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I hate homework!



 
 
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  #1  
Old April 3rd 08, 11:01 AM posted to misc.kids
Chookie
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,085
Default I hate homework!

L spent this afternoon on his homework. *After he started playing with his
brother, he was sent to the toilet to prevent distraction, then came out to
the table while I cooked. *While I was cooking tea, he said he'd "finished
that sentence," and started to put his book aside.

"Was that your last sentence?"
"No."
"Well, keep going then."

I was almost finished cooking when he announced that he'd "done the last
sentence--" Oh good, I thought -- "and was now doing the other five."

Er, what other five?
The ones for his 'favourite' five from the spelling list of fifteen words.*You
have to write a sentence for each word, then use five again to total twenty
sentences. He had done seven sentences the previous night.

That is, it had taken him from 5pm to 7:30pm to write *eight* sentences. *
I had best draw a veil over my reaction...

The week's homework is issued on Monday and consists of a list of 15 spelling
words and a worksheet. *The words are to be written out once per day, and then
the twenty sentences must be created. *It is handed in on Friday. *On Monday
and Tuesday, L is at after-school care, where they allot 15 mins for homework
and encourage, but do not force, the kids to do it. *L generally does his
worksheet and maybe one 'day' of spelling words. *He then has Wed and Thu to
write out the rest of the words and sentences.**The fifteen words are not
related thematically; there tends to be a group with some particular spelling
pattern (ridge, lodge, bridge), a few that have the same roots (hot, hotter,
hottest), and some 'scientific' words (energy, solar, wind-up). L has an
extensive vocabulary for his age(*)*and is usually challenged by the meaning
or spelling of one word on the list, which is for the top spelling group.**The
sentences must each include a conjunction.**As a rule, I give him a 'spelling
test' for the 'Thu' column of words. *I strongly encourage him to do half the
sentences on the Wed, but we are a bit short of time as we come home from
music lesson at about 6:15pm.

I have never found making up sentences difficult, but*I never had homework at
his age (he is 7yo and in Year 2, third year of school). *I have no particular
enthusiasm for HW so young but feel that just dropping it would reward him for
being lazy. *His teacher might be amenable to some changes to his HW, but I
would prefer to give him some sort of framework for developing sentences. *He
is not finding sentence construction boring, just difficult; and I feel he is
both easily distracted from it and over-thinking the sentences. *I have PLENTY
of things I would rather (or need to) be doing than standing over L for three
hours, but plainly my cruise-past-frequently style is not working and the
situation is getting worse rather than better. *OTOH I can't work out what
else I should do as I don't believe in doing the homework for him. Plainly
the natural consequence of not having any playtime is an insufficient
deterrent.

All advice and ideas welcome.

(*) *He has just complained that his*inquisitive little brother's presence in
the loo is "impolite and unhygienic"!

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

http://chookiesbackyard.blogspot.com/
  #2  
Old April 3rd 08, 11:55 AM posted to misc.kids
Beth Kevles
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 269
Default I hate homework!


As a teacher myself (slightly older children) and a parent of
distractable boys, let me suggest the following:

Set a timer for 15 minutes. Encourage your son to concentrate for those
15 minutes. Let him work aloud if it helps him with the sentence
construction.

When the 15 minutes are over, so is homework. If he hasn't done enough,
so be it. If he wants to spend more time at it, let him have another
15-minute block later in the evening or before school in the morning,
but NOT right away. 15 minutes is the reasonable maximum for the work
he is doing, and certainly the right amount of time for his age.

While he is working, do whatever you can to help him concentrate. Swing
on over occasionally to help him or praise him or re-focus him. Remind
him that his daily goal is FIVE sentences, not 20 at a time. (Five is
actually quite a lot for his age, but that's the teacher's problem.)

Make sure he first does the word(s) he's not already familiar with.
At another time, quiz him aloud on spelling and meanings of his words.

If he doesn't complete his homework for the week, it's not a disaster so
long as he's doing well on his tests. If he's trying hard and learning
to concentrate (don't expect success right away, of course) then discuss
the issue with his teacher. Personally, I think she's assigning too
much homework for a kid his age.

