If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. |
|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#21
|
|||
|
|||
The Ranger wrote: wrote in message ups.com... The Ranger wrote: "Yeah? My child's not going to Harvard and is doing an hour in each subject per day. He has six classes and three electives; you do the math." Okay, I don't want to say that it's legitimate to do your kid's homework, but if you have six subjects, an hour of homework in each is going to leave no time for anything in the child's life but schoolwork and sleep. There are several options available: 1) You write notes to each teacher quoting the district's time-limits on allowable homework allotments when a child is given homework that he cannot complete. This might seem flimsy and contrived but it works for many parents that do not feel their child should be doing such make-work, college-level-consuming homework. Do all districts have policies like this? That *does* sound like it would help, I just never heard of it before (my child's too young for homework so I'm kind of clueless about how this stuff works from an adult perspective). Beth |
#22
|
|||
|
|||
Ruth Baltopoulos wrote:
Here is my strategy: I provide a place for homework to be done and access to computers. I ask if it has been completed (sometimes). I stay in touch with the school (PTO, Conferences, Open Houses, School Committee) and teachers are aware that I am interested in knowing of any challenges or foibles. The end. That strategy works fabulously under normal circumstances. Under other situations, it doesn't work out quite so well. There are nights my 4th grader comes home with so much homework that if it happens on a day when we have to do *anything* after school other than eat dinner, he's up well past his bedtime to finish it. Once he's that tired, if one of us is not sitting with him to keep him focused, he falls asleep at his desk. And heaven forbid you have a child with attention issues, for whom it tends to take longer for homework to get done in the first place and who might well require parental attention to keep focus. And then there are the children who are struggling with the material and require substantial help from the parent to *teach* the material in order for the child to be able to complete the homework. And that's before we get to the stupid assignments designed to create more "parental involvement" that *require* the parent to participate--we have quite a few of those. The instructions actually *tell* the parent what the parent is supposed to be doing (so it's not the child just conning the parent into doing it). There are far too many nights when I'm wrung out from attending to the needs of two kids' homework. I resent that there are so many fun and educational things we could do as a family, but our time to do so is severely limited by the amount of homework that is sent home. I do not see how well over an hour of homework is appropriate in elementary school--add the homework to the amount of time they're in school, and many of these kids are putting in 50+ hour weeks! So, if you have a school that is sending home reasonable amounts and types of homework, and is teaching the children the material before assigning homework on it, and your children don't have any extenuating circumstances that make homework more challenging than normal, I envy you. In that situation, I would happily stay the heck out of the way while my kids got their homework done, just as my parents did for me. Unfortunately, I believe that the situation here actively *UNDERMINES* children learning to be responsible for their own homework by making it virtually impossible for the children to take full responsibility for it. Some years we have teachers who don't buy into the homework overload madness, and those years are *so* much better for us as a family--and (surprise, surprise) the kids still manage to learn just as much or more in those classes as the ones with mountains of homework. Best wishes, Ericka |
#23
|
|||
|
|||
"Ericka Kammerer" wrote in message
... : That strategy works fabulously under normal : circumstances. Under other situations, it doesn't work : out quite so well. [...] : So, if you have a school that is sending home : reasonable amounts and types of homework, and is teaching : the children the material before assigning homework on : it, and your children don't have any extenuating : circumstances that make homework more challenging : than normal, I envy you. [...] : Unfortunately, I believe that the situation here : actively *UNDERMINES* children learning to be responsible : for their own homework by making it virtually impossible : for the children to take full responsibility for it.[...] Well, that sounds horrid and I don't envy you. I guess one of the difficult things for me was hearing many people in the same school district lamenting a situation that I clearly was not experiencing. I am not sure how that could be. My children are good students and have decent study skills, but they are not in the Gifted and Talented Program I do have a problem with 'homework' that is new material, which has happened periodically. Is there no viable way to address such legitimate concerns with the School District or the School Committee? If it is clearly a serious problem across the board, is there no recourse? Again, I don't envy the descripiton of your situation. -- Ruth |
