A few posts ago, I wrote about the blog of Angela Bunyi, a fourth grade teacher from Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Ms. Bunyi then write to me:
Thanks for sharing my article under Scholastic (Homework: Applying Research to Policy) and my note from the homework page on my class site. I wanted to add to your readers ongoing discussion about reading logs. I did away with them this year. I also did away with a specific reading time at home.
Why? First, I don’t want students reading to the clock. The thought of seeing “30 minutes” read for child after child in the daily reading log is really, really sad if you think about it. My goal is for students to get “lost” in their homework.
Second, I did away with reading logs because they were a pain for all involved. When I did use them, I found my best readers didn’t fill them out. Now I just meet with my kids during reading conference time to talk about their reading habits at home. When a student was on page 35 the day before and they are on page 75 the next morning, why push a log? I can do the math! The proof is with the pace of finishing books in your room each week.
Stop Homework 
Thank you for seeing the light on forced reading for young kids.. I can’t for the life of me understand why young children can’t pick out the books they want to read and read them. If someone were to drop a 500 page physics book on my desk and tell me to read 10 pages a night because they’ve decided I need to learn about physics, I wouldn’t care if it was one page a night…I wouldn’t absorb a thing. And I would probably learn to hate reading.
I like the idea of discussions in class about reading habits at home…
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Oh, can you come teach at my son’s school? He got a bad grade in reading after reading all seven Harry Potter books in one semester. BUT he didn’t fill out the darn log! In New York, where I live, middle schools pick their students the way colleges do. They will look at my son’s report card and see, “What a terrible reader!”
Argh!
No more reading logs!!
Lenore “Free-Range Kids” Skenazy
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I get ridiculed by my childrens teachers for them not doing thier homework. I just feel that after spending 7-8 hours in school they need some fun time. granted they do need to learn to read better but for my son that has a learning disability its not worth the fight to make him sit there and do his homework. My teenagers do thier homework on thier own, ileave them alone about it and they bring home good grades. A’s.b’s and a few C’s. I have a total of 14 kids, 11 boys and 3 girls. 1 son is married living in Alabama and has a son. The other older son is 21 and has been in the military since he was 17. He graduated a year early and joined. He never did any homework but made 100’s on all his tests. So i agree when they say stop homework. If you stop homework it stops alot of arguments. which makes for a happier home which in turns makes for a happier kid.
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I’m assuming you also talk about the books in these conferences so that the students can tell you about their responses to what they read and maybe suggest additional books they might like to read according to what they think of the books they are reading or have read. I think discussing one’s reading make it stick in the mind better and also makes it seem more important. It’s so much more fun than logs, book reports, and other written work, and it’s even better if it’s a two way conversation and the teacher or adult also talks about their own reading experiences.
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Lenore writes:
Oh, can you come teach at my son’s school? He got a bad grade in reading after reading all seven Harry Potter books in one semester. BUT he didn’t fill out the darn log!
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It’s 3:17 am and I’m up with my daughter as she bleary-eyingly (that’s not a word, but it is 3:17 so I’m allowed) attempts to finish up an eight page English research paper. How on earth did it come to this? I have to be out early tomorrow morning and I have no idea how I’m going to manage. That doesn’t even cover my anxieties over how my poor child will be able to cope in school. I stayed up with her in the hopes she’d tighten it up better but she got six hours sleep last night too and is barely functioning. I can’t believe it’s come to this. I never allow this, yet here we are…
But back to Lenore. Oh, can I relate. But on a different angle. My daughter lived, ate and slept Harry Potter. She grew up with Harry, reading the first three books in second grade. She has read each book about twenty times.
Just like the teacher wishes, my daughter would get lost in her reading. In 5th grade, when we switched to public school, she’d get punished the next day for reading at home and lose recess because the busy homework was left undone.
Shouldn’t we all be shaking our heads? Teachers punish our children for what did and did not happen, not at school under their domain, but at home, under ours! Can we penalize teachers when they fail to do what we expected them to do during the day? After all, unlike us, they do get paid.
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Barbara,
Yes, you are correct in what a reading conference addresses. I meet with each student one-on-one to talk about their reading and their writing each week. During our reading conference time the student discusses what they are reading with me and any strategies they have been trying while reading, we infer what may happen next, and then I listen to the child read out loud for about a page before I give some feedback on what they may need to focus on while reading out-loud (ex-be careful about replacing words…or review strategies to figure out unknown words). I have been doing this for 9 years, so I am getting pretty good at recommended the next possible book…although Scholastic has a link for a “BookAlike” search engine which gives you books that are like the one you are reading now (with an option to find a book that is harder or easier). After a while though, you “know” your readers, making it an easy task.
I kind of feel like I am selling my blog, but if you are interested in learning more about how I conduct reading conferences, homework, and writing, you can visit:
http://blogs.scholastic.com/3_5
Under “Quick Links” you can find a post titled “A Blended Approach to Reading and Writing Conferences”. It is pretty detailed with a minute by minute account of a typical conference.