Remember that the goals of an assignment like this a

1. Get in the habit of doing homework regularly. (Not really
necessary, but teachers seem to like the idea.)
2. Improve concentration. (Backfires at the end of the school day, but
no reason not to try, at least.)
3. Improve handwriting. (Better writing is superior to greater
quantity of writing, so make sure he's doing his best even if he
does less.)
4. Learn to create sentences. (Do fewer, make them interesting, and
read a lot of books aloud that are just above his own reading
level. You already knew that ...)
5. Learn the words! (Can be done aloud, especially for the words he
alread knows.)

Spending too long at homework can really backfire. Don't let him.
Spend the balance of time reading or discussing things of mutual
interest. Or playing, or helping his brother, or helping YOU.

The timer really does help a lot of kids.

I hope these thoughts help,
--Beth Kevles
-THE-COM-HERE
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 GMAIL one if you would
like me to reply.
  #3  
Old April 3rd 08, 12:44 PM posted to misc.kids
Welches
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 849
Default I hate homework!


"Chookie" wrote in message
news:ehrebeniuk-D22948.21014803042008@news...
L spent this afternoon on his homework. After he started playing with his
brother, he was sent to the toilet to prevent distraction, then came out
to
the table while I cooked. While I was cooking tea, he said he'd "finished
that sentence," and started to put his book aside.

"Was that your last sentence?"
"No."
"Well, keep going then."

I was almost finished cooking when he announced that he'd "done the last
sentence--" Oh good, I thought -- "and was now doing the other five."

Er, what other five?
The ones for his 'favourite' five from the spelling list of fifteen words.
You
have to write a sentence for each word, then use five again to total
twenty
sentences. He had done seven sentences the previous night.

That is, it had taken him from 5pm to 7:30pm to write *eight* sentences.
I had best draw a veil over my reaction...

The week's homework is issued on Monday and consists of a list of 15
spelling
words and a worksheet. The words are to be written out once per day, and
then
the twenty sentences must be created. It is handed in on Friday. On Monday
and Tuesday, L is at after-school care, where they allot 15 mins for
homework
and encourage, but do not force, the kids to do it. L generally does his
worksheet and maybe one 'day' of spelling words. He then has Wed and Thu
to
write out the rest of the words and sentences. The fifteen words are not
related thematically; there tends to be a group with some particular
spelling
pattern (ridge, lodge, bridge), a few that have the same roots (hot,
hotter,
hottest), and some 'scientific' words (energy, solar, wind-up). L has an
extensive vocabulary for his age(*) and is usually challenged by the
meaning
or spelling of one word on the list, which is for the top spelling group.
The
sentences must each include a conjunction. As a rule, I give him a
'spelling
test' for the 'Thu' column of words. I strongly encourage him to do half
the
sentences on the Wed, but we are a bit short of time as we come home from
music lesson at about 6:15pm.

I have never found making up sentences difficult, but I never had homework
at
his age (he is 7yo and in Year 2, third year of school). I have no
particular
enthusiasm for HW so young but feel that just dropping it would reward him
for
being lazy. His teacher might be amenable to some changes to his HW, but I
would prefer to give him some sort of framework for developing sentences.
He
is not finding sentence construction boring, just difficult; and I feel he
is
both easily distracted from it and over-thinking the sentences. I have
PLENTY
of things I would rather (or need to) be doing than standing over L for
three
hours, but plainly my cruise-past-frequently style is not working and the
situation is getting worse rather than better. OTOH I can't work out what
else I should do as I don't believe in doing the homework for him.
Plainly
the natural consequence of not having any playtime is an insufficient
deterrent.

All advice and ideas welcome.

