Anonymous wrote:mine did. mcps sucks. how crazy.

IKR!? Our ski trip was so much more important than school!

mine did. mcps sucks. how crazy.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why wouldn’t they have hmwk over spring break?

It's called spring "break" for a reason.

My kid had about the same amount of homework over spring break that they would have had on a regular weekend. Plenty of time to do it and also have a weeklong break.

But it’s not a regular weekend, it’s supposed to be a break. Imagine if you took time off for work and your boss gave you two days of work saying there was plenty of time to do it and still get a weeklong break. Some families plan vacations months ahead of time. If their plane leaves the evening they get out of school and gets back the day before classes resume, then there may not be plenty of time to do it in-between without disrupting the entire family’s plans.

Do it on the plane on the way home.

Sure, they could do it on the way home (assuming it’s not a project that requires them to spread out art supplies), but they shouldn’t have to. It’s supposed to a BREAK. Similarly, you COULD take work along and do it on your vacation, but you shouldn’t have to. Breaks and vacations are not regular weekends. Schools assign plenty of homework during the regular calendar (which is most of the year), they should leave the breaks alone. Doing one additional weekend’s worth of homework isn’t going to significantly improve learning outcomes, but it will significantly impact a break.

And this, my friends, is what teachers have to deal with. You, Mom, have the choice of telling your child to get zeros. Or plan a trip that is a day shorter. Decide what you think is important: education or vacation. But don't tell me that you know better about whether those assignments were needed.

I think they’re both important. When school is in session, we prioritized school. When the kids are on vacation, that is the priority. While education is vital, so are outside experiences, which can include, but is not limited to, travel.

I’m not saying the work didn’t need to be done, I’m saying it didn’t need to be done on break. Hypothetically, if a child had to do 20 math problems over break, would they have learned less if they’d done 10 before and 10 after, or 24 for each day of the first week following break? Not to mention that MCPS takes most assignments lightly, checking them for completion rather than actually grading them.

I generally supported my kids doing work during the school year, even when it practically obliterated our family, with 2 exceptions - I refused to let my kids grow mold at home as I am allergic, and I refused to make my fluent, enthusiastic readers resent reading by requiring a daily minimum. I did occasionally modify assignments (for example, when my kindergartener said she needed to count the number of boxes, cylinders, etc. in the pantry, I limited her to one shelf rather than have her spend hours emptying my pantry, which would have required her to stand on a stepladder and reach blindly for breakable things over her head).

My kids excelled academically and became examples for MCPS to brag about. I actually did discourage them from doing summer homework in elementary, and would have supported them getting zeros on it in higher grades, but they did the summer assignments anyway.

And by the way, while they duly did their assigned homework, including projects like display boards about their aura, I taught them how to read, count, add/subtract, multiply, understand negative numbers, understand that you need a common denominator when working with fractions, do long division, do basic math without a calculator, hold a pencil, write in print and cursive, use a dictionary, know the parts of speech, know capitalization rules, know that a sentence needs both a subject (even if it’s the understood you) and a verb, use a textbook, work with significant digits, exposed them to more than the scraps of elementary science MCPS provided pre-2.0, and showed them the Bill of Rights when they were given a worksheet asking students to list the (some arbitrary number, I think it was 3 or 5) rights that Americans had. I also taught them that doing their homework upside-down on the back side of a torn piece of paper was unacceptable to me, even if the teacher allowed it.

I also taught them to be courteous and respectful of everyone, especially their teachers. My kids were generally well-behaved, but on the rare occasions a teacher informed me of an issue, I dealt with it immediately. When I had an issue to bring up, I did so respectfully. When a teacher requested more classroom supplies I always sent them in and when there was a request for volunteers, I’d sign up. If a teacher wanted help I did whatever I could to make their job easier. If they didn’t, I stayed out of their way. If it’s any comfort to you, I don’t think teachers have to deal with this level of respect and support from most of their students’ families.