Best,
Angela Bunyi
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Homework Blues says penalize teachers for failing to do what’s expected during the day? Failing to do what? Keep kids safe? Teach them new concepts? Oversee the learning of MANY students on a day-to-day basis? Assess who needs review of previously covered skills and who is REALLY ready for the new lesson that must be covered in order to keep up with pacing guides. Read and respond to parent correspondence? Plan for ways to present lessons that integrate the latest technology and make students feel empowered about their own learning? Make sure that EVERY student has lunch money, gets bathroom and water breaks throughout the day, and has appropriate materials for class? Answer students’ questions even though classtime is ending and half of the lesson still hasn’t been covered? These are just a few examples of what teachers go through EVERY day. Shouldn’t teachers AND parents be working together to ensure the success of kids. Shouldn’t a parent be expected to monitor their ONE child’s practice at home if requested by the teacher in order to allow the teacher to consistently build on previously covered concepts in the classroom.
Yes, teachers do get paid, but do they get RESPECTED for trying to meet all of the demands being placed on them, and with little parental support in many instances? When was the last time you let your child’s teachers know that they’re APPRECIATED?
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When was the last time you let your child’s teachers know that they’re APPRECIATED?
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All the time. I often don’t even get a response in kind. They’re busy, I understand.
In private school, my daughter’s teachers often let me know how much they appreciated my kind remarks. And there at least, it was a partnership.
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To ‘Think About It’: Thank you, Thank you, Thank you if you are kind while you check to make sure that student has lunch money. Thank you if you give a smile to the student that asks that question when you are feeling the pressure of completing a lesson mandated to you from higher up. It seems ‘Homework Blues’ was just frustrated with an aspect that is a very valid aspect. You seem frustrated at being under appreciated. It strikes me as odd when people do what their job requirements are and then feel like they have went above and beyond and shouldn’t really have to do that. A teacher’s job is not just to recite a lesson plan; surely you knew this when you first decided you wanted to teach. It includes all the above that you mentioned. Now I am all for giving praise when someone does there job but I must say I heard a hint of resentment in your post from you that what you do is NOT really what you are suppose to do. That you do way more than what a teacher does. This confuses me.
I believe are children are confined enough in the hours required to be in school. I strongly believe our children need to be able to sigh when the final school bell rings, not be all uptight about what they still are requested to do by their teacher before the next day begins.
Be frustrated at the parent, be frustrated at the teacher, neither is at fault as it is the way the system is designed that is the fault
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Think About It asks:
Shouldn’t teachers AND parents be working together to ensure the success of kids.
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But that’s what we’re trying to do here! Many of us started out writing thoughtful, carefully crafted, respectful letters. I did that with a new teacher when we switched from private to public, I took into consideration the new terrain, the larger class size and still the teacher’s response was dismissive, disrespectful, defensive and angry.
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Shouldn’t a parent be expected to monitor their ONE child’s practice at home if requested by the teacher in order to allow the teacher to consistently build on previously covered concepts in the classroom.
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Here’s what you are really saying. Shouldn’t we monitor our ONE child’s progress, i.e, homeschool him at home after he’s just spent an entire day at school to make up for all the deficiencies of school?
If requested by the teacher. Because we only have ONE child. Teacher has 32. She couldn’t cover it in school for whatever reason so if requested by you, we are to shut up and do what you tell us. We need to practice at home because your hands are full.
Well, at least you’re honest. I was on to you long before, though. We are your unpaid teacher’s aides. You just admitted as such yourself. We only have ONE child and we should be expected to do anything you request because you are overwhelmed, You can’t do it yourself, we need to make up the slack.
We are sorry you have overcrowded classrooms. Believe me, our children suffer far more for it than you do, it’s their life, their education on the line.
Fine. I’ll do your job for you as long as you pay me and allow it to be my choice.
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As I was reading this post, it has further convinced me to home school my daughter. She can learn at her pace, read all she wants, and play all she wants (after her assigned tasks are completed of course). She wouldn’t miss out on basic socialization because she would be enrolled in her chosen activities as well as attend various tutoring groups for special subjects such as languages.
I went to college to study education, and after my first term and my first education class, I dropped that major and switched to Art. I aced the class and my professor/advisor was shocked that I didn’t want to teach after taking that class. My point is, Some people have it in them to be a teach and some do not. I dropped education because from what I saw in the class, the state expects the teacher to babysit the students, rather than teach them, the state determines what a child should learn, and the state has in turn taken responsibility from the parent. Being a teacher is like being a doctor, and working for the state is never an easy job. I want to say kudos to those teachers who do care and those parents who work with the teachers. And also to those parents who let their kids play after school.You rock! Homework really is just busy work…and I’m sorry to those teachers who didn’t get a chance to teach everything in their lesson plans for that day.
