Parents Should View Homework with Skepticism

I was really happy to see this piece by David Shenk, “Does Homework Work?” in the Atlantic Monthly:

School’s back, and so is Big Homework. Here’s what my 7th grade daughter has to do tonight:

1 Math review sheet,
1 Science essay,
French vocab for possible quiz,
History reading and questionaire, and
English reading and note-taking

About two hours, give or take. This is considered a pretty light load, so as to ramp up gently. Over the next few weeks, it will get up to three hours or more.

Most of us give very little thought to this long-lived combination. School and homework seem as interconnected as cars and gasoline. Kids need homework to get smarter — right? It’s supposed to be how they pick up a good work ethic.

Read the rest here.

One Giant Step Backwards, One Baby Step Forward

Palm Beach County, Florida, instituted a new homework policy over the summer, allowing for 60 minutes of homework in third grade and 90 minutes in 4th and 5th. According to an article in the Florida Sun Sentinel, parents are up in arms. (If you’re one of those parents, please let me know.)

At the same time, also in Florida, the Collier County School District in Naples instituted a new policy of abolishing the grading of homework. Its new policy came about after the District, in response to parental concerns, looked at research into best practices. According to Naples News, the Chief Instructional Officer wrote in a memo to middle school principals, “Research advocates that homework receive teacher feedback versus a grade; the concept here is that we should have the opportunity to practice before we receive a grade. Think of it as learning to drive — you must have the opportunity to practice on many occasions — with feedback — before you go to the DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles) to be tested.”

Moms (and Dads) on a Mission–Rural Alabama

Today’s guest blogger, Jerri Ann Head Reason, lives in rural Alabama with her husband and their two sons, a 6 year old who just started first grade and a 4 year old. Jerri Ann, who has a B.S. in Education and a M.A. in Counseling, has been writing to me for over a year, ever since she discovered The Case Against Homework. Last year, she blogged extensively about her adventures with kindergarten homework. This year, she decided to become the Parent/Teacher Liaison at her son’s school–the very same school where her father taught, and in the same district where she was a student and where she has taught as well. In addition to her blog, Education Uncensored, she recently started PhD in First Grade to help parents and children keep track of the “massive amount of homework given to the first graders.”

One Mother and Her Army
by Jerri Ann Head Reason

My son was in Kindergarten last year and mostly I complained about the state of affairs at school, including what we now refer to as the horrible “H” word; homework. I couldn’t fathom how five-year-olds could be expected to do any “H” word, never mind the amount he was expected to do. And, that’s how I met Sara Bennett and I came to read The Case Against Homework. Mostly I spent my time complaining online and to anyone who would listen but not actually talking to people who could help. This year, as the parent of a first grader, I have taken a different approach. That approach is “if you can’t beat them, join them, and then change their minds, one person at a time”. Knowing the people who can help make the change possible is essential and it’s not going to happen if you just sit back complain. If you have any question about the amount of “H” word I am referring to, see the website I created to help the first grade parents keep up. It’s a doozy, PhD in First Grade.

Continue reading “Moms (and Dads) on a Mission–Rural Alabama”

A High School Senior Speaks Out–The Education System is Cheating Me

The Education System is Cheating Me
by a high school senior from southern California

I’m a high school senior now. I live in an urban community, meaning that schools in my town are embarrassingly underprivileged. All my life I feel that I’ve been cheated by the traditional education system. All students do is zone out on lectures, do class activities, and then go home with homework. My younger brother suffered so dearly during elementary school and the family would be up past 10pm shouting criticisms, shedding tears, then leaving the rest for the morning as we ate breakfast. Although the whole system is flawed, homework is possibly the most responsible for failing and loss of interest.

Continue reading “A High School Senior Speaks Out–The Education System is Cheating Me”

Quebec Newspaper Writes Editorial Against Homework

Quebec’s largest English language weekly newspaper, The Suburban published an anti-homework editorial at the end of August:

Too much homework

As kids go back to school, we need to pay attention to a growing movement among parents and educators calling on homework to be severely reduced. We think they are right.

Childhood is a time for growth and education is an important part of that. But so is being a child. Enjoying your youth and family. School hours have expanded over the years to the point that many school days end at five instead of three. Almost weekly tests in one subject or another are being the norm in many schools. Homework assigned, or studies expected, reach two to three hours a night. It is far too much.

Kids and families need to decompress at the end of a day. Kids need time to be kids and families need time to be families. It can’t just be school, rush home and grab a quick dinner, and back to the books. Monastic existences do no one any good.

Continue reading “Quebec Newspaper Writes Editorial Against Homework”

10 Tips to Start off the School Year

Over the summer, I kept on seeing the same type of article I’ve been seeing for over a dozen years about how to help your kids succeed in school and with homework. By now I’m sure you’re as familiar with that advice as I am: establish a routine and schedule for homework; limit distractions during homework hours; assist your child in getting started or figuring out how to divide the assignments into smaller parts; praise your child for effort, etc.

I thought I would write my own 10 tips, which would lean more towards how to ease homework overload than how to set up a comfortable work station at home, but before I started typing I saw that Kerry Dickinson, someone I’ve written about many times (she was instrumental in changing homework policy in her Danville, California, community), had posted her top 10 tips on her new blog East Bay Homework Blogspot. While Kerry’s tips are different than mine would be, she has lots of good ideas.

Here are her first three tips:

1. Don’t over schedule your children this school year. Benefits: you save money, get more time at home as a family and are generally less stressed out when you’re not driving your kids around after school running from one activity to the next.

Continue reading “10 Tips to Start off the School Year”

Welcome Back (and The AP Song)

Welcome back to Stop Homework. I was really gratified to see that, while I was taking a break from blogging, people were still stopping by, commenting, sending me emails, and talking to each other in the Comments. I especially liked the sharing of ideas, the recommending of articles, and the support people offer each other.

One person recommended adding a section where readers can post articles. It’s a great idea but it isn’t feasible. So please send me articles you’d like to see me post. I’ll blog about them and then I’ll file them under Resources.

And, to start off the school year with something fun, listen to this song by Nathalie, an eleventh grader from Princeton, New Jersey, who wrote it for a friend who had to take the AP test on her birthday.

Wouldn’t it be great if every student started sending the lyrics around? Maybe educators would take notice and listen.

Here are the lyrics (but I highly recommend listening:

The AP Song
by Nathalie

You would judge me
On the accuracy of my best guess
But you cannot budge me
I don’t want to take this AP test

And my free responses
Will be mainly composed of pure BS
I REALLY DON’T WANT TO
No, I don’t want to take this AP test

And it’s even my birthday
But the College Board doesn’t care about me
Oh, what a Thursday!
I’d really rather not take this AP.

Since I live in Princeton
My neighbors all work for ETS
They don’t know how I hate them
And especially their stupid test

I should be studying
And as procrastination goes, this is far from the best
But I’ll forgo a review book to sing that
“I don’t want to take this AP test”

I paid 95 dollars
And I’ve never regretted an expenditure more
But the check has been written
So I’d better get at least a four

And it’s even my birthday
But the College Board doesn’t care about me
Oh, what a Thursday!
I’d really rather not take this AP.

See You in September

I won’t be posting again until September but I will be answering email, so please feel free to write me with your questions, concerns, and requests for speaking engagements. If you’re looking for an end-of-the-year gift for your children’s teachers, consider giving The Case Against Homework. When teachers and administrators read it, they think about, and change, their homework practices.

Have a great summer. And, if you’re looking for a book to read yourself, please take a look at the book list I just added.