Homework over spring break (long)

On Mon, 28 Mar 2005 22:54:52 EST, Laura Slesinger
wrote:

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
A few things:

1) You should have spoken to your child's teacher before leaving on a
vacation to get assignments. By not doing so, you are teaching the child
that she can have unique treatment from the other children, and detracting
from the message that school is important.

If you had access to the whole thread, you would see that when
beeswing took this vacation last year, she did not do anything to
demonstrate to her child that special treatment was appropriate.

2) You should consider taking your family vacations in the summer, between
school grades.

I don't think I'd want my kids in a school where this was the
attitude, until they are in university.

Louise

In article ,
dragonlady says...

In article ,
Laura Slesinger wrote:

2) You should consider taking your family vacations in the summer, between
school grades.

It's one thing to suggest that people not take their children out of
school to take vacations, but to suggest they not even take vacations
during school breaks is definately over the top.

If I tell you that you should consider the local diner's delicious Friday
special potroast, I am not telling you not to order a cheeseburger.

Banty

Banty wrote:
In article
,
dragonlady says...

In article ,
Laura Slesinger wrote:

2) You should consider taking your family vacations in the summer,
between
school grades.

It's one thing to suggest that people not take their children out of

school to take vacations, but to suggest they not even take
vacations
during school breaks is definately over the top.

If I tell you that you should consider the local diner's delicious
Friday
special potroast, I am not telling you not to order a cheeseburger.

Yeah, but if someone complains that the cheeseburger appears to be
scorched and barely edible, and you reply, "Next time, you should
consider ordering the delicious potroast," it's no longer a neutral
'suggestion'.

Beth

In article .com,
says...


Banty wrote:
In article
,
dragonlady says...

In article ,
Laura Slesinger wrote:

2) You should consider taking your family vacations in the summer,
between
school grades.

It's one thing to suggest that people not take their children out of

school to take vacations, but to suggest they not even take
vacations
during school breaks is definately over the top.

If I tell you that you should consider the local diner's delicious
Friday
special potroast, I am not telling you not to order a cheeseburger.

Yeah, but if someone complains that the cheeseburger appears to be
scorched and barely edible, and you reply, "Next time, you should
consider ordering the delicious potroast," it's no longer a neutral
'suggestion'.


Order the club sandwich, then!

'Laura' said *consider*. As in, summer vacation travel being *a* way to travel
without taking kids from school. There are also shorter trips during other
break periods. Consider is not the same as "thou shalt do exactly as I
suggest". It is *not* the same as suggesting that the kids not be taken out for
other school breaks.

It surely was not a statement that could reasonably be characterized as "over
the top".

Banty

wrote in message
oups.com...

Banty wrote:
In article
,
dragonlady says...

In article ,
Laura Slesinger wrote:

2) You should consider taking your family vacations in the summer,
between
school grades.

It's one thing to suggest that people not take their children out of

school to take vacations, but to suggest they not even take
vacations
during school breaks is definately over the top.

If I tell you that you should consider the local diner's delicious
Friday
special potroast, I am not telling you not to order a cheeseburger.

Yeah, but if someone complains that the cheeseburger appears to be
scorched and barely edible, and you reply, "Next time, you should
consider ordering the delicious potroast," it's no longer a neutral
'suggestion'.

Furthermore, there isn't any reason to believe that the other
option wasn't already considered, and that the "suggestion" isn't
anything more than unwanted meddling. Saying "I've already
considered it, but I disagree" rarely ends things.


P. Tierney

Laura Slesinger wrote:

2) You should consider taking your family vacations in the summer,
between
school grades.

Sigh... haven't you heard about summer homework and reading lists? The
truth is that there is a double standard for kids and adults. When an
adult takes a vacation, we don't usually have to take work with us. I
work in a fortune 10 company, and when we take vacations, we leave our
laptops at home, set our voicemail to alert people about who to contact
in our absence, and do the same with our email. We also alert people
that we will check email and voicemail WHEN WE RETURN.

I personally think assigning homework over vacation stinks. They never
get a break. I also, personally think homework (except what could
have been done during the day, but wasn't due the kid not being on task
or whatever) kind of stinks, too. As an adult, I get to leave my work
behind for the evening, and on weekends. Occasionally I have extra
work to do - I've put in occasional 60 and even rarely a 70 hour week.
But mostly, I don't. I think spending time with my kids doing family
things is probably more helpful for the kids in the long run than doing
an extra few sheets of math problems or spelling words.

And get this - studies haven't shown that extra work - beyond what can
be done during the school day to be particularly effective in improving
kids skills. And no, I don't have the studies at hand. If I happen to
come across them, I'll post them.

But that's just me.

