elementary school homework

[Neesy228]

Geesh, I sure don't remember 2nd grade being such high pressure when I was there!!

Just wondering how much homework your elementary school aged children have? Just checking to make sure my school isn't crazy!

 

[emma'smom]

Actually, my dd is in first grade and the teacher has said that there won't be any homework...that he doesn't want busy work. The parents should work with their kids on meaningful projects...and can consult with him as needed if parents are concerned that the children need to feel accountable by having a teaching in on the planning.

 

[imthatgirl]

she had to read for 1 /2 hour every night. she would also get a math home work sheet and a spelling homework sheet. it usually took us about an hour.
shes in third this year. we get ready for the MCAS now and will start saturday school. so far she been doing a lot of assesmant tests to find out who her second teacher will be. so there hasnt been overwhelming homework, but once we get through the testing and see where she goes during rainbow grouping i expect them to start piling it on.

 

[swald91]

Actually, my kids had more homework in 1st grade than in 2nd!! My son is in 3rd and has an ok amt. I think they have time in school to finish it & if it's not done, then it comes home. My daughter is in 7th & has a decent amt for her age. There is a big discussion about homework & studies show that it doesn't make them any smarter-etc. I don't think it hurts-it definitely reinforces what they cover in class. My son just hates to do it!!!!

 

[LIBLULA]

My daughter is in 3rd grade. She had more homework in 1st and 2nd grade. They only have homework if they don't finish their work at school. She hasn't had any homework except to study for weekly spelling test and to read 60 minutes a week. I have her read at least 30 minutes a day and have her do extra stuff at home.

 

[heimlichfan]

I teach 4th grade and our school tries (as consistently as possible but not always) to follow the 10 minute rule...

For each grade they are in school, they should have 10 minutes of homework. So 1st graders have 10, 2nd graders have 20, etc...

I know that generally I do not give homework on weekends and over the years have stopped giving assignments over breaks.

Tonight for homework my kids had to do one spelling sheet, one math sheet, and reread part of our social studies book. (Like 5 or 6 pages.)

 

[Luv Bunnies]

I love how my son's 2/3 teacher did homework (we have split classes and kids have the same teacher for 2 years in a row). She sent home a packet on Monday that was due on Friday. There were usually 5-6 pages in the packet of math, spelling, grammar, etc. The kids could do all of the pages in one night or do 1 or 2 each night. If we we knew we would be out or busy one night, we would just plan to do extra on another night. In addition to the packet, 2nd graders had to read for 15 minutes and 3rd graders for 20.

This year he's in 4th grade. He's been getting one page of math each night. They also get a spelling packet on Monday with 5 different activities to help them study their spelling words. The packet is due on Friday. They're also doing the recorder right now so they have songs to practice each night. I've never thought the elementary school homework was unreasonable. Our school goes through middle school. When my oldest started 6th grade, that's when I thought the homework was unreasonable!

 

[Erin1700]

My second grader gets a page of spelling, a page of math and sometimes reading. It only takes about 15 minutes.

 

[amandaraye]

I think a lot of it depends on the teacher. Last yeay when DS was in Kindergarten he had enough homework to sometimes drive him to tears. When he got to that point I told him he didn't have to do it and I spoke to his teacher. That's ridiculous to to that to a child of that age. She just liked to keep the kids busy and out of her hair. He came home with about 4-5 worksheets every day that he completed during school, then more to do at night. Terrible year we had last year.

This year, he's (obviously) in first grade and his only homework is Mon-Thursday nights for us to read aloud to each other for 20 minutes per night and keep a journal of books we read together. She also "encourages" us to continue to read together over the weekend even though it's not required. Now, seeing as in the last 16 years I've had kids they've never gone to bed without story time this is a breeze.

 

[DisneyKT]

My DD is in 4th grade and has up to 4 sheets a night. What I don't like about it is that the directions on some of the sheets are so vague. And this year it seems like the teacher is not very helpful. I am reserving judgement until more time goes by. Going to be a fun year.

 

[fortheluvofpooh]

we are on the opposite end. I am constantly saying to my kids...."what is that? you mean you only have one page?" I am dissappointed in our school.