Lots of sympathy. #1's same age and similar on her homework. I spoke to the
teacher about it (actually #2 did her maths last week without any difficulty
and she's 3 years younger so you get the picture) and she said that she
didn't have to do it (which I objected would make her feel homework was
optional and save difficulties for the future) or jazz it up.
#1's favourite option is to bet how long it takes her. Record for the maths
is 90 second, writing is about 2 1/2 minutes. Without the stopwatch going
she can easily take an hour over not doing more than half. (ever seen the
Calvin and Hobbs cartoon when Hobbs says "your homeowrk won't take that
long" and Calvin replies "heck, it'll be another hour before I'm even done
grousing about it"? That's #1 and homework)
Alternatively-see how few sentences he can write for the words. (more than
one spelling word in each sentence)
Make up a story using all the words.
You give him a second word (or hint) to use in making the sentence.
A reward for each sentence (sticker or smartie)
If he does it in a certain length of time then a reward.
Or alternatively doing it where he has something to go onto and if he hasn't
done it by then the he'll be late.
Debbie


  #4  
Old April 3rd 08, 01:31 PM posted to misc.kids
Banty
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2,278
Default I hate homework!

In article ehrebeniuk-D22948.21014803042008@news, Chookie says...

L spent this afternoon on his homework. *After he started playing with his
brother, he was sent to the toilet to prevent distraction, then came out to
the table while I cooked. *While I was cooking tea, he said he'd "finished
that sentence," and started to put his book aside.

"Was that your last sentence?"
"No."
"Well, keep going then."

I was almost finished cooking when he announced that he'd "done the last
sentence--" Oh good, I thought -- "and was now doing the other five."

Er, what other five?
The ones for his 'favourite' five from the spelling list of fifteen words.*You
have to write a sentence for each word, then use five again to total twenty
sentences. He had done seven sentences the previous night.

That is, it had taken him from 5pm to 7:30pm to write *eight* sentences. *
I had best draw a veil over my reaction...

The week's homework is issued on Monday and consists of a list of 15 spelling
words and a worksheet. *The words are to be written out once per day, and then
the twenty sentences must be created. *It is handed in on Friday. *On Monday
and Tuesday, L is at after-school care, where they allot 15 mins for homework
and encourage, but do not force, the kids to do it. *L generally does his
worksheet and maybe one 'day' of spelling words. *He then has Wed and Thu to
write out the rest of the words and sentences.**The fifteen words are not
related thematically; there tends to be a group with some particular spelling
pattern (ridge, lodge, bridge), a few that have the same roots (hot, hotter,
hottest), and some 'scientific' words (energy, solar, wind-up). L has an
extensive vocabulary for his age(*)*and is usually challenged by the meaning
or spelling of one word on the list, which is for the top spelling group.**The
sentences must each include a conjunction.**As a rule, I give him a 'spelling
test' for the 'Thu' column of words. *I strongly encourage him to do half the
sentences on the Wed, but we are a bit short of time as we come home from
music lesson at about 6:15pm.

I have never found making up sentences difficult, but*I never had homework at
his age (he is 7yo and in Year 2, third year of school). *I have no particular
enthusiasm for HW so young but feel that just dropping it would reward him for
being lazy. *His teacher might be amenable to some changes to his HW, but I
would prefer to give him some sort of framework for developing sentences. *He
is not finding sentence construction boring, just difficult; and I feel he is
both easily distracted from it and over-thinking the sentences. *I have PLENTY
of things I would rather (or need to) be doing than standing over L for three
hours, but plainly my cruise-past-frequently style is not working and the
situation is getting worse rather than better. *OTOH I can't work out what
else I should do as I don't believe in doing the homework for him. Plainly
the natural consequence of not having any playtime is an insufficient
deterrent.

All advice and ideas welcome.


I don't have any brilliant ideas (though I can tell you what I did) but I can
commisserate.

We had very similar homeworks in my son's early grades, and with very similar
results at the kitchen table. This is one of the areas where the oft-repeated
"we don't assign more than xx minutes a night homework per grade/if it is taking
longer there is a problem with study habits" is a lie.

I recall having similar problems when I was little, too, and it was due to just
freezing up about what kind of sentence could be written down, as you've
observed. Faced with a word, only trivial sentences would come to mind, and I
(and a generation later my son) would be loathe to write them down.

Well, after the hours of sweat over this, and my trying cruising by (and each
and every one of the sentence I would suggest would be labelled 'dumb'), I
encouraged him to Just Write It Down - write down those trivial sentences.