#24
|
|||
|
|||
|
#25
|
|||
|
|||
In article ,
"Bruce Bridgman and Jeanne Yang" wrote: Then obviously something has to give - usually a class. Rarely (or has things really changed that much) do schools require six classes and three electives. Drop an elective or two. But even if this is the case, I don't think heavy coursework is a legitimate reason for parents to do their children's homework. This becomes a problem for kids whose biggest interests and talent (and therefore most joy) is outside of the academically required classes. I believe a well rounded education includes some music and art and physical education, so for kids like the boy in question, who was clearly very good at physical stuff, it does NOT seem reasonable to me that he should have to give that up. Frankly, an hour a day per class of homework is just wrong. Even if you are only taking 4 classes, if you get home at 3:00 in the afternoon, and spend, say, an hour eating dinner with your family and doing some household chores, you will not be done with your homework until 8:00. That leaves no time for sports, or theater, or any of the other things that might make a life more well rounded. -- Children won't care how much you know until they know how much you care |
#26
|
|||
|
|||
|
#27
|
|||
|
|||
In article ,
"Jen" wrote: "toto" wrote in message news Any anecdotes? Many!!! A mom once burst into my Grade 11 English class to berate my teacher about a mark her son had recieved. Aparently a B isn't good enough and her son couldn't possibly be that stupid, and the teacher was obviously being stubborn and should give him an A. Her son sank under the table to hide. The only time I can remember my mother challenging a grade she did it in private. My certifiably brilliant baby brother worked hard to maintain a B+ average (seriously -- he didn't want the hassle of extra work he'd get if he got labled Really Smart). He brought home an essay with a "C", and Mom went in to ask the teacher why it was a C paper. The teacher told her it wasn't -- it was a solid "B" paper, but since he was capable of "A"s, she marked it down to a "C". Mom pitched a fit, and insisted he be given the grade he'd earned rather than a grade based on the teacher's annoyance. She won. (He eventually fitured out what he wanted to do with his life, has an MBA from Kellogg, and makes more money than God doing work he enjoys.) -- Children won't care how much you know until they know how much you care |
#28
|
|||
|
|||
In article ,
"The Ranger" wrote: The district my daughter-units currently attend, the district they attended prior, and the high school district they will attend (if our glorious Guşinator doesn't asset-strip the system) California's education system has assets left to strip? -- Children won't care how much you know until they know how much you care |
#29
|
|||
|
|||
When I was in school there where a few concepts that I could not grasp in
science and in math but when I complained to the teacher about not understanding (mostly the science teacher) I was told that I was not trying hard enough and the proof was I did not do the homework.. Well I did not do the homework because I did not understand it. My mom never went in to complain though as I sported low grades in most other classes.. Funny my low grade in Algebra went from a f to a b average after I got a tutor that spent 2 days a week explaining it to me! I refused to take math and science my senior year because I did not want to spend yet enouther year trying to figure out what in the world they are talking about. We are going to homeschool but Jeff is taking over math and science at at least High School.. Maybe Jr High. Tori -- Bonnie 3/02 Xavier 10/04 "toto" wrote in message news Any anecdotes? I have several, but the one that is pertinent he A parent came to the school with a complaint about homework in geometry class. Parent said "If he can't get his work done in school, he won't do it at home. It cuts into my quality time with my son if he has homework to do." You have to subscribe to Time Magazine (or go to the library to get the whole article). I read it in print. http://www.time.com/time/covers/1101050221/story.html Parents Behaving Badly Inside the new classroom power struggle: What teachers say about pushy moms and dads who drive them crazy By NANCY GIBBS Posted Sunday, February 13, 2005 If you could walk past the teachers' lounge and listen in, what sorts of stories would you hear? An Iowa high school counselor gets a call from a parent protesting the C her child received on an assignment. "The parent argued every point in the essay," recalls the counselor, who soon realized why the mother was so upset about the grade. "It became apparent that she'd written it." A sixth-grade teacher in California tells a girl in her class that she needs to work on her reading at home, not just in school. "Her mom came in the next day," the teacher says, "and started yelling at me that I had emotionally upset her child." -- Dorothy There is no sound, no cry in all the world that can be heard unless someone listens .. The Outer Limits |
