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#11
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Homework over spring break (long)
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#12
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Homework over spring break (long)
"Beth Kevles" wrote in message
... My first reaction was that project homework over spring break is unreasonable for the 3rd grade. Even more, any project homework should allow a reasonable amount of time for a family to get to the library ... and DURING spring break doesn't count. I certainly agree. This is a blended-grade class (first through third), BTW, and I know that the second graders had to do a state report over break. I don't know if the first graders had homework or not. If I were you, I'd have explained all this to the teacher BEFORE you left for the break (in a note if necessary) and asked for an alternative assignment, questions to answer that would have required primary research (looking around, talking to people in Mexico) rather than library research. Then your daughter could have written up what she learned in a journal rather than having to spend time she didn't have answering library-type questions. I thought about doing this but chose not to. I don't know if that was a good decision, but that's the one I made. I didn't want to get in the teacher's face if there was any chance at all that my daughter could actually complete the homework. Before we left for our trip, our daughter was very gung-ho about trying to complete it. I thought that if she was motivated, I shouldn't be the one who was a wet blanket. We went to Mexico once over Thanksgiving week one year. Since The Kid missed some actual school days, she was required to keep a journal of her trip. I didn't think a journal would be a satisfactory replacement for the report, but I also couldn't quickly figure out what *would* be, and we didn't have much time to get in contact with the teacher. But that's split milk, so send in a note with your daughter along with her (incomplete) assignment tomorrow, explaining what she DID accomplish, that she used the only library she had available. Actually, there was no library there, just one tiny bookstore that had some used books written in English. Your point fits either way, though. (Was she able to ask any of these questions to local residents? DId you or she try, by the way?) It didn't occur to me to do so. That would have been a great idea. Explain in the note that she's willing to complete the work next week (or whenever you can get to the library), but that you'd prefer if she could write up an account of her trip to the actual country, perhaps using some teacher-provided questions that are relevant to her experience. My daughter worked very hard last night and this morning and is very close to finishing the fact-finding portion of her report. I did write a letter to the teacher, explaining the situation and requesting a few more days' time. Our school, thank goodness, doesn't give our homework over weekends or holidays, and projects are given at least 3 weeks for completion so that families can get to libraries. I wish our school did that. Thanks for writing! beeswing |
#13
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Homework over spring break (long)
In article ,
dragonlady wrote: I'm on a committee that inadvertently scheduled a meeting for the first night of Passover. We DO know better -- at least one of the people who was in the room when we did the scheduling was Jewish -- somehow we just missed it. (We rescheduled it once we DID figure it out -- and I like to think that I'd have somehow caught the mistake eventually, myself, though I don't celebrate Passover -- but someone did have to draw our attention to our goof.) This is made more challenging by the fact that the holidays move around on the secular calendar. It's quite easy for even most Jews to miss the fact that a certain secular date is going to wind up conflicting with a major holiday more than a few weeks before the date. --Robyn |
#14
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Homework over spring break (long)
"beeswing" wrote in message ... that since we won't have this teacher in the future. If you were in my shoes, would you push it, anyway? Yes, if I had the energy and time I would push it. You said that this is a known pattern with this teacher. It is time administration knew the pattern and addressed it with her for the children coming behind yours. Someone raised a good point, upthread, about school breaks being designed to give kids a break from school, not spending it doing major projects. This teacher needs to change her pattern and allow kids to have that break and the parents of the incoming students don't need rude awakenings when she assigns things during their vacation, stressing everyone out. Just my two cents. -Aula |
#15
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Homework over spring break (long)
My husband caught our daughter's teacher on the phone this morning just as The
Kid was about to hand her my note. Apparently the teacher had had no expectation of The Kid turning her report on time, given the fact that we were going to be out of the country, but she'd never said as much. I don't know whether to be relieved or angry. While it was good for our daughter to have the push to get the work done reasonably promptly, the stress the false deadline had on all of us really wasn't necessary. And I want my vacation back. beeswing beeswing |
#16
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Homework over spring break (long)
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#17
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Homework over spring break (long)
I wrote:
Apparently the teacher had had no expectation of The Kid turning her report on time I, of course, meant "turning in her report on time." beeswing |
#18