Which may have helped to teach him a low standard for schoolwork that we may be
paying for now, but that's hard to tell.

But it's one of many things in my son's schooling that was majorly frustrating.


(*) *He has just complained that his*inquisitive little brother's presence in
the loo is "impolite and unhygienic"!


Write that down for the time he's to find a sentence for 'impolite'? ;-)

Banty

  #5  
Old April 3rd 08, 01:57 PM posted to misc.kids
Banty
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2,278
Default I hate homework!

In article , Beth Kevles
says...



Arrrggghhhh! Now, I actually agree (at least in principle, and sometimes in
practice as well) with the below - but it just sets my teeth on edge reminding
me of all the "just do this, just do that", "remember the goal", "try a
different approach" stuff I'd get from teachers about my son's problems with
homework. When IMO there were more basic problems with the homework and the way
it was being assigned. I'd get a whole list of little bitty adivces that really
added up to "YOU GOTTA DEAL".

As a teacher myself (slightly older children) and a parent of
distractable boys, let me suggest the following:

Set a timer for 15 minutes. Encourage your son to concentrate for those
15 minutes. Let him work aloud if it helps him with the sentence
construction.

When the 15 minutes are over, so is homework. If he hasn't done enough,
so be it. If he wants to spend more time at it, let him have another
15-minute block later in the evening or before school in the morning,
but NOT right away. 15 minutes is the reasonable maximum for the work
he is doing, and certainly the right amount of time for his age.


I tried this. THe teacher would suggest it, and we DID it. And promptly ran
into:

1. The incomplete state of the homeworks is still of consequence! Even after
the 15-minute time discussion with me, the parent! The lack of completion would
still go into the ledger, AND - get this - homeworks were sometimes traded
between students for them to *grade each other*. Some kind of group learning
hoo ha that the teachers believe in.

2. My son's own internalized ethic that he was to finish it, and to it well.
He would know that other students *were* finishing the homeworks. He'd really
want to complete them, woudl *not* want to stop at 15 minutes, so there we would
be back at square one.

This *did* *not* *work*. Undermined by the same teacher who recommended it.

And anyway - why on earth would we want to be teaching our kids to time a task,
and blow off the undone remainder?? That's not a good thing to teach.



While he is working, do whatever you can to help him concentrate. Swing
on over occasionally to help him or praise him or re-focus him. Remind
him that his daily goal is FIVE sentences, not 20 at a time. (Five is
actually quite a lot for his age, but that's the teacher's problem.)

Make sure he first does the word(s) he's not already familiar with.
At another time, quiz him aloud on spelling and meanings of his words.


So - he's having problems getting going, and the solution is to start in on the
*hardest* part?


If he doesn't complete his homework for the week, it's not a disaster so
long as he's doing well on his tests. If he's trying hard and learning
to concentrate (don't expect success right away, of course) then discuss
the issue with his teacher. Personally, I think she's assigning too
much homework for a kid his age.


Tell the teachers that.

I agree about breaking it up (I did break assignments up for my son whenever I
could). But the PROBLEM with that was the pattern of homework assignments we
were faced with. Homework would only be assigned for the next day, and only on
Monday through Thrusday nights (Weekends Are Holy).

Lo and behold, Cub Scouts and other activities would only meet on Monday through
Thursday nights (Weekends Are Holy).

So on any given evening, the homework had to get done that evening, and there
would be only yeah much time and energy for it.

I could arrange with only ONE teacher (my son's third grade teacher, the only
male teacher he had) to get homework assignments on Friday for the following
week, so that we can follow a more reasonable schedule and divide the tasks into
doable bits. That was one of my son's best years.



Remember that the goals of an assignment like this a

1. Get in the habit of doing homework regularly. (Not really
necessary, but teachers seem to like the idea.)


My son over the years got into the habit of rushing through work to Get It Done.
Largely thanks to this kind of hassle I think. I hope to gosh this doesn't
poison too much of the rest of his endeavors. He's 15.