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I hate homework. My son is very smart. I know this by the decisions he makes, the way he talks to people, the way he can figure out how something works or fix something that is broken. However, I have strugged with him since 1st grade (he is in 9th) with turning in homework. He gets terrible grades and it is always because he doesn’t do homework. His test grades are good. His in class stuff is good…but missing homework drops the grade to below average. His teachers scowl at parent teacher conferences because of his “not turning in work!”. Here is the problem. At night when we get home, they each have a little chore they have to do, then play, then dinner, then family hang out and talk time, or church, then bed. They are in school for over 7 hours and I think after that it’s MY time with them. OUR family time. There is no proof homework helps. Isn’t there anything we can do?
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To Amy:
Read Sarah’s book …and this blog and there are loads of ideas of things you can do as a parent.
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I am in grade 12 and one of my teachers has a checkmark system. If you do certain assignments you get points for the test but only seven are used on one test each time. He does not penalize us for not doing homework. I don’t know how well it would work in the younger grades though.
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I have children (more than ONE by the way) and I work full time. I don’t expect a teacher to come into my office in the evening and finish up the work I wasn’t able to accomplish during the day, why do they expect me to do their jobs, unpaid during my evening family time? I have to come home from work, get dinner on, make sure the kids are doing/have done their homework, eat, dishes, bath, get them to bed at a decent time.
I’d really like the hour or so a night I spend going over homework, assisting, TEACHING back. Then maybe, just maybe I’d have time to play, snuggle, talk to, read with, bond with, and spend time with my children. Instead of the constant rush of get this done, get that done that most working families go through every night.
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It’s good to hear from others in the same place as we are! My son loves to read, he read on his own- Sherlock Holmes, Robinson Cursoe, Treasure Island and many other “classics”…he loves them! Last year in 6th grade he refused to read the books they handed out. They had 4 books- ALL FOUR were basically the same book…a 12-13 year old girls perspective on life during WW II.. really? What 12 year old boy wants to read that once- never mind 4 times! We met with his teaching “team” and were basically told that our son was a horrible child! This is a kid who gets a smile from EVERYONE – other parents always tell us how sweet and kind he is. He sits for hours doing his homework- it’s not unusual for him to take 4-5 hours to get it all done. It is absurd, and I, for one am fed up and refuse to get on his case about it any more! His sister- in all Honors level courses doesn’t have this much homework. He can ace his tests without doing the homework- and isn’t that what homework is about? Isn’t it supposed to “reinforce” what they learn in school? I would love to homeschool my kids, but we need 2 incomes so it isn’t possible.
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About what ThinkAboutIt and HomeworkBlues were saying about teachers and parents, I agree that the parents shouldn’t have to do the teachers’ jobs for them. However, I also agree with what I thought ThinkAboutIt was saying about “in order to allow the teacher to consistently build on previously covered concepts in the classroom.” I agree that a teacher probably shouldn’t be teaching the same thing over and over again, shouldn’t have to (if doing job right) retread ‘previously covered concepts.’ Usually in my experience, with your average teacher your average kid understands whatever concept was taught in class at the end of the class, most of the time. If they don’t, it seems reasonable to me for them to take it upon themselves to go up to the teacher after class and ask for clarification, and/or at home that night do a few practice problems until they feel like they understand it (NOT lots and lots of drilling or gratuitous practice, only as much practice as you think you need to feel confident in whatever skill.) This kind of practice I think makes sense at home because you mostly don’t need to ask the teacher questions and all the kids would be practicing for different amounts of time–some might feel they understood it fine from the class and choose not to do any practice at all, some might need like 30 minutes to feel comfortable with something they really didn’t get before–so to do that in class would take up time the teacher to be actually teaching and the kids to be learning new things. That’s what we do in our math class right now (we just have a quiz or a test every week and everyone studies as much as they feel like they need to), and I think it really works.
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I am a little concerned by some of these posts.
When I think back to calculus, there is NO WAY I could have learned calculus – or any math, perhaps – without homework.
The point of homework is to PRACTICE.
There is not enough time in a seven hour school day for all kids to PRACTICE what they are learning. That is not the teacher’s fault – that is the “fault” of children being both human and individuals.
It takes SOME individuals more practice than others to learn certain things.
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Elizabeth — if you need to practice in order to learn math, go for it! No one here will stop you.
Imagine a system where students practiced only when they needed to. What would that be like?
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That’s what I was trying to say with my post as well, Elizabeth, and why I personally think homework should exist but be totally optional. It DOES take some individuals more practice than others to learn the same things, like you said–For the kid who feels they understand what was taught in class without more practice, homework would be a waste of time, so they could do something else, practice their chemistry or play piano or draw. (if it turns out they didn’t actually know what they thought they did, they’d probably find out the next class or the next quiz and learn something important about themselves–like the toddler learning to walk who needs to fall down before they can totally get the hang of staying upright). For the kid who feels like they DO need more practice, the teacher would have some sheets available or some suggested problems in the textbook or whatever, and they could do as much as they needed to until they felt confident. There wouldn’t be a set required amount, because each kid might need more or less practice to get to where they felt comfortable. To me, this seems like a better system then completely mandatory homework. The emphasis would be more on understanding the material rather than doing a task to hand in the next day.
