Last week, I attended Parent Orientation at my kids’ new school. As I sat at my daughter’s desk in her second-grade classroom, I looked around at all the materials on the wall: math facts, a big map, a list of commonly misspelled words, classroom rules and such. All in all, I loved it, because it felt like a good environment to learn in. It’s what their rooms at home look like.
As the teacher addressed us, she went into her teaching philosophy. She’s been a teacher for 29 years (longer than I’ve been alive – yikes!) and she’s learned a thing or two during her nearly three decades at the front of the classroom. Her first tidbit to us? Don’t expect a bunch of homework coming home. As far as she’s concerned, kids have to follow a lot of directions at school and so their home time should be respected and they should get the chance to relax, play outside, and have fun. (Edit: She does expect her students to read every night and log their minutes every Friday. So there’s that.)
Some of the other parents looked relieved, but I wasn’t.
You see, I’m a nerd, through and through. I’ve been on a four-year hunt for a bookshelf that is worth of holding all my books. I watch movies with the subtitles on to determine how “realistic” the dialogue is. If there’s more information to learn about something, you better believe I’m learning it.
So you might guess I’m struggling with this. On one hand, if the homework is truly just busy work, then by all means keep it. But if it’s building on skills, reinforcing concepts they’ve learned during the day…I want my kids to do it.
I’m one of those parents who believes in education. Not just the sit-in-a-building-all-day-and-regurgitate-facts kind of education, but the How-will-I-become-a-well-informed-person-with-a-firm-grasp-of-what-it-means-to-think-critically? kind of education. Even though my kids’ school gets high ratings every year, it doesn’t mean that I can sit back and trust that they’re learning all they need to learn just because they’re gone from 9 until 3 every day.
Since my kids were born, I’ve felt this drive to help them be better than average. Perhaps it’s my response to a society that says I shouldn’t have had kids “too early”. I feel myself pushing them and while I think I’m pushing them toward greatness, I don’t want to push them too far or too fast. I’ve already got both of my kids as early entrance students, meaning they’re the youngest in their classes.
So I’m trying to sit back and figure out what makes sense for us and what my kids need from me after school. We’ll probably do some educational activities after school on some days and other days we’ll relax. After all, it’s elementary school. Right?
Do you believe in homework? Where do you fall in the debate?
I strongly agree that learning also happenes outside the classroom and that learning is way more then regurgitating what the teacher has said to you. As a future childhood educator student and mother I truly believe homework is important how else are we going to know that the student actually learned what they were taught . In a classroom a student can fall in to the back or be too shy to ask a question that homework is to let the teachers see what students need what help . Most people think thats what test are for but I believe it should start before than because low test scores can discourage students at times.Also i love that most teachers asaign reading for 30 min a day as a hw. I believe this is very important not only bevause im a geek and love to read but because reading never goes away and too many young adults are not fans of reading. As a college student o have seen too many students doing poorly due to not comprehending or juat not being able to sit and gain interest in the text. We have to start them out young. As far as being a young mommy yes sometimes it seems we have something to prove but that’s not necessarily a bad thing no one knows your children like you do so you know what they can and can not handle. Its ok to want tge best and more than average for your children its not a young mommy thing its a good mommy thing
@Anastacia – I will say that she does ask the kids to read each night. That’s their only “homework.” Let me update the post to reflect that.
Last year, the fifth grade class had agreed that instead of sending three worksheets a day for hw, they would send one and encourage more reading and a paragraph about what they read. I was very happy with that. We had after school activities, I had late nights at work, and I have a special needs child, with tons of extra work. One mother was furious and said that wasn’t enough.
Jeremy brings home three worksheets of work to reinforce everything he did at school. He comes home so tired and frustrated it breaks my heart. I agree with you, hw is a great way for kids to retain what they’ve learned and for parents to get an idea of what they’re seeing at school. However, I also see it from the eyes of a parent who has way too many things going on and know that a balance and a break here and there are very much appreciated.
@Lisette – That’s what I’m trying to slowly learn – balance! Because I want my kids to actually enjoy learning!
As a former educator, I understand what this teacher is saying — especially since your daughter is only in 2nd grade. She has plenty of time for homework in the upper grades. I think this just gives you, as the parent, a chance to further educate your daughter like you always do. Teachers are there to facilitate learning during the day, but parents are to continue the education at home. I think no formal homework at her age is completely fine.
