Each week, I get more and more email from parents around the country about how to handle homework problems. On occasion, if a person has a particularly difficult problem, I’ll answer their questions through a telephone conversation rather than just email. I know there are a lot of other activists with ideas on how toContinue reading “Advice Needed”
Author Archives: Sara Bennett
Inspiration from Australia
The president of the Tasmanian State School Parents and Friends in Australia (an independent community based organization formed in 1947 to represent the parents of children participating in state school education within Tasmania) has started a campaign to stop teachers from assigning homework in elementary and high schools. According to an article in
Another Palo Alto Elementary School Takes a Look at Homework
When parents at Addison Elementary School in Palo Alto, California, brought to their principal’s attention the reduction of homework at Oak Knoll Elementary in Menlo Park, the principal responded by refining its homework policy as well. According to an article in Palo Alto online, the principal stated, “”I was blindsided about the anxiety that seemsContinue reading “Another Palo Alto Elementary School Takes a Look at Homework”
On Vacation
Stop homework is on vacation until March 19. I hope you, too, get a vacation from homework.
Radio Interview with Etta Kralovec
Here’s a great radio interview with Etta Kralovec, co-author of The End of Homework: How Homework Disrupts Families, Overburdens Children, and Limits Learning. How anyone could not eliminate homework after listening to her speak is beyond me. I interviewed Kralovec for The Case Against Homework and, since that time, we’ve had numerous conversations about homework.Continue reading “Radio Interview with Etta Kralovec”
First Monday
This coming Monday is the first Monday in March. As suggested in The Case Against Homework, and in this blog every month, I recommend that every parent send a note to her/his children’s teachers, administrators, or School Board members on the first Monday of every month. This past week, the national media reported that theContinue reading “First Monday”
Is Homework Ban the Beginning of a National Revolution?
Yesterday, the CBS Nightly News picked up the story of the homework ban at The Oak Knoll Elementary School in Menlo Park, California, and asked whether Oak Knoll is at the forefront of a homework revolution. I hope so. After a short ad, you can watch the story here.
More Schools are Cutting Back on Homework
According to the San Jose Mercury News, some San Francisco Bay area schools are responding to the requests of elementary and middle-school parents to cut back on homework. The Oak Knoll Elementary school in Menlo Park has mostly banned homework, except reading, occasional projects or catch-up work. Bubb Elementary, in Mountain View relaxed its homeworkContinue reading “More Schools are Cutting Back on Homework”
From the Mouth of A Fourth-Grader
Even before Newsweek wrote about how fourth-graders are burned out, I heard from Julianna, a fourth-grader who lives south of the Bay Area in California. I’ve received countless emails from students over the last several months, but Julianna is the youngest yet: I am in the 4th grade and I have 4 to 5 hoursContinue reading “From the Mouth of A Fourth-Grader”
Fourth Graders are Burned Out
According to an article in Newsweek, Principals and teachers around the country are growing increasingly concerned with what they call the fourth-grade slump. The malaise, which can strike children any time between the end of the second and the middle of fifth grade, is marked by a declining interest in reading and a gradual disengagementContinue reading “Fourth Graders are Burned Out”
Stop Homework 