Incidentally, we normally didn’t travel at all over Spring Break, but that’s irrelevant. That time doesn’t belong to the schools, it belongs to the families. Just as an employee shouldn’t be expected to work over their vacation, even if it would still leave the employee most of their vacation, students should have the chance to relax and de-stress without the burden of homework hanging over them.

Yes, DC was finishing it up today.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why wouldn’t they have hmwk over spring break?

It's called spring "break" for a reason.

My kid had about the same amount of homework over spring break that they would have had on a regular weekend. Plenty of time to do it and also have a weeklong break.

But it’s not a regular weekend, it’s supposed to be a break. Imagine if you took time off for work and your boss gave you two days of work saying there was plenty of time to do it and still get a weeklong break. Some families plan vacations months ahead of time. If their plane leaves the evening they get out of school and gets back the day before classes resume, then there may not be plenty of time to do it in-between without disrupting the entire family’s plans.

Do it on the plane on the way home.

Sure, they could do it on the way home (assuming it’s not a project that requires them to spread out art supplies), but they shouldn’t have to. It’s supposed to a BREAK. Similarly, you COULD take work along and do it on your vacation, but you shouldn’t have to. Breaks and vacations are not regular weekends. Schools assign plenty of homework during the regular calendar (which is most of the year), they should leave the breaks alone. Doing one additional weekend’s worth of homework isn’t going to significantly improve learning outcomes, but it will significantly impact a break.

And this, my friends, is what teachers have to deal with. You, Mom, have the choice of telling your child to get zeros. Or plan a trip that is a day shorter. Decide what you think is important: education or vacation. But don't tell me that you know better about whether those assignments were needed.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:it was a 10 day break! One of my HS aged kids had a lot of homework, the other had only a little. They have time to complete HW

Both kids requested to go away for a shorter period of time. We still went on vacation for 4 days and had time for family, friends, hanging out, and school/work responsibilities the other 6 days.

So if you take a 10 day vacation you’re fine working part of it?

When you factor in all the time your kids spend in class, doing homework on school nights and regular weekends, do you really think the homemade they did over break had more than a negligible effect on the amount they will have learned this year? It’s great that a 4 day trip and 6 days of hanging out worked well for your family. Other families may have different plans. Their plans should not be dependent on what works for your family.

The school sets the calendar. It doesn’t have to be 10 days. However, I think it’s a bit disingenuous to declare a 10 day break but then assign work to intrude on that time. If they feel that it is necessary to the educational process to do academic work during that time, then let them be honest and include it as part of the calendar. It would be a lot better for the MCPS to say that break is 9 or 9.5 days and then actually give families the full length of time for their break.

Moreover, as you yourself indicated, the amount of homework assigned over break can vary - one of yours had a lot, the other had only a little. I’ll never forget the time my high schooler told me that she’d looked at her schedule and decided she could probably take a whole day off to celebrate Christmas with the family, but that she’d have to work the rest of the break. There was also the time my 2nd grader came home with a very thick packet of test prep, a CD of lectures, and instructions to have their parents teach them multiplication - all to get ready for a test to determine if they would be ready for the test the following year to determine if the schools were doing a good job of educating the kids.

Education is important, but it is not the only thing important to a child. They also need time for family, friends, pursuing their own interests, wasting time, and being bored.

I value and respect school. My kids did their homework and studied however much was needed for exams. We didn’t pull our kids out of school for trips. For that matter, we rarely took trips, although we did do other things. We didn’t even pull them out for my BIL’s wedding, which my husband attended alone. But whether a family has every minute of their break pre-planned or has no specific plans doesn’t matter. As a break it should be up to the families how to spend the time. While I respect the school and make sure to honor the time required both in and out of class, I wish that the school would give equal respect to families and our time with the kids.

I don't know if I've ever had a 10 day break once having kids that wasn't during the summer. So yes, I would be okay with it during this time of year. It would be different if I worked in a service industry. I'm just saying that 10 days is enough time to do both.

Do you also complain about colleges and the college board having application deadlines and exams when they do?

