First grade teacher just said 20 minutes of reading a day either by the kid or parent. Same thing went for last year.

My first grader just has to read every night (20-30 minutes), and keep a reading log.

Yeah, I really don't understand homework for Kindergarteners besides having mom and dad read to them (or the kids read themselves if they can).

Schools get them essentially from 8am to 4pm (or later). Parents only have them for 2 to 3 hours before bedtime, when we want them to tell us stories about school and decompress and play and eat dinner, and then in the morning to eat and dress and get ready for school the next day.

It's a little crazy that you feel entitled to take our ever diminishing time from our kids when all educational studies show absolutely NO BENEFIT in giving homework to elementary age children under third grade besides being read to by parents. In fact in many cases homework was found to HARM young children because it negatively influenced their attitudes toward school.

So homework to a kindergartener of practicing writing and identifying letters? This is what school is for. Our kids already do this in class. Stop taking away our kids' time to be kids!

In K, DC has had a packet of homework each of the last two weeks. Surprisingly, DC has enjoyed it. Go with it, go with it...

Anonymous wrote:Why did you do that, PP? What was your rationale when the research shows there is no benefit to homework, certainly not in K. And kids in K need time to run around-- and to sleep! Far more important than homework.

This exactly. Other than reading, there should be no homework at this age.

Anonymous wrote:a week is provided to finish the packet. I don't think it will kill my kid, I just wonder if it's really a worthwhile endeavor, particularly from day one. And, curious if this approach is uniform or if it's a school by school thing. thanks for folks' contributions.

Almost all homework at this age, other than just reading for enjoyment, is a pointless endeavor. I figure they are doing this to convince parents that the school is academically strong.

I don't remember my teachers assigning homework on the first day of school even in high school and I attended an elite private. Why? This is elementary school.

Why did you do that, PP? What was your rationale when the research shows there is no benefit to homework, certainly not in K. And kids in K need time to run around-- and to sleep! Far more important than homework.

I use to teach K, and I assigned HW the first night. The first letter we worked on was 'Cc' and I had the students practice writing it at home (after going over it in class). Every night, they had either a writing exercise, math, or phonics (sometimes multiple sheets). Reading log was all the time.

Anonymous wrote:In many Asian countries, students have homework even before school starts (over the summer) to be submitted at the beginning of school. I'm sure a one-pager is not going to kill your child.

Here it exists as well and is called "summer work." Nonetheless I think issuing homework on the first day of school is highly inappropriate given that the research shows no benefits to homework in the younger grades (other than reading).

I think it's good to get kids into whatever the homework routine will be for the year ASAP instead of adding it later. Also, it's nice for kids to have something to work on, especially in households that might not have a lot of art supplies or books. Younger sibs often like having homework to do alongside the bigger kids in their families, anyway. If the homework is related to what the kids are learning in school, not a hugely daunting amount, and structured in a way where it doesn't all have to be done on a certain night (like the packets PP mentioned) it seems fine with me.

a week is provided to finish the packet. I don't think it will kill my kid, I just wonder if it's really a worthwhile endeavor, particularly from day one. And, curious if this approach is uniform or if it's a school by school thing. thanks for folks' contributions.

In many Asian countries, students have homework even before school starts (over the summer) to be submitted at the beginning of school. I'm sure a one-pager is not going to kill your child.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP what was the homework? I think its ridiculous

10-12 page worksheet packet, with a reminder to read every night.

Was the packet to be completed that night or by the end of the week? If it's the latter, I don't think this is egregious.

NP with a K student who gets a packet every Tuesday. It's due on the following Tuesday.

I wish we had this system. It allows you to manage your time and use the weekend when you have more of it. My kindergartener's homework was checked nightly, which made it difficult on busy nights.