Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We moved here from a state where our school system didn't allow homework to be included in the calculation of grades, and in addition, nightly homework was discouraged (homework was to be used for review before a big test, etc). My kids were in that school system until this school year. They all got good grades. We moved here with 2 of them in high school and one in middle school.

When we moved here, the homework (we are in FCPS) stunned my kids. SO much homework! the high schoolers were expected to do about 3-4 hours nightly, the middle schooler about 2-3. Insanity.

I made a policy early in the year (October) with my kids: IF they could maintain As and Bs and not get any Cs, I didn't care if they did homework or not.

All three kids carefully calculated their classes all year long, calculating exactly how much homework was worth and ensuring they kept their grades up. Two of them didn't do a lick of homework, (they did large projects, I am talking about nightly homework). One of them did the homework for one class they were struggling to maintain a B in.

We successfully got through the school year with all of them maintaining the As and Bs we expect and the system worked fine.

A few times throughout the year, I did get emails (they were kind of automated emails, not personal ones) from teachers letting me know homework wasn't being done. I didn't act upon them, because I was well aware homework wasn't being done.

My kids had a great year, embedded themselves into new schools at a tough age to move, joined sports teams, were active and happy all year and maintained good grades.

I now have had a conversation with one teacher who dragged me through the mud for my family's policy on this. She basically told me it was disrespectful to the teachers. I am stunned, because in my house, in fact, education is a top priority. our feeling is that teaching our kids to manage their own schoolwork and teaching them to advocate for themselves, maintain expected grades, and be responsible is paramount. So I was blown away. My kid got an "A" in this teachers class, and overall I guess my question is if my kid could do that then any homework he skipped was obviously unnecessary, for him. Homework is supposed to be repetition of the classroom work in order to help the kids learn it, right? So if my kid has demonstrated that they don't need it, what is the problem?

My kid is so happy, well adjusted, plays sports and manages to juggle his school and extracurricular stuff on his own...Im just baffled at being told that I was demonstrating poor parenting.

Interested in your thoughts. I may change this policy up next year if I am off base here. But it kills me to pull my kids into the house every night for that much homework time, for zero benefit. They could be outside playing baseball. Plenty of time in life ahead of them to spend their entire days working.....

I never assign homework for practice, only for preparation for the next day's lesson (flipped classroom) so I would be troubled by a student ignoring this. However, if you feel your kids are only assigned busy work, challenge the benefit of the specific assignments.

UGH! Flipped classroom is the ultimate fail. Please do not do this to your students. It has proved to be a near disaster in my family. I will have my younger children avoid the teacher who does this in our school. My kid could have learned so much more and developed a thorough understanding of the topic had the teacher taught properly.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We moved here from a state where our school system didn't allow homework to be included in the calculation of grades, and in addition, nightly homework was discouraged (homework was to be used for review before a big test, etc). My kids were in that school system until this school year. They all got good grades. We moved here with 2 of them in high school and one in middle school.

When we moved here, the homework (we are in FCPS) stunned my kids. SO much homework! the high schoolers were expected to do about 3-4 hours nightly, the middle schooler about 2-3. Insanity.

I made a policy early in the year (October) with my kids: IF they could maintain As and Bs and not get any Cs, I didn't care if they did homework or not.

All three kids carefully calculated their classes all year long, calculating exactly how much homework was worth and ensuring they kept their grades up. Two of them didn't do a lick of homework, (they did large projects, I am talking about nightly homework). One of them did the homework for one class they were struggling to maintain a B in.

We successfully got through the school year with all of them maintaining the As and Bs we expect and the system worked fine.

A few times throughout the year, I did get emails (they were kind of automated emails, not personal ones) from teachers letting me know homework wasn't being done. I didn't act upon them, because I was well aware homework wasn't being done.

My kids had a great year, embedded themselves into new schools at a tough age to move, joined sports teams, were active and happy all year and maintained good grades.

I now have had a conversation with one teacher who dragged me through the mud for my family's policy on this. She basically told me it was disrespectful to the teachers. I am stunned, because in my house, in fact, education is a top priority. our feeling is that teaching our kids to manage their own schoolwork and teaching them to advocate for themselves, maintain expected grades, and be responsible is paramount. So I was blown away. My kid got an "A" in this teachers class, and overall I guess my question is if my kid could do that then any homework he skipped was obviously unnecessary, for him. Homework is supposed to be repetition of the classroom work in order to help the kids learn it, right? So if my kid has demonstrated that they don't need it, what is the problem?

My kid is so happy, well adjusted, plays sports and manages to juggle his school and extracurricular stuff on his own...Im just baffled at being told that I was demonstrating poor parenting.

Interested in your thoughts. I may change this policy up next year if I am off base here. But it kills me to pull my kids into the house every night for that much homework time, for zero benefit. They could be outside playing baseball. Plenty of time in life ahead of them to spend their entire days working.....

I never assign homework for practice, only for preparation for the next day's lesson (flipped classroom) so I would be troubled by a student ignoring this. However, if you feel your kids are only assigned busy work, challenge the benefit of the specific assignments.

Anonymous wrote:If it working for your family, keep on doing it.

Anonymous wrote:I'm an FCPS administrator, and I think it's a great family policy. Homework should never be calculated in the overall achievement grade. Either the child demonstrates understanding of the material or he doesn't. That's what the grade should be based on.

Anonymous wrote:OP again

Just to be clear on my comment above: what I mean by them taking responsibility for the consequences of not doing homework:

so homework generally is anywhere from 5-15 percent of their grade. My rule is if they can maintain a B while getting a zero on all of their homework, fine with me.

So they do suffer consequences of their decisions. Just wanted to be clear I am not making some kind of "i don't believe in homework" stance and asking the teachers not to hit their grade with zeros for every missing homework assignment.

For some kids perhaps mindless repettion IS important. For one of mine who was struggling in that one class, he DID need it (and so he did it)

But if the kid does not need it, whats the point? High school kids are young adults-they know the lesson about obeying authority and being respectful of authority already. This is about time management, prioritization, and making informed decisions.

It just feels right to me.

Anonymous wrote:Change schools. You need find to find one that matches your style. I totally get where you are coming from, but you are undermining their teachers and school. You are missing the bigger picture in teaching your kids respect and integrity.