Category Archives: Moms (and Dads) on a Mission

Today’s guest blogger, “FedUpMom,” had been advocating for homework reform in her daughter’s public school in suburban Philadelphia. This school year, she decided to try private school for her fifth-grade daughter; she is having more success in getting the school to respond to her concerns. This is FedUpMom’s fourth post; you can read her otherContinue reading “Moms (and Dads) on a Mission–Suburban Philadelphia: A Private School Listens”

At the beginning of the school year, Kristi, the mother of a second grader in public school in Indianapolis, IN, refused to sign a “pledge” that she would do hours of homework with her child. Here’s what she did, why, and the outcome: I refuse to sign a homework pledge by Kristi In the firstContinue reading “Moms (and Dads) on a Mission–Indianapolis, Indiana: “I Refuse to Sign a Homework Pledge””

You’d think that the thoughtful and lengthy letter Diane Hewlett-Lowrie sent to her son’s second-grade teacher would have warranted an equally thoughtful reply, or, at the very least, opened up an interesting conversation. Instead, Diane received nothing but a curt email reply. The teacher thanked her for expressing her concerns and told Diane that, accordingContinue reading “Frustration in Plumsted, New Jersey”

In The Case Against Homework, and every month in the first year of this blog, I suggested that parents send a note on the first Monday of every month to either a teacher or school administrator and express their frustrations. If parents took this simple action, the homework problem would become too big to ignoreContinue reading “First Monday”

Sasha Reynolds, the mother of a 7-year-old and a 5-year old, recently wrote me to tell me what she’s doing in her children’s school in Scotland: I have finally approached the school my children attend with regard to the homework issues as I am on the Parent Council. I have found to my pleasant surpriseContinue reading “Moms (and Dads) On A Mission–Scotland”

Today’s “Mom on a Mission” is Krisi Repp, a mother of three from Gray Summit, Missouri, with students in public elementary, middle, and high schools. A stay-at-home mother for the past 12-1/2 years, Krisi recently returned to work part-time. Here is a letter she wrote to all of her children’s teachers, right before the beginningContinue reading “Moms (and Dads) on a Mission: Gray Summit, Missouri”

I’ve been hearing from a lot of parents (mostly moms), who sent letters to their children’s teachers and/or principals in the hopes of starting a dialogue about homework. I hope the letters, which I will be posting off and on, will inspire you to also start a dialogue in your community. The first letter isContinue reading “Moms (and Dads) on a Mission: Plumsted, New Jersey”

A parent of a middle schooler in Massachusetts, wrote to me to tell me her concerns with Renaissance Learning’s Accelerated Reader program. Her local middle school uses AR to quiz students on their independent reading. Students are only rarely allowed to bring their own books in to read silently in school. Moreover, students are givenContinue reading “From my Mailbox: A Parent’s Concern with Mandated Reading Program”