Today’s guest blogger is Nini Engel, a school psychologist for almost twenty years in the Philadelphia/South Jersey area. Nini, a mother of three daughters, ages 18, 15, and 11, was appalled to find that her middle daughter’s new high school assigned upwards of 4 hours of homework per night. An Unsucessful Attempt Nini Engel, Ed.MContinue reading “Guest Blogger: An Unsuccessful Organizing Attempt by a Mother/School Psychologist”
Author Archives: Sara Bennett
Wyoming Elementary School Eliminates Homework
I just learned from the principal of Grant Elementary School in Glenrock, Wyoming, that her school is implementing a no homework practice. The school came to that decision after examining homework and having discussions with Kim Bevill of Brain Basics, who provided them with materials about homework. Kim, a dynamo, teaches social studies and psychologyContinue reading “Wyoming Elementary School Eliminates Homework”
Los Angeles area K-6 Private School Eliminates Most Homework
A Jewish day school in Los Angeles, Temple Israel of Hollywood, has basically abolished homework for its K-6 students. According to an article in The LA Times, Eileen Horowitz, the head of the school, stated, “It became apparent that some of what we were doing was silly. Why should our children spend time doing fill-in-the-blankContinue reading “Los Angeles area K-6 Private School Eliminates Most Homework”
Guest Blogger: Inspiration from a Parent
At the end of the last school year, Sharon Stochel, a parent from a Jewish day school in the New York area, was invited to give a short presentation on homework to her school principal, teachers, and staff. Throughout the school year, Sharon had approached the faculty about some of the problems with homework andContinue reading “Guest Blogger: Inspiration from a Parent”
From My Mailbox: Letter From an Eighth Grade Teacher Requesting Help
The other day I received the following email from a teacher in a private school in Toronto, Canada. Teachers: She’s really looking for advice and support from you, so please help her out by posting a comment. Dear Sara, As a veteran English teacher, I totally concur with your views about homework. I do notContinue reading “From My Mailbox: Letter From an Eighth Grade Teacher Requesting Help”
Welcome Back to Stophomework.com
Welcome back to Stop Homework. I’ve enjoyed the respite from blogging, just as many of you have enjoyed a homework-free summer. Over the summer, I received a grant from a non-profit foundation to help fund my stop homework project. This is fantastic news, because it allows me to devote more time to helping all ofContinue reading “Welcome Back to Stophomework.com”
On Vacation for the Summer
I am taking a vacation from blogging until September, but please remember to come back then. I started this site last August with the hopes of keeping up a dialogue on the problems with homework. Since then, I’ve heard from hundreds, or possibly thousands, of parents, students, educators, and mental health professionals. I want toContinue reading “On Vacation for the Summer”
Boing Boing Raves About The Case Against Homework
On the highly popular website, boingboing.net, Cory Doctorow gives a rave review to The Case Against Homework. He also discusses his own schooling: I was lucky enough to attend excellent, publicly funded alternative schools through my educational career. We had homework, but we were also given a lot of time for free play, and aContinue reading “Boing Boing Raves About The Case Against Homework”
China Moves Away from Drilling and Testing
Here’s an interesting article from Education Week which discusses how educators in China are trying to move away from the rote memorization that has characterized much of the education system. “China’s government is…seeking to inject more American-style flexibility into its math and science curriculum, by placing less emphasis on exams and more focus on cultivatingContinue reading “China Moves Away from Drilling and Testing”
Guest Blogger: Story From the Trenches–Part 3
Here’s an update from Lisa Grady, the parent from southern California who writes about what she’s doing to try to change homework policy in her fourth-grader’s public school. Organizing Other Parents (Continued) by Lisa Grady In my previous blogs, I have chronicled our group’s progress in reducing homework ( I would like to say eliminatingContinue reading “Guest Blogger: Story From the Trenches–Part 3”
Stop Homework 