Homework over spring break (long)

"enigma" wrote in message
. ..
"bizby40" wrote in
:


"enigma" wrote in message
. ..

[snip]
i see reading lists as one more way to make kids hate
reading. if you can't even pick your own books, how are
you going to find your own interests? and how do they pick
the books for those lists? i was reading Arthur C. Clark
in 2nd garde. being forced to read something like Junie B.
would have bored me to tears...
lee

My daughter (4th grade) had an optional reading list this
summer. Some were too easy, some were good. But in
general, I do like *suggested* reading lists. My daughter
went through all the Magic Treehouse books and the Boxcar
Children books, and the Baby-Sitters Club books, and now
she's into Lemony Snickett and Nancy Drew, but she gets
bored with the same old, same old. It's nice to have
suggested reading lists of good books that we might
otherwise never have known about.

my 4 year old has read all the Magic Treehouse books... i'm
starting him on Lemony Snickett next.

I didn't mean to imply that she read all those books as
a 4th grader -- those have been her series of choice
over the years. I can't see a 4 year old with Lemony
Snickett though -- even if he is advanced enough to
know all the words, it doesn't seem appropriate
storyline for that age.

are you near a library? browsing the children's section
should give her more ideas for types of books she may enjoy. i
really liked The Diamond in the Window by Jane Langton when i
was your daughter's age (& looking it up on Google led me to
discover it's a series. must buy books!). i also liked field
guides a lot...

Yes, and we go there quite often, particularly during the
summer. They have suggested reading lists there, and I've
been grateful for the guidance. Some of the books I've
gotten off the list have been, "The Skeleton Man," "Cold
Shoulder Road," "The Seeing Stone," "The True
Confessions of Charlotte Doyle," and one really good
one I can't remember the name of about a girl who
rescues another girl who'd died 100 years before after
befriending her ghost. Having the list handy gives us a
guide of the better books among the mounds of crap.

i was an avid reader as a kid (i'd read literally every book
in the kid's section of the library by the time i was 9, some
several times). i would have gone crazy without library access

She loves reading and reads a lot. She's advanced for
her grade level as well. But I don't want her reading to the
exclusion of all else. One of her best friends stays inside
during recess every day to read because she doesn't like
going outside to play. I tried to gently feel out the mom
to see if she was aware of that and if it was okay with
her, and she was and it was. I would not like my daughter
doing that.

Bizby

In article ,
Stephanie wrote:

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.

Not a study, but I'll offer my personal anecdote. We moved our kids to
a school that does not believe in homework before 6th grade when my
oldest was in 4th. So, for the next 2 years, he had no homework, while
his public-school counterparts did lots (4th is when things *really*
ramp up around here). My kid was definitely less well prepared for
regular homework than his public-school friends with more experience.
At the beginning of the year, he felt rather "put out" by an amount of
homework most kids his age would consider quite reasonable.

BUT (unlike when he had homework for the sake of getting used to
homework in K-3) we do not have "battles" over homework. He takes his
responsibility to do his homework quite seriously. He is also able to
keep track of what he needs to do on his own, and almost always brings
all the right materials home. Homework is a responsibility that comes
with additional priveleges of being in the middle school. Also the
homework is actually relevant, generally involving preparation for a
future lesson, rather than just busy-work. By looking at his progress
over the past several months, and by looking ahead at the kids in
higher grades in this school, I can see that their "homework-readiness"
in 7th grade is comparable to that of the public school kids who have
been doing homework since K.

So, given the choice, I'd take 6th grade (or 5th or 7th, perhaps) as
a transitional "homework ramp-up" year any day over dealing with
homework battles in K through 4 or 5 all in the name of getting them
ready for the homework in higher grades.

JME,
--Robyn

On 2005-03-30, bizby40 wrote:

"enigma" wrote in message
. ..
"bizby40" wrote in
:
"enigma" wrote in message
. ..

i see reading lists as one more way to make kids hate
reading. if you can't even pick your own books, how are
you going to find your own interests? and how do they pick
the books for those lists? i was reading Arthur C. Clark
in 2nd garde. being forced to read something like Junie B.
would have bored me to tears...

My daughter (4th grade) had an optional reading list this
summer. Some were too easy, some were good. But in
general, I do like *suggested* reading lists. My daughter
went through all the Magic Treehouse books and the Boxcar
Children books, and the Baby-Sitters Club books, and now
she's into Lemony Snickett and Nancy Drew, but she gets
bored with the same old, same old. It's nice to have
suggested reading lists of good books that we might
otherwise never have known about.

my 4 year old has read all the Magic Treehouse books... i'm
starting him on Lemony Snickett next.

I didn't mean to imply that she read all those books as
a 4th grader -- those have been her series of choice
over the years. I can't see a 4 year old with Lemony
Snickett though -- even if he is advanced enough to
know all the words, it doesn't seem appropriate
storyline for that age.