2. Improve concentration. (Backfires at the end of the school day, but
no reason not to try, at least.)


Only frustration. Why can't concentration be improved to the point that the
*six hours kids have in school* are of maximum benefit hmmmm?

3. Improve handwriting. (Better writing is superior to greater
quantity of writing, so make sure he's doing his best even if he
does less.)


Hah. *Did* *not* *happen*.

4. Learn to create sentences. (Do fewer, make them interesting, and
read a lot of books aloud that are just above his own reading
level. You already knew that ...)


"Make them interesting" - did you actually READ what Chookie was describing??

5. Learn the words! (Can be done aloud, especially for the words he
alread knows.)


How about - my son (and Chookie's) who clearly and evidently was picking up an
extensive vocabulary *verbally* doesn't need a painful and tedious exercise to
do it.


Spending too long at homework can really backfire. Don't let him.
Spend the balance of time reading or discussing things of mutual
interest. Or playing, or helping his brother, or helping YOU.

The timer really does help a lot of kids.


Help them what. And, without cooperation from the same teachers who talk about
15 minutes, it's simply stupid to even have brought up.

Nuttin agin you, Beth :-) Just you gotta understand these advices are very
frustrating given the whole format that parents and kids are faced with on
early-grade homework.

Banty

  #6  
Old April 3rd 08, 02:11 PM posted to misc.kids
Mary W.
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 80
Default I hate homework!

On Apr 3, 6:01 am, Chookie wrote:
The ones for his 'favourite' five from the spelling list of fifteen words. You
have to write a sentence for each word, then use five again to total twenty
sentences. He had done seven sentences the previous night.

That is, it had taken him from 5pm to 7:30pm to write *eight* sentences.
I had best draw a veil over my reaction...


DD's homework is similar (she's almost 7, in first grade so I'm not
sure
if she's a year behind, or the same year as your son. We are in the
US),
but a little less. 10 words per week + 2-3 challenge words (you get
extra points for it). Monday she has to write each word 3 times. She
usually gets 75% of this done at aftercare, they have a 30 minute
homework
time. Tuesday is usually math and a worksheet of some sort which she
usually finishes at aftercare. Wed is sentences, use all the spelling
words
in sentences. Thursday is study for the spelling test. Any night she
may
have a math work sheet but those go really fast.

So, she struggled with the sentences, and for her it was the making up
of the sentence that took all the time. So we started making up
sentences
on Monday, when we were driving to and from school, whenever. A time
when
she was not under the gun to come up with them. And I
would write them down so I remembered what she said. Come Wednesday,
she'd get a good start on writing them at aftercare, since she had
already
been thinking about them. At home, if she asked what her sentence was
for certain word, I'd tell her. She also tries her hardest to get at
least
2 spelling words in a sentence. She's gotten so good at it that she
usually only has to write 5-6 sentences. Taking the pressure off
thinking
of the sentence when she needed to be writing it seemed to help. We
don't have to do this anymore, she's become much quicker at coming
up with sentences.

Mary W.
  #7  
Old April 3rd 08, 02:16 PM posted to misc.kids
Donna Metler
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 309
Default I hate homework!

One question. Does your school have any stated policy about homework limits
(5 or 10 minutes per grade level, plus 20-30 minutes of reading is pretty
common). If it does, ask the teacher how long the assignment should take a
7-8 yr old to do. It may be that your child works slower or faster than the
teacher expects, and usually it's that the child works slower, but so do ALL
children of the child's age.


It may require addressing the problem at a higher level if you have a
teacher who honestly believes writing 20 sentences doesn't take very long
(and for an adult, it doesn't).

I agree with Banty that setting time limits only works if the teacher is the
one who does it and if it's understood that tasks are for practice, not for
completion. No child freaks out about stopping piano practice after 30
minutes because he hasn't played to the end of the page, book, or whatever,
because music practice is time limited, not task limited (although part of
what you try to teach a child in private study is how to use that time to
accomplish tasks). But a worksheet, or assignment to write 20 sentence is
task limited inherently.