I’m not sure what your comment about a 10 day break that wasn’t in the summer refers to. Are you saying that since the only vacation you get id in the summer that kids shouldn’t have more vacation than you? You said it would be different if you worked in a service industry, but I’m sure many MCPS parents work in service industries. I feel I’m missing something in this paragraph, but I’m not sure how to parse it.

No, I don’t complain about the application deadlines and exam schedules. Applying to college is voluntary and should be done in a student’s spare time (maybe over breaks if they have room around their homework). Moreover, deadlines are usually published well in advance so the students and their families can plan accordingly. Exam schedules are similarly known well in advance and can be planned for accordingly, as are assignment deadlines. If a student CHOOSES to work over their Thanksgiving or spring break, that is their responsibility and not the school’s. Moreover, since terms usually end before Christmas and summer breaks (there may be exceptions, but I’m not aware of any), students are given their summer and winter breaks free and clear.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is one of the problems I have with year round schooling.

During the shorter breaks, the kids always have homework. In elementary, it was very thick packets to prepare for standardized testing. In middle school and high school, it tended to be projects and studying for finals (which MCPS had done away with - but that’s a separate issue). They get homework over the summer (which is something I oppose - separate issue), but at least with the longer summer vacation they can do it and still get a break.

If they ever decide to go to year round schooling, kids won’t be getting actual breaks, they’ll just be working from home.

Lived in a year round school system. No homework over most breaks.

It’s great that your system didn’t give homework over breaks, but MCPS does. I’m not saying that year round schooling inevitably comes with homework over breaks. I’m saying that a school system that DOES give homework over breaks shouldn’t go to year round schooling.

It goes to show that you can't please everyone. Some parents feel there's too much homework whereas others believe there isn't enough and children aren't adequately prepared for college. Both can't be true.

First of all, you can give more homework during the school year and refrain from giving it over the break.

Personally, I think whether than focusing on the quantity it would be better to focus on the quality. Homework should be assigned with the goal of actually helping the kids learn.

Busywork given just for the sake of having homework is a waste of both the student’s and teacher’s time. (This also applies to daily required reading after a child has mastered the skill of reading. The only thing it accomplishes is causing the student to resent reading). Also, time-consuming art projects for classes that aren’t art are pointless. Making a parent go buy posterboard so that a child can cut out pictures from a magazine for their foreign language vocabulary does not seem to be an effective learning strategy, much less the occasion they needed a tri-fold display that matched their aura.

I think meaningful homework is important for learning, but a good first step would be to actually grade it rather than just checking it for completion and to actually mark all errors.

Secondly the post you responded to was about whether MCPS should consider year-round school when they give homework over their breaks. Your response seemed to be about overall homework levels and addressed neither homework on breaks nor year-round school.

This also really interferes with our European Spring vacation.
t

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:it was a 10 day break! One of my HS aged kids had a lot of homework, the other had only a little. They have time to complete HW

Both kids requested to go away for a shorter period of time. We still went on vacation for 4 days and had time for family, friends, hanging out, and school/work responsibilities the other 6 days.

So if you take a 10 day vacation you’re fine working part of it?

When you factor in all the time your kids spend in class, doing homework on school nights and regular weekends, do you really think the homemade they did over break had more than a negligible effect on the amount they will have learned this year? It’s great that a 4 day trip and 6 days of hanging out worked well for your family. Other families may have different plans. Their plans should not be dependent on what works for your family.

The school sets the calendar. It doesn’t have to be 10 days. However, I think it’s a bit disingenuous to declare a 10 day break but then assign work to intrude on that time. If they feel that it is necessary to the educational process to do academic work during that time, then let them be honest and include it as part of the calendar. It would be a lot better for the MCPS to say that break is 9 or 9.5 days and then actually give families the full length of time for their break.

