Today’s guest blogger is John Painter, the editor of readingtonparents.org. On that web site, you’ll find interesting articles on a variety of topics, including: scripted learning, cheating, and homework. You’ll also find a pretty decent homework policy from the Readington, New Jersey, School District. Here, the father of two describes the all-too-familiar trials of aContinue reading “Guest Blogger: A Father’s Lament”
Category Archives: General
First Monday
Today, November 6, is the first Monday in November. As suggested in The Case Against Homework, and in this blog on October 2, 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. (If your school celebrates a holiday today, thenContinue reading “First Monday”
From a Fourth Grade Teacher
I received the following email from a fourth grade teacher in the Lincoln Consolidated School District near Ann Arbor, Michigan: Last year we had the homework issue come up in an aggressive move from our principal to try and regulated homework across grade levels. It is so over the top! The amount of homework heContinue reading “From a Fourth Grade Teacher”
Homework as Muse
I’ve been getting heartbreaking email from students, mostly highschoolers, about the role of homework in their lives. Today, I received a refrigerator magnet poem from Becca, a 17-year-old eleventh grader from Bainbridge Island, Washington: I am not motivated in school make good grades do homework complete work accomplish, study, test College? NO! my love isContinue reading “Homework as Muse”
A Digression
Today I’m taking a short break from my stop homework mission to point out the stunning work of my husband, the street photographer Joseph Holmes. Joe was one of four photographers selected by Nikon to use a new camera and then Nikon based an ad campaign on the resulting photos. It’s a complicated web site,Continue reading “A Digression”
First Monday
In The Case Against Homework, we end the book by suggesting 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 ignore and we’d stop hearing that homeworkContinue reading “First Monday”
Success Stories
In the past week, I’ve received a lot of email from parents across the country who’ve started discussing the homework problem with their children’s teachers and among other parents in their children’s classes. Their letters are inspiring. For example, this morning “HM” wrote me: After gaining insight from your book about how to approach homeworkContinue reading “Success Stories”
Blaming the Victim
In a letter to a columnist in the San Benardino Sun, a single mother writes that she has moved her son from an inner-city school to one which believes in “high achievement.” She’s upset that her child brings home two to three hours of homework a night. She doesn’t want him to have to giveContinue reading “Blaming the Victim”
Today Show clip
Many people have told me that they didn’t get a chance to see my co-author and me on the Today Show. So, since you asked, here’s the clip of our appearance on the Today Show on August 31, 2006: http://media.stophomework.com/today-show.mov
Praise for The Case Against Homework from California State University Associate Professor of Education
Yesterday, I got the nicest note from Stephen D. Aloia, an associate professor of education at California State University, Fullerton. I interviewed Aloia for the book, so his comments, reprinted with his permission, are especially gratifying: Sara, Just a quick note to say how much I enjoyed your book, The Case Against Homework. As aContinue reading “Praise for The Case Against Homework from California State University Associate Professor of Education”
Stop Homework 