first day of kindergarten and homework!

In article ,
enigma wrote:

this is another reason why my kid is not ever going to public
school...
kindergarteners should not have any homework. zero. zip.

Because there are lots of private schools out there with no-homework policies,
right? Riiiiight.

--
Chookie -- Sydney, Australia
(Replace "foulspambegone" with "optushome" to reply)

"Parenthood is like the modern stone washing process for denim jeans. You may
start out crisp, neat and tough, but you end up pale, limp and wrinkled."
Kerry Cue

Where I live, most of the public schools start homework in kindergarten
(although not as excessively as the OP's school). By grade 3 there's
lots of daily homework. The private schools around here, by contrast,
usually don't start regular homework until grade 2 or 3.

--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.

Chookie wrote in

:
In article ,
enigma wrote:

this is another reason why my kid is not ever going to
public
school...
kindergarteners should not have any homework. zero. zip.

Because there are lots of private schools out there with
no-homework policies, right? Riiiiight.

ok, so Boo skipped kindergarten & is going from preschool to
first grade, but in his school there is no kindy homework.
in lower elementary he will have spelling homework (handed out
on Mon for Fri), possibly some maths if he doesn't finish during
class (which i don't think will happen because he loves maths &
is already doing multiplication & fractions. he has already
completed the first 3 workbooks that first grade uses). i expect
we'll be expected to read to him, although he does read by
himself with assistance already.
his school day is 8:30am to 3pm, & by 3 he really is way too
tired to do anything more in the way of schoolwork. a "10 minute
assignment" would take him over an hour by that point & i have
other, & better IMO, ways to use up his time between getting
home at 3:45 and bed at 7:30pm. i would far rather have him
working with his chickens, helping in the garden or even out
playing, than sitting around pushing a pencil.
seriously, i have no respect for teachers that either can't
teach what needs to be learned in a 7 hour day, or send home
'busywork' because parents expect junior to have homework.
i have no other experience with other private schools because i
would not send him to a religion based school, so that leaves
precious little choice. either he goes to Montessori, or he gets
homeschooled. shrug either way he isn't getting saddled with a
lot of homework. FWIW, i went to public schools & didn't have
homework either until 4th or 5th grade, and i finished that on
the bus ride home. i had better things to do than homework, too
(plus my attitude toward teachers wasn't very good by that point
either. i already knew i was smarter than they were i *am*
trying not to let that happen to Boo)
lee
--
Question with boldness even the existence of god; because if
there be
one, he must more approve the homage of reason than that of
blindfolded
fear. - Thomas Jefferson

Beth Kevles wrote:
Where I live, most of the public schools start homework in kindergarten
(although not as excessively as the OP's school). By grade 3 there's
lots of daily homework. The private schools around here, by contrast,
usually don't start regular homework until grade 2 or 3.

Really? While there are exceptions, lots of private
schools here are running neck and neck in the homework
department. Most have homework policies allowing more
homework than the public schools.

Best wishes,
Ericka

enigma wrote:
"frank megaweege" wrote in
ups.com:


StephanieTheGoofy wrote:

[stayed away from the computer this weekend]

To be honest, I'm somewhat playing devil's advocate,
because my kindergartner didn't have 30 minutes of
homework every night. He had something most days,
probably averaging more like 10 or 15 minutes.
Occasionally it took 30 or more. My inclination is to
support the teacher and the school in their mission and
to accept that every policy may not be ideal for each
individual child. My peeve on this issue is the sense
that some parents seem antagonistic towards the role of
public education. To a certain extent, when you're
child enters school, you are giving him up to the
collective.


We've become The Borg?


society

this is another reason why my kid is not ever going to public
school...
kindergarteners should not have any homework. zero. zip.
nada. kindergarten should be an enjoyable introduction to the
joy of learning (which AFAICS, public schools drive out of a
kid as fast as possible), not something resembling boot camp
with additional work at home when a kid should be able to play
& be a kid.

He has plenty of time to play and it sounds like they do alot of fun
activities in the classroom.

first grade homework of 15 minutes or so of spelling, math or
science is fine. more than that is too much, IMO.
i didn't have real homework until 3rd or 4th grade & it
wasn't nightly. it was week long or forenightly projects. i
could not support a teacher or a school that expected my child
to give up his life outside school to homework, especially not
in kindergarten.

of course, i have no respect for "society" either

I respect the position of keeping your child out of the school system
if you don't agree with the concept. It's much better than enrolling
them and creating an antagonistic relationship.

lee

--
Question with boldness even the existence of god; because if
there be
one, he must more approve the homage of reason than that of
blindfolded
fear. - Thomas Jefferson

Things sort of got a bit out of hand the last two nights. DS started
destroying his homework out of frustration. I seriously was going to take
him out of school, like this month, instead of waiting out the year like I
planned.

