How long does it take to check the homework in 6th grade? About 2-3 minutes. I installed Google classroom on my phone and I can take a look to just see if the homework is done correctly and submitted on time. That’s a much better way of knowing how the kid is doing in school because I actually see the samples he writes, and the mistakes he’s doing. If everything is good I won’t even bother him. Often the teaching from the class is very minimal so I have to make up for it.

It has nothing to do with affording tutors, it’s just being involved in your child’s life.

"helicopter" is the buzzword for people who can't do middle school math and won't admit it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My parents never ever knew if I had homework, so of course they never checked my homework.

Then in 11th grade I started hanging out with two girls whose parents were from Korea. I realized their parents not only checked their homework they had the teachers edition of the math textbook as well as other books. They turned in every single problem correctly. My grade in math got better when I started checking my homework against theirs and doing corrections. They also went to a tutoring program where the teacher previewed the upcoming lessons so it wasn’t the first time they saw the new math material. I also loved going to their house to study or do group projects. Their moms would make us tea and give us snacks. If we stayed up until 2 am finishing a project their moms stayed up as well (they both worked as well so it was a big sacrifice). If we needed supplies they ran to get us more tape, markers, science materials, etc.

I have now emulated that with my own kids. I check 100% of their homework and make them do corrections. I have teacher editions ti check the answers quickly. It really does pay off. My kids are in high school and junior high now and are doing great.

This is us too. This is how Indians teach their kids. when we came to America and realized they teach here without textbooks, tests, checking homework, standards, classroom discipline etc - we were panic stricken.

I was the one who posted about studying with friends whose parents are Korean. My family is Latino and kept deferring to the teachers. It is the same now with the teacher posting earlier not to check the homework. Latino families listen to the teachers and believe the teachers all know best. I was fortunate to realize there is another way, a better way. To be really involved in your kids education. My kids started Kumon at 4 and we were probably the only Latino family there that was there for enrichment not for remediating older students who were behind. I met so many Asian and Eastern European families who realize that relying on schools in the U.S. to exclusively educate your kids is a mistake.

I really learned so many study tips the last two years of high school by becoming really observant on what the best student did. There were a couple of students who were scary smart brilliant who just absorbed everything. I didn't get the sense their parents helped much. However, all the other top students seemed to have parents that were really involved and they were from Korea, Iran, and India (I went to high school in So. Cal.) There parents were not involved in PTA or other volunteer jobs but were so involved in their education. I have no idea back then how they got the teacher's manuals but once I was able to check all my math homework and correct the missed problems, I became a top math student. It is pointless to do five lengthy problems wrong. It is so much better to do the first one, figure out what you are doing wrong, and keep working at it until you get it right. Then you move on to the next problem. So now you have done 5 problems correctly compared to making mistakes and errors on the whole assignment. The teachers who say they want to see the homework uncorrected are ridiculous. There isn't time in class to correct homework and then work with that students who missed problems or who did the problems incorrectly. Teachers have to move on to the next lesson or the pacing will be off. So you end up getting behind trying to catch up.

Anonymous wrote:This thread is full of parents who are secretly embarrassed that they cannot solve MS level math problems, and so have resorted to mental gymnastics to convince themselves that not helping their kids with their homework is actually helping them. (As well as pretending to be doctors and lawyers to lend credence to their opinions.) Yet if these same parents were given vouchers for tutoring they would sign their kids up in a heartbeat.

You are conflating and confusing a lot of things in your attempt to make this point. I readily admit I do not remember MS math and because of that my checking their math homework is worthless. I also have no problem saying I am not going to re-learn MS math in order to check homework. Since my kids are not in ES anymore, I think this is the developmentally appropriate stage to land the helicopter on something like homework. I don’t check their history or language arts homework either, even though I am actually well equipped to do that. At this stage homework is their responsibility to do. I don’t know where the whole needing vouchers for tutors things came in, but rest assured, if my kid needed a tutor I could afford to pay for one. Although perhaps all these parents checking and correcting their MS kids’ homework can’t and that is why the helicopter is still up.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If parents show their children that they think homework doesn't matter, and that what the children are learning isn't important, children will learn tha school doesn't matter. It turns schooling into a farce.

My MS aged kids homework not mattering to me does not mean it isn’t required to matter to them. They are the ones in MS, there are repercussions if they don’t take it seriously. I already made it through MS, the joy of being an adult.

Is school just hazing that serves no productive purpose?

I can't comprehend this attitude that says, well, if my kids fail, they'll learn that they should have succeeded instead. Do you have a time machine in your house?