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Homework over spring break (long)
In my opinion, YES, you should push the issue with your daughter's teacher. It's not appropriate for children to have to do project homework over a vacation period. It is appropriate for kids to make up missed work or to do enrichment if they're falling behind in some area, but even that shouldn't be so much as to overwhelm family time. One of my kids was asked to do some handwriting practice and some math facts practice over the break. It was listed as *optional*. My other child took the chance to catch up on some work missed due to illness and is now caught up with the rest of the class. I've noticed that, on breaks of any length with no schoolwork, my kids grow intellectually. One child (age 8) LOVES to read and write, and spends his breaks writing novels. (He's up to 4 pages now ...) My other child (age 6) runs, jumps, plays, and then spends evening time reading to himself ... something he NEVER has the energy to do on school days, and rarely on weekends. School does somtimes interfere with life ... :-) --Beth Kevles http://web.mit.edu/kevles/www/nomilk.html -- a page for the milk-allergic Disclaimer: Nothing in this message should be construed as medical advice. Please consult with your own medical practicioner. NOTE: No email is read at my MIT address. Use the AOL one if you would like me to reply. |
#19
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Homework over spring break (long)
"Robyn Kozierok" wrote in message ... In article , dragonlady wrote: I'm on a committee that inadvertently scheduled a meeting for the first night of Passover. We DO know better -- at least one of the people who was in the room when we did the scheduling was Jewish -- somehow we just missed it. (We rescheduled it once we DID figure it out -- and I like to think that I'd have somehow caught the mistake eventually, myself, though I don't celebrate Passover -- but someone did have to draw our attention to our goof.) This is made more challenging by the fact that the holidays move around on the secular calendar. It's quite easy for even most Jews to miss the fact that a certain secular date is going to wind up conflicting with a major holiday more than a few weeks before the date. Not any observant Jew that I know. Jewish people own Jewish calendars for this exact purpose. Schools with Jewish students consult these calendars. They're free at Funeral Homes nationwide...they're all over the internet, and they are sold in bookstores the world over. I can certainly understand a non-Jew scheduling a meeting without checking a Jewish calendar, but a Jewish person suggesting a business meeting during a holiday time (say Sept/Oct or March/April) without checking a calendar is just asking for trouble. And FWIW, most secular calendars have the major Jewish holidays like Passover, Rosh Hashonah and Yom Kippur on them as well. It's VERY hard to actually claim to have missed Passover. After all, we didn't miss Ash Wednesday, Maudy Thursday, or Good Friday.... they're all on my secular calendar, even if I have no clue of what Maudy Thursday is (something with washing feet?). Marjorie |
#20
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Homework over spring break (long)
In article ,
"animzmirot" wrote: "Robyn Kozierok" wrote in message ... In article , dragonlady wrote: I'm on a committee that inadvertently scheduled a meeting for the first night of Passover. We DO know better -- at least one of the people who was in the room when we did the scheduling was Jewish -- somehow we just missed it. (We rescheduled it once we DID figure it out -- and I like to think that I'd have somehow caught the mistake eventually, myself, though I don't celebrate Passover -- but someone did have to draw our attention to our goof.) This is made more challenging by the fact that the holidays move around on the secular calendar. It's quite easy for even most Jews to miss the fact that a certain secular date is going to wind up conflicting with a major holiday more than a few weeks before the date. Not any observant Jew that I know. Jewish people own Jewish calendars for this exact purpose. Schools with Jewish students consult these calendars. They're free at Funeral Homes nationwide...they're all over the internet, and they are sold in bookstores the world over. I can certainly understand a non-Jew scheduling a meeting without checking a Jewish calendar, but a Jewish person suggesting a business meeting during a holiday time (say Sept/Oct or March/April) without checking a calendar is just asking for trouble. And FWIW, most secular calendars have the major Jewish holidays like Passover, Rosh Hashonah and Yom Kippur on them as well. It's VERY hard to actually claim to have missed Passover. After all, we didn't miss Ash Wednesday, Maudy Thursday, or Good Friday.... they're all on my secular calendar, even if I have no clue of what Maudy Thursday is (something with washing feet?). Marjorie Yes, we obviously all screwed up, including the folks at the meeting who celebrate Passover. Don't quite know how it happened -- maybe we were all just looking at the calendar wrong, or thinking that since we normally met on the first Monday of the month, we'd meet then again. This particular group would be more likely to go ahead and schedule things for Ash Wednesday or Good Friday (and I doubt very many have a CLUE about Maundy Thursday -- it is traditionally when (some) Christian churches recreate the ritual of Jesus washing his disciple's feet at the Last Supper by having the church leadership wash parishoner's feet). My point is that to attribute it to anything other than an unthinking error without first spending some time to find out what happened seems short sighted, and almost as though one is looking for a reason to be offended. meh -- Children won't care how much you know until they know how much you care |
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