Moreover, as you yourself indicated, the amount of homework assigned over break can vary - one of yours had a lot, the other had only a little. I’ll never forget the time my high schooler told me that she’d looked at her schedule and decided she could probably take a whole day off to celebrate Christmas with the family, but that she’d have to work the rest of the break. There was also the time my 2nd grader came home with a very thick packet of test prep, a CD of lectures, and instructions to have their parents teach them multiplication - all to get ready for a test to determine if they would be ready for the test the following year to determine if the schools were doing a good job of educating the kids.

Education is important, but it is not the only thing important to a child. They also need time for family, friends, pursuing their own interests, wasting time, and being bored.

I value and respect school. My kids did their homework and studied however much was needed for exams. We didn’t pull our kids out of school for trips. For that matter, we rarely took trips, although we did do other things. We didn’t even pull them out for my BIL’s wedding, which my husband attended alone. But whether a family has every minute of their break pre-planned or has no specific plans doesn’t matter. As a break it should be up to the families how to spend the time. While I respect the school and make sure to honor the time required both in and out of class, I wish that the school would give equal respect to families and our time with the kids.

I don't know if I've ever had a 10 day break once having kids that wasn't during the summer. So yes, I would be okay with it during this time of year. It would be different if I worked in a service industry. I'm just saying that 10 days is enough time to do both.

Do you also complain about colleges and the college board having application deadlines and exams when they do?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why wouldn’t they have hmwk over spring break?

It's called spring "break" for a reason.

My kid had about the same amount of homework over spring break that they would have had on a regular weekend. Plenty of time to do it and also have a weeklong break.

Ours also only mentioned it a day or two before the break, but it was listed on the canvas calendar for the entire quarter. It was easy enough to see it coming if you're into that kind of thing.

Lots of teachers don't list things in Canvas ahead of time. It's great that yours does, but don't assume that PP's teachers do. -NP.

Yup, parent with kid with 3 days worth of homework. Not listed on Canvas until right before the break. It's a good teacher but the class is just a lot of work.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:it was a 10 day break! One of my HS aged kids had a lot of homework, the other had only a little. They have time to complete HW

Both kids requested to go away for a shorter period of time. We still went on vacation for 4 days and had time for family, friends, hanging out, and school/work responsibilities the other 6 days.

So if you take a 10 day vacation you’re fine working part of it?

When you factor in all the time your kids spend in class, doing homework on school nights and regular weekends, do you really think the homemade they did over break had more than a negligible effect on the amount they will have learned this year? It’s great that a 4 day trip and 6 days of hanging out worked well for your family. Other families may have different plans. Their plans should not be dependent on what works for your family.

The school sets the calendar. It doesn’t have to be 10 days. However, I think it’s a bit disingenuous to declare a 10 day break but then assign work to intrude on that time. If they feel that it is necessary to the educational process to do academic work during that time, then let them be honest and include it as part of the calendar. It would be a lot better for the MCPS to say that break is 9 or 9.5 days and then actually give families the full length of time for their break.

Moreover, as you yourself indicated, the amount of homework assigned over break can vary - one of yours had a lot, the other had only a little. I’ll never forget the time my high schooler told me that she’d looked at her schedule and decided she could probably take a whole day off to celebrate Christmas with the family, but that she’d have to work the rest of the break. There was also the time my 2nd grader came home with a very thick packet of test prep, a CD of lectures, and instructions to have their parents teach them multiplication - all to get ready for a test to determine if they would be ready for the test the following year to determine if the schools were doing a good job of educating the kids.

Education is important, but it is not the only thing important to a child. They also need time for family, friends, pursuing their own interests, wasting time, and being bored.

I value and respect school. My kids did their homework and studied however much was needed for exams. We didn’t pull our kids out of school for trips. For that matter, we rarely took trips, although we did do other things. We didn’t even pull them out for my BIL’s wedding, which my husband attended alone. But whether a family has every minute of their break pre-planned or has no specific plans doesn’t matter. As a break it should be up to the families how to spend the time. While I respect the school and make sure to honor the time required both in and out of class, I wish that the school would give equal respect to families and our time with the kids.

I don't believe MCPS has in fact declared it a 10-day break. The break is technically Monday-Thursday, and Friday and the following Monday are holidays.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is one of the problems I have with year round schooling.

