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#1
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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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