A better assignment would be "Look at the vocabulary words for the week.
Read them and define them mentally. Make up sentences for those you're
having trouble remembering, and write down at least 5 of them-task should
take no more than 10 minutes".

Or "Look at the math problems on page 102. Do as many as you can complete in
5 minutes, including problems 1, 7, 12, 12, and 20."

For both vocabulary and math, often "bellringers", where the students are
asked one or two quick questions which came from the homework, is a better
choice to see who is mastering the material than grading homework anyway.

While, as a musician, I'm in favor of regular, independent practice (and, if
anything, I'd prefer an academic model more like college at earlier levels,
where the child attends class for instruction, but does the practicing on
their own, flexible schedule. But it's not going to happen, given the need
for child care that school provides) if practice isn't focused and
individualized, it doesn't do much. Homework for the sake of homework is
like assigning every single piano student to play the same Bach etude. Some
won't be able to manage it yet, and while working on it, will not develop
the skills they need to EVER be able to play it, and some will breeze right
through it and learn nothing new. Asking a child who already has a developed
vocabulary to write 20 sentences using vocabulary words is probably, at
best, serving as penmanship practice.











  #8  
Old April 3rd 08, 02:22 PM posted to misc.kids
Stephanie[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 693
Default I hate homework!


"Banty" wrote in message
...
In article ehrebeniuk-D22948.21014803042008@news, Chookie says...

L spent this afternoon on his homework. After he started playing with his
brother, he was sent to the toilet to prevent distraction, then came out
to
the table while I cooked. While I was cooking tea, he said he'd "finished
that sentence," and started to put his book aside.

"Was that your last sentence?"
"No."
"Well, keep going then."

I was almost finished cooking when he announced that he'd "done the last
sentence--" Oh good, I thought -- "and was now doing the other five."

Er, what other five?
The ones for his 'favourite' five from the spelling list of fifteen words.
You
have to write a sentence for each word, then use five again to total
twenty
sentences. He had done seven sentences the previous night.

That is, it had taken him from 5pm to 7:30pm to write *eight* sentences.
I had best draw a veil over my reaction...

The week's homework is issued on Monday and consists of a list of 15
spelling
words and a worksheet. The words are to be written out once per day, and
then
the twenty sentences must be created. It is handed in on Friday. On Monday
and Tuesday, L is at after-school care, where they allot 15 mins for
homework
and encourage, but do not force, the kids to do it. L generally does his
worksheet and maybe one 'day' of spelling words. He then has Wed and Thu
to
write out the rest of the words and sentences. The fifteen words are not
related thematically; there tends to be a group with some particular
spelling
pattern (ridge, lodge, bridge), a few that have the same roots (hot,
hotter,
hottest), and some 'scientific' words (energy, solar, wind-up). L has an
extensive vocabulary for his age(*) and is usually challenged by the
meaning
or spelling of one word on the list, which is for the top spelling group.
The
sentences must each include a conjunction. As a rule, I give him a
'spelling
test' for the 'Thu' column of words. I strongly encourage him to do half
the
sentences on the Wed, but we are a bit short of time as we come home from
music lesson at about 6:15pm.

I have never found making up sentences difficult, but I never had homework
at
his age (he is 7yo and in Year 2, third year of school). I have no
particular
enthusiasm for HW so young but feel that just dropping it would reward him
for
being lazy. His teacher might be amenable to some changes to his HW, but I
would prefer to give him some sort of framework for developing sentences.
He
is not finding sentence construction boring, just difficult; and I feel he
is
both easily distracted from it and over-thinking the sentences. I have
PLENTY
of things I would rather (or need to) be doing than standing over L for
three
hours, but plainly my cruise-past-frequently style is not working and the
situation is getting worse rather than better. OTOH I can't work out what
else I should do as I don't believe in doing the homework for him.
Plainly
the natural consequence of not having any playtime is an insufficient
deterrent.

All advice and ideas welcome.


I don't have any brilliant ideas (though I can tell you what I did) but I
can
commisserate.

We had very similar homeworks in my son's early grades, and with very
similar
results at the kitchen table. This is one of the areas where the
oft-repeated
"we don't assign more than xx minutes a night homework per grade/if it is
taking
longer there is a problem with study habits" is a lie.