Cathy Weeks
Mommy to Kivi Alexis 12/01

Banty wrote:

'Laura' said *consider*. As in, summer vacation travel being *a* way to travel
without taking kids from school. There are also shorter trips during other
break periods. Consider is not the same as "thou shalt do exactly as I
suggest". It is *not* the same as suggesting that the kids not be taken out for
other school breaks.

It surely was not a statement that could reasonably be characterized as "over
the top".

I dunno. What's the point of having breaks from school if
I ought to be "considering" not using them for family time? Frankly,
my mind boggles at that tought. If my kids are supposed to be available
to keep their noses to the grindstones for that week, then heck, keep
'em in school and get it over with already. If spring break isn't a
break, why have it? I *do* consider it over the top to suggest that
school breaks aren't available for family travel or whatever else
one might do with them. If they're not available for that, well,
then haul the teachers in and put school back in session.

Best wishes,
Ericka

In article ,
Banty wrote:

'Laura' said *consider*. As in, summer vacation travel being *a* way
to travel without taking kids from school. There are also shorter
trips during other break periods. Consider is not the same as "thou
shalt do exactly as I suggest". It is *not* the same as suggesting
that the kids not be taken out for other school breaks.

The context of the thread was a family having problems with homework
during school break. In that context, the suggestion to "consider"
travelling over summer vacation reads as a suggestion to "consider"
travelling during the summer *instead of* travelling during spring break.
In that context, suggesting that one "consider" travelling over the summer
*is* the same as suggesting that one "consider" not travelling during
other school breaks. No, certainly 'Laura' was not saying that everyone
must do as she suggested, but she surely did implicitly suggest it.

It surely was not a statement that could reasonably be characterized
as "over the top".

The implied suggestion to *only* travel during the summer break as a
solution to the "homework during spring break" problem does indeed seem
to me to be "over the top".

--Robyn

Banty wrote:
In article .com,
says...


Banty wrote:
In article
,
dragonlady says...

In article ,
Laura Slesinger wrote:

2) You should consider taking your family vacations in the
summer,
between
school grades.

It's one thing to suggest that people not take their children out
of

school to take vacations, but to suggest they not even take
vacations
during school breaks is definately over the top.

If I tell you that you should consider the local diner's delicious
Friday
special potroast, I am not telling you not to order a
cheeseburger.

Yeah, but if someone complains that the cheeseburger appears to be
scorched and barely edible, and you reply, "Next time, you should
consider ordering the delicious potroast," it's no longer a neutral
'suggestion'.

Order the club sandwich, then!

'Laura' said *consider*. As in, summer vacation travel being *a*
way to travel
without taking kids from school. There are also shorter trips during
other
break periods. Consider is not the same as "thou shalt do exactly as
I
suggest". It is *not* the same as suggesting that the kids not be
taken out for
other school breaks.

It surely was not a statement that could reasonably be characterized
as "over
the top".

I'm very confused by your reply. Summer vacation is a way to travel
without taking kids from school, yes. As I understand it, this *was* a
"shorter trip during [an]other break period", also a way to travel
without taking kids from school, which was complicated by homework.
How is this not the same as suggesting the kids not be taken on
vacation during a school break?

Assuming I understand the situation correctly, 'suggesting' that
someone fix the problem by essentially ceding their right to take a
break during a break isn't much of a suggestion.

Beth

"Cathy Weeks" wrote in message
oups.com...
Laura Slesinger wrote:

2) You should consider taking your family vacations in the summer,
between
school grades.

Sigh... haven't you heard about summer homework and reading lists? The
truth is that there is a double standard for kids and adults. When an
adult takes a vacation, we don't usually have to take work with us. I
work in a fortune 10 company, and when we take vacations, we leave our
laptops at home, set our voicemail to alert people about who to contact
in our absence, and do the same with our email. We also alert people
that we will check email and voicemail WHEN WE RETURN.

I personally think assigning homework over vacation stinks. They never
get a break. I also, personally think homework (except what could
have been done during the day, but wasn't due the kid not being on task
or whatever) kind of stinks, too. As an adult, I get to leave my work
behind for the evening, and on weekends. Occasionally I have extra
work to do - I've put in occasional 60 and even rarely a 70 hour week.
But mostly, I don't. I think spending time with my kids doing family
things is probably more helpful for the kids in the long run than doing
an extra few sheets of math problems or spelling words.

And get this - studies haven't shown that extra work - beyond what can
be done during the school day to be particularly effective in improving
kids skills. And no, I don't have the studies at hand. If I happen to
come across them, I'll post them.



Which brings up a question for me. Someone on this group mentioned the bunk
reasoning for having homework for 1st graders is to get ready for 2nd grade
and so on for some number of grades. Are there any studies that demonstrate
more or less "readiness" in say 5th grade, based on the homework of previous
grades? I had a conversation with DS's preschool teacher about the
appropriateness of homework for kindergarteners for just this reason. Made
me shiver.

But that's just me.

Cathy Weeks
Mommy to Kivi Alexis 12/01