For parents

[freeflygoddess 0]

Ok I was sitting here teaching my son procrastonation because he is in Kindergarden and his teacher gives him homework every night and I just got out of college last year and will start medical school next year and was thinking, gosh it is just going to get worse every year until he graduates and I will have tons of my homework to do myself. I then remembered that I never had homwork to do everyday until I was in JR High. Why is she giving her kids homework at Kindergarden? So I thought I would ask other parents when their children started having homework everyday and if it is common that Kindies have homework. I just know that next year I wont be much help to him and his homework when I am drowning in my own and then there is jumping to do....

[JeffD 0]

Well I'm not a parent but My girlfriends neice is 4 and her daycare is having her do homework!!! simple stuff like tracing letters etc. And her nephew has had homework for the past 2-3 yrs (dont know about kindergarten though) hes 9. Im in college now and I only have homework due once a week in 2/4 classes.

edited because I cant spell.

[Pammi 0]

My kids even had homework in the 4-year-old program! Nowdays it seems like they are big into 'parent involvement'. At the beginning of school this year (they are now in 2nd and 6th) I got three thousand forms to read and fill out about the rules, and how a significant part of their grade is homework and home projects.

Back when I was in school (good grief, I'm already talking like that!) homework was work you didn't have time to finish at school. Now it's something they hand out at the end of the day.

And while I'm bitching, I also don't understand why PE is a once a week thing. Physical fitness isn't important anymore? No wonder all of the kids nowdays are getting heavier and heavier! Plus they have their school programs and such during the day now too...how the heck am I supposed to get to them when I work 40 minutes away?! School starts earlier because they don't have enough busses, so one of them goes at 7:30, the other at 8:15, but you can't drop them off more then 15 minutes before school starts so Merrick and I have to split up on when we go to work since we can't drop them at the same time, and if I'm late picking them up, I have to pay by the minute for the time I'm over.

It's getting crazier and crazier. Get used to it.

Pammi

[lummy 4]

The mindset at my kid's schools are roughly 10 minutes of homework per nite per grade level.
The majority of that homework for K and 1st grade was to read at least 10 minutes a nite with a few things thrown in here n there. She's in 3rd grade now and this is the first time that she is getting assigned something that is due the next day. Up until now, it was assigned on a weekly basis but was broken into daily things to do.

One of the things that helped a lot was their daycare. They have a homework club and my kids would do their homework with their frineds from class. I would check it at home to make sure it's done right Worked pretty well for both of them.

I promise not to TP Davis under canopy.. I promise not to TP Davis under canopy.. eat sushi, get smoochieTTK#1

[happythoughts 0]

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I only have homework due once a week in 2/4 classes

Any fractions?

[Nightingale 0]

Homework in Kindergarten is very common.

However, it has been proven in study after study that HOMEWORK DOES ABSOLUTELY NO GOOD BEFORE THE JUNIOR HIGH LEVEL. Children who have homework don't do any better than children who are not assigned homework.

Teachers right now, because they think they have to cover every single little freakin standard (fyi: they don't. teachers who think this are misinterpreting their standards books) try to cram what they can't do in class into homework, thinking that their students will perform better on the standardized tests... wrong again. children perform better if the very important standards are covered in depth.

I'd be happy to provide the information about the homework studies to anyone who thinks their kids have too much work. sometimes, if you have the information (and are very loud and annoying...) you can get the principal to do something about the school's homework issues (primarily just to shut you up because you're being loud and annoying... j/k)

[FrenchyDiver 0]

My daughter is now in 3rd grade but she started having homework since Kinder. Yes, there's this parent involvement thing now. She has now an average of 1:30 + of homework to do every day. It has also to be signed by the parent(s) too. I seat with her every day to help her, and somewhat I wonder how she can cope with it. Between her class hours and homework time she's putting more ours (around 9) than I do at the office (max 8)

Hispas Brothers President
HISPA #2,

[jfields 0]

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I'd be happy to provide the information about the homework studies to anyone who thinks their kids have too much work. sometimes, if you have the information (and are very loud and annoying...) you can get the principal to do something about the school's homework issues (primarily just to shut you up because you're being loud and annoying... j/k)

Please post links to the studies.

Also note that principals do not necessarily have the leeway to change a school's policy away from that set by the jurisdiction.

And if you complain about them having homework, I'll complain if they don't. I don't believe your assertion that homework does no good before junior high. Prove it.

[skytrixaz 0]

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HOMEWORK DOES ABSOLUTELY NO GOOD BEFORE THE JUNIOR HIGH LEVEL.

I'm curious...do you have any children of your own. If so, what are their ages and do they live with you.

g

[lummy 4]

***HOMEWORK DOES ABSOLUTELY NO GOOD BEFORE THE JUNIOR HIGH LEVEL.

I'm curious as well and I'll throw in my opinion that your comment is false. Notice I said opinion.

I disagree based on the fact that it is my belief that children are more likely to do the homework and are better prepared to do it because it has become a routine and not an unsurmountable task.

They might not learn any more by doing homework, although I'd disagree based on the belief that reptition helps people to retain knowledge, but they're still better prepared to do it when the homework is a lot tougher, especially in middle school...

I promise not to TP Davis under canopy.. I promise not to TP Davis under canopy.. eat sushi, get smoochieTTK#1

[pegasus 0]

We have a 2nd grader & a kindergardener, they both started having homework about 2 months into kindergarden. That is totally different than what I remember, it seems as if I started having homework around 5th & 6th grade. I can see the pro's & con's of it. One pro being, that come HS & higher homework loads, they will be used to doing homework and that it will be a part of learning & advancing. One con, is that kids at this age should just be allowed to be kids, maybe 1 x a week but not everyday. I iasked my daughter's kindergarden teacher & she told me that the main reason was to promote parental involvement, which I agree that in some families the lack of is a serious problem.

[Nightingale 0]

well, as for my credentials, I am one class away from my master's degree in Education. This is my specialty, and something I've devoted the last five years of my life to studying intensively.

I have hardcopies of the studies... also, I've got all the studies online, but they're in a password protected database through my school. If I linked them, you couldn't click through. My professor says they're online in other places, so I'm going to look for them. if I can't find them or get the URLs from her, I'll scan in the documents I have and make them .pdf files, but give me a few days, k? scanning pages of articles on a flatbed scanner is a PITA.


here's a few links I've found that reference some of them...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/378067.stm
New research shows doing regular homework will do little to raise numeracy standards among primary school pupils.


http://education.umn.edu/CAREI/Reports/Rpractice/Summer94/homework.htm
According to these studies, the typical U.S. high school student, 14 to 16 years of age, in a class doing homework would outperform 69 percent of the students in a no-homework class, as measured by standardized tests or grades. In junior high school, students 11 to 13 years of age, the average homework effect was half this size. In elementary school, homework had no effect on achievement.

[freakyflygirl 0]

I have a 1st and 3rd grader and through the last couple years it's kinda depended on the teacher as far as homework goes. My 3rd grader hardly ever has homework, my 1st grader has it 3 out of 5 days atleast.

A weird thing my 3rd grader's techer told the parents...if your child has any problems with any homework....DON'T HELP HIM/HER?!?!?!? She said to send it back to school with a note so she can teach them the right way....I just thought it was a little odd....

[Nightingale 0]

its because parents don't always teach things properly... for example...

when a child is learning basic division, the larger number goes inside the sign, while the smaller number stays outside... lots of times, parents will tell children "the bigger number always goes inside" and the child internalizes this...

but when they get into higher math, the bigger number doesn't always go on the inside, and the poor kid is completely messed up, because a rule they have internalized for many years is not easy to unlearn.