Oh – second grade? I think just reading homework in second grade is perfect. A little-known fact about me is that I have a degree in Music Education and student taught both elementary and high school. What I learned through that experience, and my own personal experiences as well, is that students tend to be overwhelmed. Not only are we teaching them 6 hours per day, but then they are involved in music, sports, clubs, theatre and a variety of other, often equally important experiences. Many of the high school students I worked with were overwhelmed by homework on top of these activities. Second grade is the perfect time to take it easy on kids so that they can go home and enjoy their families, because when middle school transitions to junior high school they will seem like little graduate students weighed down with heavy backpacks. Besides that, an absence of homework allows parents to engage their children in family learning activities like chemistry sets, nature walks and visits to the Science Center. When children are older, the time for those things will be few and far between. Then again, my first child is still a fetus, so maybe I’ll sing a different tune if she comes home from second grade with almost no homework ;-).
@Julie – Thank you for this!! I tend to go overboard with “structured learning activities” so it’s always good to get a reminder to breathe and let them enjoy being kids. I know I have high expectations, yet they are only 6 and 5. Sometimes I need a little thump on the nose to remind me of that.
It depends but I’m in your camp. I send my children to school to learn and I expect that they will have homework. Its nice for the parents to not have to deal with HW, but I think its important to reinforce what is learned during the day. The additional benefit of HW is that it helps the child to create life long work habits that are good.
So…though they may not get HW from school I would have them read as required, perhaps longer and maybe do some other activities that are beneficial to them, but I wouldnt go overboard.
BTW I don’t buy the teacher’s logic for no HW; maybe she’s just tired after 29 years or has lowered her expectations.
I agree that if homework is going to be assigned it should be an extension of what was taught in class that day. I also think it should be fun and allow kids to move around. Maybe scavenger hunts? Now, I don’t believe in homework everyday. I do think kids can get overwhelmed. So maybe 2 or 3 out of 5 days is sufficient enough for me.
I agree with the teacher… kinda. I am not a huge fan of “overwhelming” homework and don’t necessarily believe that busy work makes you smarter. Reading and exploring and having family time mean a lot to me and sometimes homework discourages family time. I remember being inundated with homework at a very young age and would come home from school, do homework and then just go to bed, barely speaking to my mom. I’m also a big nerd and was taught in a very traditional way but I’ve sent my daughter to a progressive school where homework is added on gradually. In Pre-K – no homework… eventually the homework is only to read and then more work that is kind of like – watching a news broadcast or things of that nature. Am I concerned that her education will be stunted? Nope – she’s at an institution with 100% college attendance rate with nearly all of those schools being in top tier. It’s a philosophy and I can get behind it.
Do I believe in some homework – yes? But it does not need to be daily in order or paperwork. In fact, I wish homework was for parents to visit local museums or art galleries and stuff… but that’s just my world view.
We homeschool in my home, and even before we started this journey, I really didn’t believe on giving children homework. From being in a family of educators, I’ve noticed that a lot of time in school is wasted on discipline, and not so much time on the lesson. But if they children are really learning in school and picking up the concepts then there is no need for home work. However, if we talk to our children and ask them if they are having any problems (confirming with the teacher) then we should be spending more time with them on that concept. There are times in school when the lesson goes too fast for the kids to pick up, and others, too slow and bores them. One on one it’s easy to know the difference, but in the classroom of 25+ students, it’s hard to balance out the learning curves that suited to all the students.
I believe in homework because it helps me see exactly what I need to work on with my children. It helps me see their strongest areas, and the areas where they need help. Sometimes looking at their graded schoolwork simply isn’t enough and I want to see them in action. However, I do not like too much homework because they already sit down so much in school ( and one of my kids has about 5-6 pages of worksheets, 5 days per week, and that’s just kindergarten). I feel like they need some time to let their brains rest and just play, spend time with the family, and relax.
I am a bigger fan of “homework” that is really a list of activities that parents can do with the kids. Activities and questions that teach life skills, encourage critical thinking, focus on art, math, science, and so on. This was something that my son’s teachers did in PK-1st grade, and I loved it.
I admit I have to agree with the teacher. But I also agree with you and I want my son to learn and believe in learning. It is fine to me if a teacher doesn’t want to do homework (besides the reading and logging of minutes). But all I would request is a bi-weekly updated on what they are learning so I can print off my own worksheets or gets books that match the subject. It really is all about balance, But I guess the difference for me was myself, my brother, and my sister could have been straight A students. We read because it was simply the norm in the house. But we all had a issue with homework. Around middle school i got sick and tired of being in class 8 hours a day, only to come home and have to sit 1-3 hours doing homework. Granted I admit I felt after my last year of middle school the learning process was the same things over and over.
With my 3 year old, I been cutting off the TV a hour a day to play/read/do homework (he as a little sheet he has due by the end of the week from his daycare/preschool class). But as my son grows I plan to teach him his street smarts on top of his book smarts. I think around the time of 5-6 years old, he will sit down with me and pay bills, learn about money management, etc etc. But I do want him to focus on being a kid as well and playing, getting hurt (cause he likes to jump off things), playing sports. I don’t like to be overloaded, so my goal is not to over load him.
@DeShieka – I like the way you think 😉