My son started Lemony Snicket around age 6 (still younger than the
target audience). I'd recommend waiting at least until then for Lemony
Snicket---the storyline and the somewhat twisted humor is not likely
to be appreciated by youger readers, even if they are prefectly
capable of handling the language.

are you near a library? browsing the children's section
should give her more ideas for types of books she may enjoy.

Children's librarians can be a great resource, if you happen to find
one who is knowleadgeable about the genres your child is interested in.
Of the various children's librarians I've interacted with in the past
few years, about half have been very useful resources. (People whose
kids have different tastes may have found a different subset of the
librarians helpful.)

Yes, and we go there quite often, particularly during the
summer. They have suggested reading lists there, and I've
been grateful for the guidance.

Library suggested reading lists have been useful for us occasionally,
but more for checking whether there is an author or series we missed
than for getting substantial new recommendations. We have also found
"The New York Times Parent's Guide to the Best Books for Children" a
useful resource for suggesting books we may have missed. Checking
various prize-winner lists has also found us some good books.
http://www.ala.org/Template.cfm?Section=bookmediaawards
is a good place to start.

You may be interested in the newsgroup rec.arts.books.children, which
discusses children's literature and provides an excellent resource of
experts at identifying half-remembered books from your childhood.


She loves reading and reads a lot. She's advanced for
her grade level as well. But I don't want her reading to the
exclusion of all else. One of her best friends stays inside
during recess every day to read because she doesn't like
going outside to play. I tried to gently feel out the mom
to see if she was aware of that and if it was okay with
her, and she was and it was. I would not like my daughter
doing that.

My son would spend almost all his time reading and drawing if we let him.
Luckily a group of his friends have formed a recess-time theater group
(they copy out dialog from the Harry Potter books and rehearse it), so
he no longer spends all his recess and lunch time reading. We don't
worry too much about him getting enough exercise, since we don't have
a car and walk or bike everywhere (including to his aikido classes).

We generally approve of his reading, but we have had to put some
restrictions on it: No reading at supper (exceptions made for reading
aloud something to share with the whole family---reading at breakfast
and lunch is ok), no reading when there is homework to be done (though
if there is a lot of homework, we may allow half-hour reading breaks
between parts of the assignment), no reading after lights out. The
most effective punishment we have for misbehavior is taking away his
reading time before bedtime.

------------------------------------------------------------
Kevin Karplus http://www.soe.ucsc.edu/~karplus
Professor of Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Santa Cruz
Undergraduate and Graduate Director, Bioinformatics
(Senior member, IEEE) (Board of Directors, ISCB)
life member (LAB, Adventure Cycling, American Youth Hostels)
Effective Cycling Instructor #218-ck (lapsed)
Affiliations for identification only.

"bizby40" wrote in
:
I didn't mean to imply that she read all those books as
a 4th grader -- those have been her series of choice
over the years. I can't see a 4 year old with Lemony
Snickett though -- even if he is advanced enough to
know all the words, it doesn't seem appropriate
storyline for that age.

well, this is a 4 year old that has grown up with Nightmare
Before Christmas & a couple skeletons around the house... i
think he'll like Lemony Snickett, although i think it's more
something i'll read to him than something he'll read on his
own (mom editing & all g)
so... i've not seen the Boxcar Children books. what are those
like?
lee

"enigma" wrote in message
. ..
"bizby40" wrote in
:
I didn't mean to imply that she read all those books as
a 4th grader -- those have been her series of choice
over the years. I can't see a 4 year old with Lemony
Snickett though -- even if he is advanced enough to
know all the words, it doesn't seem appropriate
storyline for that age.

well, this is a 4 year old that has grown up with Nightmare
Before Christmas & a couple skeletons around the house... i
think he'll like Lemony Snickett, although i think it's more
something i'll read to him than something he'll read on his
own (mom editing & all g)
so... i've not seen the Boxcar Children books. what are those
like?

They are very "quaint". About a group of 4 orphaned
children that in the first book run away to live in an
abandoned boxcar rather than be setn to live with their
scary grandfather. By the end of the first book, their
grandfather has found them, and it turns out he's a
wonderful guy. Each subsequent book is a mystery.

I didn't really like the books myself. And I'm a bit
surprised that my daughter liked them as the running
theme in the books is that the children are very self-
sufficient, and love to work more than anything. Every
time they go on vacation, they end up volunteering
to fix up a house or hotel or store or whatever.