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To Elizabeth
Calculus is a topic I took only after Grade 11 when I went to high school, possibly not even until Grade 12. Some homework is probably appropriate at that level. I don’t know when they start it now but it’s probably too early!
Anyway the issue is that math is not the only subject children get homework in and if you are a full time high school student with 6 or 7 classes a day, each class likely amounts to half to an hour’s worth of homework each night…amounting to hours and hours of homework. SO in addition to the 7 hours at school there’s another 3 hours at home to do…that’s a gruelling life. Even if a child makes the decision that they want to do it, their health and wellbeing seriously come into question after a couple of months of that kind of schedule.
It’s never an issue of practicing a few math problems after school. It’s about night after night of sitting with nose in books for 3 to 4 hours a night when you’re 15.
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PsychMom, well said. But it’s not three to four hours of high school homework anymore, that’s pie in the sky now. It’s seven. And we aren’t just talking the kids with ADD. At Back to School Night, the physics teacher said two hours a night. And this wasn’t even an AP course! The calculus teacher said two hours a night. Okay, we’re up to four hours here and we’ve just covered two out of seven subjects. You do the math. At this rate, you have to seriously ask yourself, if she’s putting in eight hours of hoemwork after a long day at school, what are they doing at school? Why am I sending her? This isn’t homework, this is homeschooling.
And then there’s weekend homework. Many students at my daughter’s school tell me they work all weekend long. By this stage of the game, no matter how hard she works, my daughter is slipping. Who can keep up this grueling schedule?
Elizabeth, it’s not a few math problems a night to practice. It’s relentless grinding homework that keeps students up way past their bedtime and puts them at risk. Whatever benefit you could argue with math practice problems is completely obliterated by sleep deprivation and decreased focus the next day.
In other words, as a teacher, I’d rather have my students completely rested and alert than practiced and so tired, they stare at me blankly for an entire class block.
There is no credible sleep research to suggest that high achieving kids don’t need sleep. They are simply better at faking the effects. It comes out in other ways. Yes, they might still pull good grades, leaving their parents and educators to believe they can pull it off, they can do anything and everything. They can’t. It comes out in other ways. These kids will still dutifully do what is expected of them, get excellent grades and shoot for a top college.
But it comes out in other ways. Depression, anxiety, sleep disorders, chronic fatigue syndrome, apathy, cutting, bulimia, anorexia, risk taking behavior, and yes, even suicide. Don’t be fooled.
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Elizabeth says, “The point of homework is to PRACTICE.”
Elizabeth, that may have been the case once, that was clearly the original intent. School is seven hours long, you learn the concepts and skills during that time and then you go home to practice and reinforce that new information.
Aside from the fact that “practice” doesn’t have to mean homework (doesn’t my daughter practice her reading when she reads all afternoon, practice her writing when she works on her novel at home, practice her spatial skills when she erects structures out of k’nex and leggos, practice her science when I take her to a nature center, practice art when she drags out all her markers and clay, practice speaking, listening and negotiating when she plays at the playground, practice math as a five year old when we walk a mile to the supermarket to weigh fruits and vegetables, practice counting when we play math word games, practice spelling when we play scrabble, practice geography when we play map board games, practice fine motor skills when she draws and sews, practice….you get the picture now, don’t you?), it simply is not PRACTICE anymore.
My daughter does all her research papers, essays and projects at home. That’s not practice, that’s curriculum. Today’s homework is everything that didn’t get done at school. It’s shunted home as an extension of the school day, often not to reinforce what was learned that day in school but to learn it for the first time at home. And heaven help us if mom doesn’t know calculus or dad can’t remember all his physics.
Homework, as it stands now, is simply extending the curriculum. Yes, school can’t do everything in those seven and a half hours. But they can do more, a lot more. As long as homework is forced home under the guise of responsibility, practice and my favorite buzz phrase, “school home partnership,” there will be no incentive to change. I repeat, they get paid, we do the work, who is greater fool?
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Kathleen – It is possible to work and homeschool. I have been doing it for 5 years. It takes a little more work but the goal of homeschooling is to get your children to “self-learn.” That is what makes it possible. There are books at the library that could help you decide if this is something that could work for your family.