I called his former preschool teacher, who was a wonderful teacher and knew
him so well. She had all sorts of good recommendations. For one thing, she
was concerned that all schools here were like the one DS is attending
homework-wise. I brought up the idea of private school, but we can't afford
private school for his entire education. She said she would be worried that
he would struggle when he was put back into public school, as she had seen
that happen. Better to struggle now and adapt rather than struggle later.
She gave me ideas on who to talk to and what angle to approach it at.

So, I talked to DS's kindergarten teacher today. She said she would give
him Monday's homework packet this Friday and every Friday for a time until
he could transition to the school's homework load. That will lessen the
stress level. DS could certainly do about 15 minutes of homework per night,
as the homework is spread over 7 days instead of 4. I can spend more time
talking to other parents to see what they think, how much of a difference
there is between magnet and local schools, etc. DS absolutely understands
all the concepts presented to him. He knows all the answers. What takes
him so long is the fine motor skills to write the answers and cut the
objects along the dotted lines. Maybe this will give him a chance to
improve those skills so that homework, as normally assigned, will only take
15 minutes per day.

toypup wrote:
Things sort of got a bit out of hand the last two nights. DS started
destroying his homework out of frustration. I seriously was going to take
him out of school, like this month, instead of waiting out the year like I
planned.


Awww, poor kid. My heart goes out to him! I can't even imagine how
difficult it must be to see him struggle like that!

I called his former preschool teacher, who was a wonderful teacher and knew
him so well. She had all sorts of good recommendations. For one thing, she
was concerned that all schools here were like the one DS is attending
homework-wise. I brought up the idea of private school, but we can't afford
private school for his entire education. She said she would be worried that
he would struggle when he was put back into public school, as she had seen
that happen. Better to struggle now and adapt rather than struggle later.
She gave me ideas on who to talk to and what angle to approach it at.

That's great you have a good resource to turn to. I'm bothered that
this excessive homework thing is the route all schools seem to be
taking now. Instead of recognizing how little it helps and focusing
more on teaching. I hope you can work it out with his school.

So, I talked to DS's kindergarten teacher today. She said she would give
him Monday's homework packet this Friday and every Friday for a time until
he could transition to the school's homework load. That will lessen the
stress level. DS could certainly do about 15 minutes of homework per night,
as the homework is spread over 7 days instead of 4. I can spend more time
talking to other parents to see what they think, how much of a difference
there is between magnet and local schools, etc. DS absolutely understands
all the concepts presented to him. He knows all the answers. What takes
him so long is the fine motor skills to write the answers and cut the
objects along the dotted lines. Maybe this will give him a chance to
improve those skills so that homework, as normally assigned, will only take
15 minutes per day.

That sounds reasonable, but will it be an unfair advantage to him then?
IS he the only kid who gets the homework packet early or will they all
get it?

"cjra" wrote in message
ups.com...
That sounds reasonable, but will it be an unfair advantage to him then?
IS he the only kid who gets the homework packet early or will they all
get it?


I don't know. He's the only one I'm concerned with ATM. I think other
parents should bring it up, as I did, if that is a concern for them,
primarily because it will show her the scope of the problem.

"frank megaweege" wrote in
oups.com:

I respect the position of keeping your child out of the
school system if you don't agree with the concept. It's
much better than enrolling them and creating an
antagonistic relationship.

i endured public school. it was such a waste of my time, but
my parent's didn't know there could be options. i do know
about the options & i choose not to subject my child to the
herd mentality of public education.
yes, i most likely would be antagonistic. i was a quiet child
(except for the time i told that 2nd grade teacher i didn't
need school because i could read & learn anything i wanted to
know... she took my Arthur C.Clarke book away from me & made
me stay in from recess). i had a *lot* of issues with public
schools, from bad teachers, to overzealous jr. high guidance
councelors labelling me "schizophrenic", to poor scheduling on
the part of the high school so i couldn't get the classes i
needed to get into premed... not to mention abject boredom &
suffering through dealing with "peers". yup, i *hate* public
schools.
lee
--
Question with boldness even the existence of god; because if
there be
one, he must more approve the homage of reason than that of
blindfolded
fear. - Thomas Jefferson

"enigma" wrote in message
. ..
councelors labelling me "schizophrenic", to poor scheduling on
the part of the high school so i couldn't get the classes i
needed to get into premed... not to mention abject boredom &
suffering through dealing with "peers". yup, i *hate* public
schools.

Huh? You mean you couldn't get the classes you needed to get into college?
The university I went to had tons of premed students. Basically, anyone who
got in could take the courses it took to get into med school (doesn't matter
what their major) and call themselves premed. There was a medical student
at our school who graduated as a music major. Anyone can be premed. It
wasn't like they had this major that said "premed." I know there were some
programs that lead directly to medical school, but that isn't the usual
route.