Bizby

lee

enigma wrote:
"bizby40" wrote in
:
I didn't mean to imply that she read all those books as
a 4th grader -- those have been her series of choice
over the years. I can't see a 4 year old with Lemony
Snickett though -- even if he is advanced enough to
know all the words, it doesn't seem appropriate
storyline for that age.

well, this is a 4 year old that has grown up with Nightmare
Before Christmas & a couple skeletons around the house... i
think he'll like Lemony Snickett, although i think it's more
something i'll read to him than something he'll read on his
own (mom editing & all g)

I guess I too feel the LS books might be a mistake for a 4-year-old.
Read them to yourself first, then make a final decision. We still read
to my 10-year-old, and he almost wouldn't let me finish the book--and
this was only a few months ago--it upset him so much, and he hasn't
wanted me to start the second book, though we have the first three.
There's a scene where a young toddler is bound, gagged, caged and the
cage is hung out the window of a tower, in order to keep the older
siblings in line. Now, my stepson has two sisters, one age 3 and the
other is 18 months, and I think that scene horrified him more than it
might other kids. I also think that stuff like this WOULD horrify an
older kid more than it might a young one. Like I said, I strongly
caution you to pre-read them first, to make sure.

Now that said, I started reading the Harry Potter books to my stepson
when he was barely 5 years old, and lots of people thought that was
nuts - that it would be too scary, and he was fine with them (and loved
them). During the more intense scenes, at least when he was younger,
he *did* sit on my lap, rather than next to me. ;-)

so... i've not seen the Boxcar Children books. what are those
like?

They are another set of books about orphans learning to fend for
themselves. I think they were written in the 1940s or 50s (but that's a
guess). They are good books. My brothers, who are now 19 and 21 years
of age, LOVED them.

Cathy Weeks

bizby40 wrote:
"enigma" wrote in message
. ..

so... i've not seen the Boxcar Children books. what are those
like?


They are very "quaint". About a group of 4 orphaned
children that in the first book run away to live in an
abandoned boxcar rather than be setn to live with their
scary grandfather. By the end of the first book, their
grandfather has found them, and it turns out he's a
wonderful guy. Each subsequent book is a mystery.

I didn't really like the books myself. And I'm a bit
surprised that my daughter liked them as the running
theme in the books is that the children are very self-
sufficient, and love to work more than anything. Every
time they go on vacation, they end up volunteering
to fix up a house or hotel or store or whatever.

Bizby



And somehow the boys always ending up in a providing role and the girls
always end up in a housekeeping role.

Lesley

"enigma" wrote in message
i see reading lists as one more way to make kids hate reading.
if you can't even pick your own books, how are you going to
find your own interests? and how do they pick the books for
those lists? i was reading Arthur C. Clark in 2nd garde. being
forced to read something like Junie B. would have bored me to
tears...

That's you. My kids love Junie B. And not to mention there are some books
that are just not appropriate for little kids even if they are reading at a
higher level. However, for the record, we don't have a required reading list
at our school, they just want them to read.
--
Sue (mom to three girls)

"Sue" wrote in
:

"enigma" wrote in message
i see reading lists as one more way to make kids hate
reading. if you can't even pick your own books, how are
you going to find your own interests? and how do they pick
the books for those lists? i was reading Arthur C. Clark
in 2nd garde. being forced to read something like Junie B.
would have bored me to tears...

That's you. My kids love Junie B. And not to mention there
are some books that are just not appropriate for little
kids even if they are reading at a higher level. However,
for the record, we don't have a required reading list at
our school, they just want them to read.

yeah, that's what my second grade teacher said when she took
my books away from me. she didn't want me reading anything the
other kids weren't... and i'd passed Dick & Jane at age 3.
my parents were annoyed that teacher wouldn't even return the
Aurthur Clark book to them (ok, it was Childhood's End & it's
still good sci-fi. i think the teacher just didn't like the
title).
and it's unfair of me to pick on Junie B. because that wasn't
in print when i was that age. still, i preferred field guides
& biology texts... and i loved sci fi (at least i wasn't
reading Heinlein g)
lee

--
I like the way it's called birth control...
*Birth* control... man, that'd be weird...
Taking pills to stop the baby coming out.

"Sue" wrote in message
...
"enigma" wrote in message
i see reading lists as one more way to make kids hate reading.
if you can't even pick your own books, how are you going to
find your own interests? and how do they pick the books for
those lists? i was reading Arthur C. Clark in 2nd garde. being
forced to read something like Junie B. would have bored me to
tears...

That's you. My kids love Junie B. And not to mention there are some books
that are just not appropriate for little kids even if they are reading at
a
higher level. However, for the record, we don't have a required reading
list
at our school, they just want them to read.
--
Sue (mom to three girls)



I always saw summer reading lists (for elementary school students) as
suggestions for the children to read over the summer. The lists DD's school
have are much too long for the children to read every book. Many parents
don't know what books are out there for children - I know I have a tough
time picking out appropriate books for DD. I have a good grasp of picture
books and young adult books but I'm less sure about young reader (2-4
grades) books.

Like Sue mentioned, it's the appropriateness of subject and language as well
as reading ability. While a child *may* be able to read "Gone with the
Wind" or "Ender's Game" (to pick two random books) doesn't mean she *should*
read it.

Jeanne