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I see that several on this blog have a misconception of the home/school connection. It saddens me to read parents spewing forth venom against their child’s teacher and declaring it is not their job to oversee their child’s education in the evening. Wow. I wonder if these same parents are equally outraged at their child’s pediatrician who does not personally administer antibiotics to the child three times a day once they determine a need for such. If the doctor recommended surgery or a specialist for a particular illness, would the parent stomp and fume and declare that the doctor is a quack because he does not possess knowledge about EVERY problem that might affect your child? Would the parent cross her arms defiantly and tell the nurse inquiring about health history and habits that she refuses to do the nurse’s job? Yes, what I am suggesting is an analogy, but one that possesses viable similarities. The energy you spent resisting your child’s teacher is affecting your child whether you see it or not. I, for one, cannot imagine watching my child flounder in his education and refusing to offer my own assistance and insight toward improvement. You can fight against the system if you so choose, but your child is the one who loses in the end….whether you have a good teacher or a bad teacher. Rethink your position while you can still be a positive influence in your child’s public education. If you can’t be partners with the school, then take your child out to home school or private education. If you can’t afford to do that, then realize YOUR financial limitations are similar to the budget restraints of the school system. It is absolutely ludicrous to expect such. The only ones who think a teacher’s job is “superman” are the parents. The employer, the state, the country, the colleges who certify teachers, and the community all recognize a teacher’s job has human limitations. Again, if you can’t be a partner, play a different game.
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I can’t believe what I read here! American children do not learn even half of what we did learn in Russia, in ten- not twelve!- years. I have to get my kids to special Russian math school AFTER school because they do not learn ANYTHING! Whole year for multiplication table??? No algebra till high school? No physics, chemistry, etc ?? And on top of learning NOTHING- no homework to make it even worse?
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A few things that I would like to point out:
I graduated from HS in ’03, so I am still fairly young (at least I like to think so) and I took AP classes as well as some that weren’t and I cannot recall every having 3 hours + of homework (let alone 7?!)
As a first grade teacher, I assign homework as well as a reading log. My reading log only requires the book title and whether it was read by the student, the parent, or together. It isn’t timed or a certain number of pages aren’t required. The most I am asking for from my students to complete their homework and reading is 45 minutes, but most likely 30 minutes is all that’s needed.
One reason we teachers assign homework (at least in the primary grades) is to teach responsibility. Children that consistently don’t turn in homework in my room are usually very unorganized and are much less responsible than their classmates. Homework helps both these areas.
I also assign homework to get the parents involved in their child’s education. In first grade most students need help completing their homework because they can’t read fluently. I teach in an urban district and I know a lot of my student’s don’t get much one-on-one attention from the adult figure in their life. They also need someone reading to them to model how reading is done.
Another point I would like to address is that we do not address homework “because we didn’t get to it at school”. If the general public knew how much time was invested (or better yet- lost) to assessing (as in state testing, district testing, school testing, etc) they would see that the 7 hours their child is in school is not completely devoted to instruction.
Let’s see…30 minutes for lunch, 30 minutes for recess, 30 – 45 minutes for special class (art, gym, etc), 20 minutes for restroom breaks (trust me, little ones cannot wait nor are they quick!), that’s a lot of time not spent in the classroom.
Just my side of the coin 🙂
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To #26 Anonymous
A partnership implies a shared responsibility and communication. How is it a partnership when one side dictates to the other what is expected? Teachers seldom send a note saying, “This is what I propose for your child to do…let’s discuss it.”
What comes home from school is…”Here’s what I want you to do, parents: This is how long you are to do it each night, these are the things you must buy to do it with, and I want to see it by Tuesday with your name on it”
That doesn’t sound like a partnership to me.
And I don’t understand the analogy to the medical profession at all. How is a 10 minutes consult with a physician the same as 10 months with a teacher? Physicians are dealing with “problems”…a teacher is supposed to be dealing with education. I would never expect a teacher to treat a child’s learning problem…..lord know he/she’s got enough to deal with.
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With all due respect to 1st grade teacher (and some others who have posted here) please read Sarah’s book “The Case Against Homework” before commenting. All of your arguments are discussed in there. “Teaching responsibility” and “getting parents involved” are frequently raised as homework goals, but the effect of homework loads can be very, very different, especially at such a young age.
For physicians and teachers alike, “first do no harm.”
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How disappointing it is to read these comments that parents are making regarding their child’s teacher. I agree with the comments about working together as a partnership. No wonder the schools have so many behavioral problems with students, look at the parents attitude towards their schools. Also, many parents do not prepare their children for school, which means they start school behind other classmates. Some parents, unfortunately, do not have their children read at all and have little interaction with the child’s teacher. It is because of these parents that teachers and schools find it necessary to assign homework for students to practice the essential skills. For all those responsible parents out there, could you imagine not reading to your child or having them read to you or not making an effort to know what is going on with your child at school. These parents do exist, teachers want every child to succeed, but in order to do so, some students need additional practice and many times these students come from families that are less than helpful in providing this help. I think in an ideal classroom, where all the parents are involved with their children’s well being and have their students read at home then yes, homework should be optional, but for those schools where parent involved is silm to none, homework is necessary 100% of the time.
