A Parenting & kids forum. ParentingBanter.com

If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Go Back   Home » ParentingBanter.com forum » misc.kids » General
Site Map Home Authors List Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read Web Partners

Homework for a 5 year old - how much involvement needed.



 
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #591  
Old November 21st 05, 02:34 AM posted to misc.kids
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Homework for a 5 year old - how much involvement needed.


wrote:
They do really require that homework be handed in. So about the best you can do
is to slough off on the assignment and turn in a poor product. But there are
two problem with that:

1. My son wanted to do a decent job. Letter grade or no.
2. Is this something I'd ever want to teach anyway??!? (Even skippin the
homework?)


I had an advisor in grad school who told me that the most important
thing to learn was what jobs should be done poorly. I've never been
sure what to make of that, but there's probably something there.


Any number of decent interpretations.

I don't think it's true that "anything worth doing is worth doing
well." In fact, it's probably the fear of not doing something perfectly
that prevents a lot of things from getting accomplished at all -- as
well as lack of hours in the day for getting to everything. Sometimes
"good enough" is, well, good enough. (i.e., better to get the family
photos into an album rather than shove them in a box until you have the
coordinating photo albums, scrapbooks, special scissors and adhesives,
special markers, stickers, and time to assemble each themed collection
with clever captions that accurately reflect the date, occasion and
identies of all pictured for each photo -- this is one of my own
hobgoblins.)

I also think it's possible that if you do something that no one else in
the family or office wants to do, and you do it extremely well, you
could be stuck doing it forever and ever.

Lori G.

  #593  
Old November 23rd 05, 01:09 AM posted to misc.kids
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Homework for a 5 year old - how much involvement needed.

Chookie writes:

Of course there is. If I'm measuring medication or my child, I will put
in some effort to get the amount right. But I don't measure the amount
of pepper I put in a stew. You make things as good as they need to be.
If homework is worth 5% of the final mark, you don't spend much time on
it -- if it's 80%, you do.


Fine, *if* the only purpose of doing the work is to get the marks. But with
school homework, IMO, it shouldn't be! The purpose should be to assist
learning, which is a good in itself. That means the student should put as
much effort into the work as is needed to accomplish the learning goals.
When I was at school, no homework counted in any way towards outside
assessment (it was before coursework components in public examinations). It
was still worth doing! At the university where I teach, students sometimes
complain that the time they spend doing coursework is out of proportion to
the credit - they spend less time on exam revision, but the exam is worth
more. That's fine. The purpose of the coursework is mostly to help them
absorb and master the material, and that mastery is then tested in the exam
(and in whatever they use the subject for in future).

I do agree with the general point that not everything has to be done well.
Is "if a job's worth doing, it's worth doing badly" a Flyladyism? Certainly
applies to housework if you ask me, and to many other things besides.

The crucial thing which I think everyone should learn as early as possible
is the habit of asking oneself, seriously, "why am I doing this?" If it's
just "to get marks" fine, but work out how to get enough as easily as
possbile. If it's "to help me understand X", know what X is and how it's
supposed to be helping, and ask yourself whether it is. If it's "so I don't
feel ashamed when visitors come" ask yourself whether the visitors will
look under the sofa :-)

Sidheag
DS Colin Oct 27 2003
 




Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Child Support Guidelines are UNFAIR! Lets join together to fight them! S Myers Child Support 115 September 12th 05 12:37 AM
misc.kids FAQ on Breastfeeding Past the First Year [email protected] Info and FAQ's 0 June 30th 05 05:28 AM
Private child welfare group making strides after one year wexwimpy Foster Parents 0 March 12th 05 11:48 PM
Time Article - What Teachers Hate about Parents (x-posted) Rosalie B. General 528 March 4th 05 03:46 AM
misc.kids FAQ on Breastfeeding Past the First Year [email protected] Info and FAQ's 0 July 29th 04 05:16 AM


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 06:04 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2024 ParentingBanter.com.
The comments are property of their posters.