It’s more like my kids need to be responsible for their own success in school to a certain extent. These are MS aged kids we are talking about, not kindergarteners. If there is homework, they need to do it, and if they don’t there will be consequences for it at school. We talk all the time to the kids about the importance of doing well in school and the impact that doing well in school will have on their future. But at what point do you land the helicopter and let them figure things like homework out themselves?

+1 I never checked homework from 6th grade on, with the exception of Algebra 1 which took place online for my kid in 2020/2021 and was a disaster. They know they’re expected to do it and they know we’re here to ask questions if they need to. The rest is up to them.

Agreed. I have an 8th grader and have left his school responsibilities completely up to him. How else do they learn independence? And how do the teachers know if they are successfully teaching concepts if half the kids are being taught at home? I think both the content and the executive functioning skills of completing assignments on time, correctly submitting them, and studying for tests properly should be left to the student and teacher by middle school, barring issues like ADHD, etc. I like hearing about what he is learning and reading completed papers/projects, but I think it is essential that students learn independence and when they need to ask for help at this age. If my child asked for help with a particular concept, I would then either help myself, tell him to use advisory period to ask his teacher for help, or set up tutoring. But absolutely not reviewing or monitoring homework on a regular basis.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love checking my kid’s math. So much fun re-learning it!

The idea of re-learning MS math is the actual opposite of fun. I’m landing the helicopter kids, good luck out there!

If MS math isn't worth knowing, why are you sending them them to school to learn it?

As an adult with a successful career I can confidently say MS math was not worth knowing and in fact I had forgotten it by the time I thankfully got to stop taking math in HS. I do not control the MS curriculum, but I understand the benefits to exposing kids to all manner of things they may not use later on. None of that means I’m going to learn MS math again so that I can check my kids’ homework.

Translation: I make bank on onlyfans. What the heck is an exponent?

That is quite the show of mental gymnastics to equate not using MS math as an adult to making a living on onlyfans

Anonymous wrote:This thread is full of parents who are secretly embarrassed that they cannot solve MS level math problems, and so have resorted to mental gymnastics to convince themselves that not helping their kids with their homework is actually helping them. (As well as pretending to be doctors and lawyers to lend credence to their opinions.) Yet if these same parents were given vouchers for tutoring they would sign their kids up in a heartbeat.

Nope. I absolutely love middle school math. I would seriously do algebra problems for fun. I make myself available for questions, but otherwise don’t look at homework. If they don’t get something, they need to ask me or their teacher.

This thread is full of parents who are secretly embarrassed that they cannot solve MS level math problems, and so have resorted to mental gymnastics to convince themselves that not helping their kids with their homework is actually helping them. (As well as pretending to be doctors and lawyers to lend credence to their opinions.) Yet if these same parents were given vouchers for tutoring they would sign their kids up in a heartbeat.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love checking my kid’s math. So much fun re-learning it!

The idea of re-learning MS math is the actual opposite of fun. I’m landing the helicopter kids, good luck out there!

If MS math isn't worth knowing, why are you sending them them to school to learn it?

As an adult with a successful career I can confidently say MS math was not worth knowing and in fact I had forgotten it by the time I thankfully got to stop taking math in HS. I do not control the MS curriculum, but I understand the benefits to exposing kids to all manner of things they may not use later on. None of that means I’m going to learn MS math again so that I can check my kids’ homework.

Translation: I make bank on onlyfans. What the heck is an exponent?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If parents show their children that they think homework doesn't matter, and that what the children are learning isn't important, children will learn tha school doesn't matter. It turns schooling into a farce.

My MS aged kids homework not mattering to me does not mean it isn’t required to matter to them. They are the ones in MS, there are repercussions if they don’t take it seriously. I already made it through MS, the joy of being an adult.

Is school just hazing that serves no productive purpose?

I can't comprehend this attitude that says, well, if my kids fail, they'll learn that they should have succeeded instead. Do you have a time machine in your house?

It’s more like my kids need to be responsible for their own success in school to a certain extent. These are MS aged kids we are talking about, not kindergarteners. If there is homework, they need to do it, and if they don’t there will be consequences for it at school. We talk all the time to the kids about the importance of doing well in school and the impact that doing well in school will have on their future. But at what point do you land the helicopter and let them figure things like homework out themselves?

+1 I never checked homework from 6th grade on, with the exception of Algebra 1 which took place online for my kid in 2020/2021 and was a disaster. They know they’re expected to do it and they know we’re here to ask questions if they need to. The rest is up to them.