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Readingisfun, I am confused by your comments. First you say you are disappointed in us parents who blog here often, suggest that kids have behavior problems because of parents like us and then you proceed to lament how such children don’t read.
If anyone needs to read, it is you. Read our comments. I am beginning to feel that key commenters on this blog (myself included) should post position papers. We are not the parents you lambaste!
My child reads. That’s the whole point! She reads incessantly. I want less homework so she has time to read!
I’m tired now. I don’t have the energy to repeat everything I wrote. Please take the time to read it. How can you form an opinion half baked?
We don’t idly blast anyone. I know I think my positions through very carefully, honed after years of frustration. We are an intellectual family. I cultivated a child who loves to learn, in a home where I have to hide books so she’ll do her homework.
My husband and I spend time with our child. Lots of it. Not nearly enough. Homework eats the family. And it breaks my heart. This isn’t funny, this isn’t idle whining, this isn’t griping, this is serious. We are talking about the health and well being of a child. We are talking homework overload that reaches the point of utter absurdity. That cuts into sleep and play and causes anxiety and depression. This is serious stuff. Surely you must think I have better things to do than pick on teachers. It’s about family. It’s about our life. It’s about our sanity. It’s about our child.
My position began simply. No homework in elementary, credible research bears that out. All my daughter ever wanted to do in elementary was read and write a novel. What’s wrong with that? High school homework should never be more than two hours. Beyond that yields nothing but diminishing returns. But we here feel no one is listening to us, giving us the impression the family comes last. The mother especially is the most vilified and disregarded stakeholder in the public school system. Unless we acknowledge those deep seated but closely guarded secrets, we cannot progress.
My child is a respectful, well behaved, kind, considerate, ethical young person. We have a respect and passion for learning in my household. We are nowhere near rich, not even comfortable in some respects. What we have is the will and desire to educate and educate well. We try hard. We are there. We are committed. Why would you pick on that?
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Readingisfun writes: “I think in an ideal classroom, where all the parents are involved with their children’s well being and have their students read at home then yes, homework should be optional, but for those schools where parent involved is silm to none, homework is necessary 100% of the time”
I keep hearing this argument. Over and over. It’s a valid one but I’ve answered it every time. Here goes again.
If homework is designed for those children who receive no enrichment at home, no books, no parents to read to them, then how do you explain the exponential increase of homework in gifted programs? My daughter has been in gifted and/or private programs her entire school life. Most of the parents are involved, some in ways I would take umbrage with. But the fact remains, they are involved. These kids are mostly reading.
By your calculation, homework for self motivated children should be optional. A teacher could wink and whisper, okay, your daughter can just read and write that novel. Show it to me when it’s done. Good enough for me!
But that’s not what happens. When I tried to talk to her public school teacher years ago, said teacher pursed her lips disapprovingly and clucked, “she still has to do her homework.” She was talking past me and chose not to hear a single word I said.
I see the exact reverse of what you describe. Gifted programs fry the kids and the non-gifted ones leave them to their own devices.
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To Readingisfun
I too am really tired of the people like you who comment who haven’t read all the postings. I’m the most involved parent on the planet in my child’s learning and in her schooling. But I worry about all children being pushed into WORK and pushed into growing up because adults fear they will somehow be less successful if there isn’t someone hounding them from behind. I want my child to be a child for as long as I can manage it. My concerns goes way beyond homework (as it does for many parents here) but this forum helps to get the word out there that there are better ways to treat children.
Homework prepares young children for absolutely nothing but a life long hatred of books and school. And reading to one’s child and talking to them every evening over the dinner table is more than a reasonable substitute.
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HomeworkBlues, reading the recent comments gives me a new theory about G/T classes. I think the public schools have decided that “gifted/talented” means “parents want the kid to go to Harvard.” Then they fry the kids with tons of homework and pressure in the misguided belief that this is what the parents want because it will pave that golden path to the Ivy League.
At this point they might as well just rename “G/T” and “AP” and “accelerated” classes “pressure-cooker classes” and be done with it. We’d have truth in advertising and parents like you and me (and, apparently, Matthew) would know to keep our kids away. And instead of entry to G/T being decided by IQ tests, which is not really the relevant point, entry could be decided by an interview with the parents. Just ask the parents, “Would you rather get your kid into Harvard than give them a happy childhood?” If the answer is yes, go ahead and enroll the kid in G/T.
Of course, the question of how to educate a bright, curious, creative child would remain to be answered. But we could all save a great deal of time and heartache if we weren’t under the completely false impression that the public schools actually care about bright, curious, creative kids.
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To 1st Grade Teacher — homework in the first grade has nothing to do with teaching a child to be responsible. It’s all about Mom. The kids who turn in their homework are the ones whose mothers nagged, cajoled, bribed or threatened their kids into doing the homework, day after day. I have never met a first-grade child who could remember, and complete, homework every day without instruction from his parents (and if that child exists, I’m not sure I want to meet him!)
