't have them during school and they are just as important as math and reading. Relegating them to after school activities means that way too many kids would miss out because they would like have to be paid for out of pocket, some parents wouldn't prioritize them over sports, and time constraints. Classes like these are great ways to enhance what's being taught in math or reading.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here again. I help my kids for 2-3 hours each night (after a 10 hour workday). 1 hour would be acceptable.

We all do it and don't like it, but accept it. What if parents rallied together at school district meetings and said "this is unacceptable. Find a way to teach our kids better."

As several of you posted, they don't do drills anymore. They don't take time reviewing homework. They don't focus enough on the core skills- they fill the day with nonsense. Our school year is too short compared to the rest of the world (thanks teachers' unions) We have to supplement all summer long.

I'm a teacher and I have seen a lot of blame placed on unions before but this is new. I'm interested in how it is the fault of the unions that our school year isn't longer. To make it longer, they would need to pay to put a/c in all of the schools. Then they would need to come up with more money to pay teachers to work the additional days. Hmmm. Could it be that this is simply too expensive? Parents complain about paying for school supplies for goodness' sake. I doubt they would want their taxes hiked up a lot more for more instructional days.

This! I'm a journalist who covered education for years. The school year isn't longer because it would require an increase in taxes. Teachers would mostly support a longer year.
As a general rule, I agree that way too much homework is being assigned.
My kindergartner grandson received homework before his first full week of classes.

What's wrong with that? We got weekly homework in prek. It took 30-45 minutes per week and reinforced what was going on in school and let me see how my child was doing. 1st grade was maybe an hour, sometimes more weekly with a special project every so often. It starts good study habits.

WRONG. It can cause power struggles and discourage kids from enjoying school. Zero benefits.

We don't have power struggles. We have a set routine and it gets done. Maybe how you are approaching it and your attitude is the issue. We have a snack and sit down together and get it done.

PK & K students gain more by playing after school than by doing homework. There's plenty of time to develop good study habits when kids are older & homework is age-appropriate.

15 minutes of homework is no big deal. There is still play time, activity time, snack and dinner as well as bath/shower time. Why can't there be a balance of learning and play.

Because the homework is 100% unnecessary.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here again. I help my kids for 2-3 hours each night (after a 10 hour workday). 1 hour would be acceptable.

We all do it and don't like it, but accept it. What if parents rallied together at school district meetings and said "this is unacceptable. Find a way to teach our kids better."

As several of you posted, they don't do drills anymore. They don't take time reviewing homework. They don't focus enough on the core skills- they fill the day with nonsense. Our school year is too short compared to the rest of the world (thanks teachers' unions) We have to supplement all summer long.

I'm a teacher and I have seen a lot of blame placed on unions before but this is new. I'm interested in how it is the fault of the unions that our school year isn't longer. To make it longer, they would need to pay to put a/c in all of the schools. Then they would need to come up with more money to pay teachers to work the additional days. Hmmm. Could it be that this is simply too expensive? Parents complain about paying for school supplies for goodness' sake. I doubt they would want their taxes hiked up a lot more for more instructional days.

This! I'm a journalist who covered education for years. The school year isn't longer because it would require an increase in taxes. Teachers would mostly support a longer year.
As a general rule, I agree that way too much homework is being assigned.
My kindergartner grandson received homework before his first full week of classes.

What's wrong with that? We got weekly homework in prek. It took 30-45 minutes per week and reinforced what was going on in school and let me see how my child was doing. 1st grade was maybe an hour, sometimes more weekly with a special project every so often. It starts good study habits.

WRONG. It can cause power struggles and discourage kids from enjoying school. Zero benefits.

We don't have power struggles. We have a set routine and it gets done. Maybe how you are approaching it and your attitude is the issue. We have a snack and sit down together and get it done.

PK & K students gain more by playing after school than by doing homework. There's plenty of time to develop good study habits when kids are older & homework is age-appropriate.

15 minutes of homework is no big deal. There is still play time, activity time, snack and dinner as well as bath/shower time. Why can't there be a balance of learning and play.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here again. I help my kids for 2-3 hours each night (after a 10 hour workday). 1 hour would be acceptable.

We all do it and don't like it, but accept it. What if parents rallied together at school district meetings and said "this is unacceptable. Find a way to teach our kids better."

As several of you posted, they don't do drills anymore. They don't take time reviewing homework. They don't focus enough on the core skills- they fill the day with nonsense. Our school year is too short compared to the rest of the world (thanks teachers' unions) We have to supplement all summer long.

I'm a teacher and I have seen a lot of blame placed on unions before but this is new. I'm interested in how it is the fault of the unions that our school year isn't longer. To make it longer, they would need to pay to put a/c in all of the schools. Then they would need to come up with more money to pay teachers to work the additional days. Hmmm. Could it be that this is simply too expensive? Parents complain about paying for school supplies for goodness' sake. I doubt they would want their taxes hiked up a lot more for more instructional days.

This! I'm a journalist who covered education for years. The school year isn't longer because it would require an increase in taxes. Teachers would mostly support a longer year.
As a general rule, I agree that way too much homework is being assigned.
My kindergartner grandson received homework before his first full week of classes.

What's wrong with that? We got weekly homework in prek. It took 30-45 minutes per week and reinforced what was going on in school and let me see how my child was doing. 1st grade was maybe an hour, sometimes more weekly with a special project every so often. It starts good study habits.

WRONG. It can cause power struggles and discourage kids from enjoying school. Zero benefits.

We don't have power struggles. We have a set routine and it gets done. Maybe how you are approaching it and your attitude is the issue. We have a snack and sit down together and get it done.

PK & K students gain more by playing after school than by doing homework. There's plenty of time to develop good study habits when kids are older & homework is age-appropriate.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here again. I help my kids for 2-3 hours each night (after a 10 hour workday). 1 hour would be acceptable.

We all do it and don't like it, but accept it. What if parents rallied together at school district meetings and said "this is unacceptable. Find a way to teach our kids better."

As several of you posted, they don't do drills anymore. They don't take time reviewing homework. They don't focus enough on the core skills- they fill the day with nonsense. Our school year is too short compared to the rest of the world (thanks teachers' unions) We have to supplement all summer long.

I'm a teacher and I have seen a lot of blame placed on unions before but this is new. I'm interested in how it is the fault of the unions that our school year isn't longer. To make it longer, they would need to pay to put a/c in all of the schools. Then they would need to come up with more money to pay teachers to work the additional days. Hmmm. Could it be that this is simply too expensive? Parents complain about paying for school supplies for goodness' sake. I doubt they would want their taxes hiked up a lot more for more instructional days.

This! I'm a journalist who covered education for years. The school year isn't longer because it would require an increase in taxes. Teachers would mostly support a longer year.
As a general rule, I agree that way too much homework is being assigned.
My kindergartner grandson received homework before his first full week of classes.

What's wrong with that? We got weekly homework in prek. It took 30-45 minutes per week and reinforced what was going on in school and let me see how my child was doing. 1st grade was maybe an hour, sometimes more weekly with a special project every so often. It starts good study habits.

WRONG. It can cause power struggles and discourage kids from enjoying school. Zero benefits.

We don't have power struggles. We have a set routine and it gets done. Maybe how you are approaching it and your attitude is the issue. We have a snack and sit down together and get it done.

Sounds like you're building terrible study habits.