During the shorter breaks, the kids always have homework. In elementary, it was very thick packets to prepare for standardized testing. In middle school and high school, it tended to be projects and studying for finals (which MCPS had done away with - but that’s a separate issue). They get homework over the summer (which is something I oppose - separate issue), but at least with the longer summer vacation they can do it and still get a break.

If they ever decide to go to year round schooling, kids won’t be getting actual breaks, they’ll just be working from home.

Lived in a year round school system. No homework over most breaks.

It’s great that your system didn’t give homework over breaks, but MCPS does. I’m not saying that year round schooling inevitably comes with homework over breaks. I’m saying that a school system that DOES give homework over breaks shouldn’t go to year round schooling.

It goes to show that you can't please everyone. Some parents feel there's too much homework whereas others believe there isn't enough and children aren't adequately prepared for college. Both can't be true.

First of all, you can give more homework during the school year and refrain from giving it over the break.

Personally, I think whether than focusing on the quantity it would be better to focus on the quality. Homework should be assigned with the goal of actually helping the kids learn.

Busywork given just for the sake of having homework is a waste of both the student’s and teacher’s time. (This also applies to daily required reading after a child has mastered the skill of reading. The only thing it accomplishes is causing the student to resent reading). Also, time-consuming art projects for classes that aren’t art are pointless. Making a parent go buy posterboard so that a child can cut out pictures from a magazine for their foreign language vocabulary does not seem to be an effective learning strategy, much less the occasion they needed a tri-fold display that matched their aura.

I think meaningful homework is important for learning, but a good first step would be to actually grade it rather than just checking it for completion and to actually mark all errors.

Secondly the post you responded to was about whether MCPS should consider year-round school when they give homework over their breaks. Your response seemed to be about overall homework levels and addressed neither homework on breaks nor year-round school.

Anonymous wrote:it was a 10 day break! One of my HS aged kids had a lot of homework, the other had only a little. They have time to complete HW

Both kids requested to go away for a shorter period of time. We still went on vacation for 4 days and had time for family, friends, hanging out, and school/work responsibilities the other 6 days.

So if you take a 10 day vacation you’re fine working part of it?

When you factor in all the time your kids spend in class, doing homework on school nights and regular weekends, do you really think the homemade they did over break had more than a negligible effect on the amount they will have learned this year? It’s great that a 4 day trip and 6 days of hanging out worked well for your family. Other families may have different plans. Their plans should not be dependent on what works for your family.

The school sets the calendar. It doesn’t have to be 10 days. However, I think it’s a bit disingenuous to declare a 10 day break but then assign work to intrude on that time. If they feel that it is necessary to the educational process to do academic work during that time, then let them be honest and include it as part of the calendar. It would be a lot better for the MCPS to say that break is 9 or 9.5 days and then actually give families the full length of time for their break.

Moreover, as you yourself indicated, the amount of homework assigned over break can vary - one of yours had a lot, the other had only a little. I’ll never forget the time my high schooler told me that she’d looked at her schedule and decided she could probably take a whole day off to celebrate Christmas with the family, but that she’d have to work the rest of the break. There was also the time my 2nd grader came home with a very thick packet of test prep, a CD of lectures, and instructions to have their parents teach them multiplication - all to get ready for a test to determine if they would be ready for the test the following year to determine if the schools were doing a good job of educating the kids.

Education is important, but it is not the only thing important to a child. They also need time for family, friends, pursuing their own interests, wasting time, and being bored.

I value and respect school. My kids did their homework and studied however much was needed for exams. We didn’t pull our kids out of school for trips. For that matter, we rarely took trips, although we did do other things. We didn’t even pull them out for my BIL’s wedding, which my husband attended alone. But whether a family has every minute of their break pre-planned or has no specific plans doesn’t matter. As a break it should be up to the families how to spend the time. While I respect the school and make sure to honor the time required both in and out of class, I wish that the school would give equal respect to families and our time with the kids.