A lot of Moms just do the homework for their child. It’s a lot easier than fighting with an exhausted child every day, and it makes no difference whatsoever to the child’s education. Take a closer look at the homework that gets handed in. Do you see some with unusually mature handwriting?
Homework should never be given in first grade. Even Harris Cooper doesn’t think there should be more than 10 minutes. You routinely assign 45 minutes, which is way too much. (By the way, how do you assess how much time it will take?)
As for “getting the parents involved”, do you hear how patronizing that is? If your students don’t get much attention from adults, believe me, the kind of attention they get while being frog-marched through homework is not going to improve their lives.
Homework was the worst thing that ever happened to my relationship with my daughter. I’m determined to put my daughter’s needs first from now on.
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Here I sit (blissfully uninterrupted) at the computer, enjoying the peace and quiet of the first day of school. I am the mother of four beautiful daughters (yes, more than ONE child . . . how rare), ranging in ages from 9 to 17. I have looked to this day with glee and dread all mixed into one. The glee refers to the peace and quiet of a childless home while the ‘dread’ refers to the yearly homework battles with the teachers . . . not my kids.
I have scanned all 36 comments in this wonderfully, delicious debate about homework. Each year at the first parent-teacher interview in the fall, my husband and I make it known that homework is secondary to family. Many times I have written in agendas that it was too nice outside to do homework only to find out that my child was tethered to a desk the following recess to complete the required ‘busy work’ of the day.
My husband and I are trying to take a stand for what we believe in, which is family time and ‘get your butt off the couch and be active’ time. In this day and age of technology, children will remain glued to a computer, video game or televison if left alone to their own devices. In our area, gym class is becoming a thing of the past or it has become such a joke that it’s laughable at times. (“Oh, poor little Jimmy can’t run? Just sit on the bench and take a break if you need to, dear”) For us, physical activity is just as important as mental activity.
I shudder when my child brings home an I.R.P. (Independent Reading Program), which generally means lots of homework for Mom and Dad. Last year, grade 3 example:
1. Read a book
2. Write a summary of the book
3. Write down 20 new vocabulary words, meanings and make new sentences for each
4. Write an alternate ending to the book
5. Pick 3 characters and describe them. Do you know anyone like them?
6. Do a project about the book. (It cannot be the same as the previous I.R.P. project.)
How to suck the enjoyment out of reading in two seconds flat? BUSY WORK!!! I am insulted when my parenting skills are questioned when I reject the benefits of time spent with my child doing homework. My husband and I both work full time, shift work for me, and any time I have with my kids is a treasure. The last thing I want to do is monitor useless busy work!
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Hi MomToFour:
My child went back last Wednesday…to 3rd grade. It’s the year “they” all say is a killer for the start of serious homework. The note from the teacher said that Homework won’t start until this week. Notes in previous years have said I can expect 30 minutes of reading per night plus 20 minutes of “other” work, varying depending on the whim of the teacher basically. I’m taking the approach of not saying anything until a problem appears at home, but the independent reading projects of which you speak, are what I’m dreading. They did them last year too and it was an unmitigated failure for my voracious reader who couldn’t stand the books selected. And as for signing off on homework…it won’t be happening.
The teacher and I are on good terms but definitely have different ideas about homework….if you see bright lights in the eastern horizon this fall, it’ll be fireworks over Halifax.
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To everyone — argh! The school year has barely begun and I’m already getting into homework debates at school. I was just talking to my younger daughter’s kindergarten teacher about the “sound of the week” homework and she remarked, “most of the kids chose to participate in that.” Whaddaya mean, the kids chose to participate? The *Moms* chose to participate! 5-year-old kids don’t spontaneously remember to bring in a “sound-of-the-week” object from home. And this is actually a teacher I like! I think my head just exploded.
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Have I got a sound of the week for you………?!
I laughed so hard when I read your post…do teachers not get how absolutely silly they sound?
Give your kid an airhorn to take to school. Or a whooppee cushion…I’m still giggling..
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PsychMom — maybe I should explain — “sound of the week” is actually about learning the alphabet. You’re supposed to bring in an object whose name begins with the sound represented by the letter. I think it’s called “sound of the week” to emphasize phonics (so you don’t, for instance, send in a sugar cube to represent “s”.)
I like your idea of the air horn and the whoopee cushion, though — I’ll keep it in mind!
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Oohhhhh…
I like my interpretation better. But I’m sure I could also come up with creative words for each sound of the alphabet too.
I love having projects to work on.