#30
|
|||
|
|||
Ruth Baltopoulos wrote:
Is there no viable way to address such legitimate concerns with the School District or the School Committee? If it is clearly a serious problem across the board, is there no recourse? Again, I don't envy the descripiton of your situation. It's difficult to address right now because it's so variable. This year, my 2nd grader has a fabulous teacher and his hasn't been a problem. I hardly know he *has* homework--he just does it ;-) My 4th grader has a teacher I like very much, but I think she's somewhat scatterbrained about the homework. I don't think she *means* to overwhelm the kids, but it happens anyway. I think what happens is that she has a "normal" homework schedule that is just a bit on the high side, but nothing I'd make a stink over if most weeks were "normal" weeks. But what happens in reality is that there's an ongoing parade of little things that bring extra assignments (long term projects, things assigned by special teachers, makeups for classwork that was pre-empted by assemblies/special events, etc.) or other things that muck with the schedule. I think she also isn't the best at estimating how long it will take for homework. She seems to think that math homework will take a long time, but everything else won't take long at all. I don't think many 4th graders can write a clean draft of a five paragraph essay from scratch in 15-20 minutes (which I assume is what she's estimating, given that she thinks a half hour of reading, an essay, and a couple of math worksheets can be done in an hour). So, several of us parents raise the issue now and again, and it usually results in her being more careful for a bit, but then the homework level creeps back up again. We all like her so much we don't really want to nag her about it, and we don't want to go over her head to the principal, but we also don't want our lives to be consumed by homework... I could make a stink with the principal and it would likely do some good (we have a fabulous principal), but it just doesn't seem warranted in this situation. I have talked to him about homework in past situations with some benefit. And then there's the issue of activities. Our schedule is such that our kids have at least an uninterrupted hour every school day to do homework, plus additional time for reading. For me to schedule more than that (and still maintain the bedtimes my kids need to be civilized human beings ;-) would mean absolutely no activities during the week. My kids love the things they do, and I don't think it's excessive (well, except during Nutcracker season ;-) and it doesn't seem reasonable to me to deny them their activities just to make sure that they can devote two or three hours to homework every night when they won't actually *have* that much every night. We've discussed the possibility of having homework assigned on a weekly basis so they can work ahead the nights they have more time, but the teachers don't want to do that (for assorted reasons, some of which make some sense and others of which just seem crazy to me). We do have them work ahead on some things that they know will be coming with some regularity. Anyway, this year isn't as bad as some have been, so we're mostly managing. Last year was pretty bad. I'm a little afraid of next year, because 3rd grade is pretty tough and I've heard rumors that the 5th grade teachers are heavier on the homework. Also, in 5th grade DS1 will go back to having different teachers for language arts, math, and science, and there's ample opportunity for lack of communication among all the teachers to result in mountains of homework on some nights. We try to find some sort of balance, but it is often frustrating. I just wish there wasn't this culture of "more homework = better education" fueling this whole thing. It would make things a lot easier. Best wishes, Ericka |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
misc.kids FAQ on Good things about having kids | [email protected] | Info and FAQ's | 0 | June 28th 04 07:42 PM |
misc.kids FAQ on Breastfeeding Past the First Year | [email protected] | Info and FAQ's | 0 | June 28th 04 07:41 PM |
| | Kids should work... | Kane | Foster Parents | 3 | December 8th 03 11:53 PM |
The Plant answer DNA swab Question | Kane | Spanking | 11 | September 26th 03 09:14 AM |
DCF CT monitor finds kids *worsen* while in state custody | Kane | General | 8 | August 13th 03 07:43 AM |