I recall having similar problems when I was little, too, and it was due to
just
freezing up about what kind of sentence could be written down, as you've
observed. Faced with a word, only trivial sentences would come to mind,
and I
(and a generation later my son) would be loathe to write them down.

Well, after the hours of sweat over this, and my trying cruising by (and
each
and every one of the sentence I would suggest would be labelled 'dumb'), I
encouraged him to Just Write It Down - write down those trivial sentences.

Which may have helped to teach him a low standard for schoolwork that we
may be
paying for now, but that's hard to tell.

But it's one of many things in my son's schooling that was majorly
frustrating.


(*) He has just complained that his inquisitive little brother's presence
in
the loo is "impolite and unhygienic"!


Write that down for the time he's to find a sentence for 'impolite'? ;-)

Banty


Now THAT is a good idea! Have a pad of paper handy for you to write down
things he has said. Date and context it. Highlight the good words in
highlighter.

That really does seem like the kind of thing I would do. Changes are not
good that unhygenic would come up though.



  #9  
Old April 3rd 08, 02:52 PM posted to misc.kids,k12.chat.teacher
Banty
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2,278
Default I hate homework!

In article , Stephanie says...


"Banty" wrote in message
...
(*) He has just complained that his inquisitive little brother's presence
in
the loo is "impolite and unhygienic"!


Write that down for the time he's to find a sentence for 'impolite'? ;-)

Banty


Now THAT is a good idea! Have a pad of paper handy for you to write down
things he has said. Date and context it. Highlight the good words in
highlighter.

That really does seem like the kind of thing I would do. Changes are not
good that unhygenic would come up though.


I was thinking the same thing when I decided to say it was a sentence for
'impolite'!

Yeah - it's an idea, but it's hit and miss of course.

But the problem is - look at it! - it's managing homework (which is ostensibly
to foster learning) by recording what already has been learned. So the homework
isn't for the learning, the learning is to get the homework genii off the back.

Are any teachers reading this thread?

Ah HA - now they are.

Banty

  #10  
Old April 3rd 08, 03:10 PM posted to misc.kids
Beth Kevles
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 269
Default I hate homework!


Hi, again --

I happen to agree with ALL the frustrated responses my previous post
got. My suggestions do help many kids ... but certainly not all.

The BEST thing to do is organize a parent revolt. You can bring up the
topic of excessive homework at PTA meetings, display the research
(plentiful) that shows elementary school homework tends to be a Bad
Thing and is rarely, if ever, shown to improve student learning, etc,
etc, etc.

As a teacher, I experimented with giving homework in one school, and not
even permitting homework (without prior written permission from me) in
another school. In the second school, all work to be graded was done in
class ONLY. In the school where homework was required, I found that
students thought of themselves as "bad at" the content area when really
they were just bad at working at home. In the other school, where
homework wasn't allowed, students had a far more realistic assessment of
whether they were "good" at the subject (although some just had issues
with concentration that confused the issue -- not many kids). And the
kids worked harded IN class when they knew that was the only place to
get work done.

As a parent, I wrote notes freely when my kids were in elementary
school. Come middle school I'm cracking the whip. My older son is
becoming diligent.

When I lived in England, many years ago, my brother's school (for the
under-11 set) didn't assign any homework because they said it wasn't
fair to those kids whose parents couldn't help them with it. Not
assigning homework let those kids keep up.

But, if you can't change the system fast enough, then you've got to
decide what approach to take. Timers can help. Chunking homework into
small bites can help. Taking long breaks every 10-15 minutes can help.
Stickers can help. Explaining to your child that it's learning, not
grades, that matter can help. Taking it up a level to the teacher's
supervisor can help. Switching schools can help. Or nothing may help
but time, and getting older.

Maybe we need an international organization: Parents Against Elementary
School Homework!

Does anyone have a kid who thrives on homework and wouldn't want it to
disappear?

--Beth Kevles
-THE-COM-HERE
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 GMAIL one if you would
like me to reply.
 




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