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i am in 7th grade and i have at least 4 hours of homework a night– i am in a magnet school so i expect it to be a lot but i am outraged at what the teachers say
“homework is good and will improve your grades and studying is learning which is NOT review”
they even agree with me that if it was review then i should not have to do it unless i need to.
i have read some of the other comments saying we do not respect teachers and that is wrong we usually try to its that teachers do not respect us and i do not see why we should have to keep on respecting them when they dont and as someone mentioned earlier THEY get paid not us.
also i believe that all homework is review and that only kids who need to review the subject should do the homework. i think it is ridiculous how there is now forced studying for subjects that we could be doing perfectly well on and learned in class. i do not think teachers need to review everyone to see if they have got the concept, they should use IN-SCHOOL work to review and test the kids in question.
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PsychMom — you gave me my best laugh of the day. I keep thinking of the air horn and whoopie cushion — eeeeeep FBLLATT! Excellent.
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To 7th grader above: This was my daughter too. This child illustrates how destructive homework overload is. I have yet to meet a bright 7th grader at a magnet school who is enthralled with homework overload and who benefits from it.
Detractors will counter that we can’t always give kids what they want. That misses the entire point of this middle schooler’s plea. This child is miserable, becoming disillusioned and is losing faith in the very adults he/she should be looking up to. Why take the chance? I see no benefit here at all. Sometimes a little goes a long way. Less is more.
My daughter was given an incredibly huge amount of language homework over the summer. She saw the sheer volume, gasped and shut down, completely overwhelmed and despairing. To her relief, some other students reported the same thing today. She told me, had it been ten pages instead of fifty, she would have tackled it.
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To 7th grader — 4 hours a night is twice as much as the 2 hour maximum that Harris Cooper recommends for high school!
I completely agree with you that homework should be only for kids who need the review. If you don’t need it, what’s the point?
Have you talked to your parents about this? I know the school will tell you to “self-advocate”, but I think that’s school code for “we don’t want to deal with parents.”
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You bet, FedUp. The sad thing is, that’s the norm for 7th grade these days. Especially in gifted programs. No wonder kids are tuned out and apathetic.
As for “self advocating,” my daughter’s school repeated that mantra too. So my child screwed up the courage to ask for an extension on a large report, as she was going off to an important convention. We are talking about requesting a dispensation for *weekend* homework! She would miss no school but would not have much of the weekend to do her homework.
Teacher shot her down and scolded her like this: You must work many many hours. You cannot just have fun all the time.” Does this kid look like she is having fun all the time?
Reminder to self: Go back and ask teacher. What do you do on your weekends? Heaven forfend, might you be having a little fun yourself?
The next question is, so what are parents going to do about homework overload that is so beyond any recommended guidelines? The most amazing thing here is this entire problem could go away quickly if parernts galvanized en masse. That’s all it takes. But what will it take to get there?
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First grade teacher writes: “Another point I would like to address is that we do not address homework “because we didn’t get to it at school”. If the general public knew how much time was invested (or better yet- lost) to assessing (as in state testing, district testing, school testing, etc) they would see that the 7 hours their child is in school is not completely devoted to instruction.”
You think we, the general public, is not aware of how much precious instructional time is wasted on testing? We are aware, we realize, we know and we are furious.
We know it’s not all your fault. But shunting the work to the home because school had better things to do than actually teach is a dreadful solution. The school is punishing the very little person they are supposed to be helping.
It’s an awful situation. But please don’t assume for a moment that many of us are clueless. We know how much time is wasted at school. There’s an adage in homeschooling I love to keep repeating: We do twice as much in half the time.
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Correction: We ARE not aware. Not is. Typo. Ooops.
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Anonymous writes: “And on top of learning NOTHING- no homework to make it even worse?”
Anonymous, you never ever use homework to make up for bad instruction, ever. That is what so many of us are fighting for here. It’s not about not working hard. It’s not about not learning. It’s not about dumbing down the curriculum. It’s about using every precious minute in school wisely. Trust me. If schools eliminated the fluff and used the time to teach, homework could be minimal.
It’s about nurturing and inspiring children. It’s about creating a home of learning and books and intellectual dinner discussions that are allowed to go on uninterrupted. Where the teachers call the shots from 9-4 and you take over the the rest of the time. Where your home is your castle. Or your library.
I don’t know about you but a lot of learning happens in our household. We’ve done the school thing, the homework thing, and I am here to tell you my daughter would have learned far more without homework than with it. That’s because in order to “make” her do homework, we were always taking away The New York Times, The New Yorker, Wuthering Heights, Shakespeare, and a novel she was writing. Homework limited learning, not enhanced it, especially in elementary.
Not all parents may want to spend all afternoon and evening with their kids. That’s okay, everyone’s different. But don’t pretend homework promotes learning. If you need it as a babysitting service or think your kids will never ever do a single responsible self directed educational pursuit without it, go ahead, clamor for more homework. But please make it optional. I judge you not. You live your home life the way you want and I want the freedom to do likewise.
Written at 1:15 am. My high schooler is still up and doing homework for…I don’t even want to tell you how many hours. And it’s only Day Two.
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