 

[KEH113]

My DD is in 4th grade, and seems to get a good amount of homework. It's always at least an hours worth. One night she had so much stuff it took her 3 hours. That was only once. They do get weekend homework occasionally. Her teacher is great though and very fair so I don't worry too much.

 

[stormer]

I second the 10 minute rule. We generally follow that in my school, too.

 

[ajh88]

My second grader gets a page of spelling, a page of math and sometimes reading. It only takes about 15 minutes.

That's about the same for my DDs 2nd grade. They usually get a spelling list once a week and they have to practice words they don't know regularly. There is usually a math sheet and she's had to write two 5 sentence stories. She has to study math facts for 5 minutes a night and read for 15 minutes a night - they turn in their reading logs on Fridays and if they didn't read 75 minutes for the week, they miss morning recess.

She's also in "math intervention" since they do MAP testing in 2nd grade - so she usually has a couple of extra math sheets, but they aren't technically homework to be turned back in - just extra practice.

All in all, she spends 30 to 45 minutes a night on school related work (including the 15 minutes or more of reading).

 

[Karlzmom]

I can't get over how much homework kids are given these days...we had none until jr. high, except maybe a book or state report per year. My older DS had homework out his ears! Part of me thinks its because my teacher graded papers after class, where it seems to be "the thing" to have the kids swap and grade...takes twice as long for the coverage and means a bunch comes home.
It seems like literacy and test scores were higher and kids actually had time to be kids. The last thing most adults want to do is more work after a full day and yet that's what we ask of kids on a regular basis. Everyone blames TV and video games for kids not being physically active, but good grief, 20 mins of reading, 30 mins of math, add in the 20-30 mins of band practice, the history, science, health etc. and the daylight hours are gone!

Frankly, the amount of "family time" that the public schools feel comfortable claiming in the form of monitored reading, assignments, etc. is one of the factors that went into our decision to home school. I always respected "school time" with appointments and such, but they seem to have no problem taking over the few waking hours I have with my children. As the mom of a special needs child, we found that we would literally spend the entire evening explaining the concepts, monitoring the work and filling our forms. There were days I wondered who was in school, him or me, with all the "mandatory
stuff that parents are expected to do.....If we have to spend that much time working with our children to keep up with the teacher's expectation, then we may as well just do the lessons here and cut out the garbage that we don't want being fed to our kids....I know homeschooling isn't an option for everyone, but I must say it certainly put some sanity back into our lives.

 

[PollyannaMom]

My 2nd grader usually gets one or two worksheets, Monday through Thursday. Spelling words are also given out at the beginning of the week, for a test on Friday. There is no weekend homework.

 

[jfegan]

Our school follows the ten minute rule, but my son doesn't. He just talks and talks and it can be over an hour and he hasn't put forth any effort. He really needs to burn off steam, but I just want him in the habit of getting in done right after school. I didn't and I wish I had learned that. It's early in the year yet, I imagine some haven't settled into the 'way' of doing things yet. Our 2nd grade teacher ( I said that as if I returned to second grade) pardon me, his 2nd grade teacher had a method with spelling words that could take a lot of time up one day and none the rest of the week, or just a little everyday. It was self paced and up to the student (or his parents). This year, 3rd grade his teacher is sooo laid back and he is expected to do 30 minutes. If he finishes in 20, he should find something to do work wise to fill the 10. Good Luck!

 

[carj]

My second grader has to read for 20 minutes nightly. He gets a math worksheet 2 times a week. These usually take him less than 10 minutes. He has to write his spelling words 3 times as a handwriting grade and to practice. Those are the things that are required.

We also practice his spelling words by spelling them mout loud each night. He has 20 words and there are usually 5-6 that don't follow the rule so those are the ones that we focus on.

He also takes timed fact tests every Friday. You have to make a 100 on the test in order to move to the next test. Each test takes 5 minutes and he practices 2 times each day. (He wants to do this because he is very competitive and wants to move to the next test.)

In all, we probably spend 40 minutes on homework. Since 20 minutes of that is reading, I don't feel like that is excessive.

 

[mjkacmom]

Last night, my kindergartener's had 15 minutes, my second grader 45 minutes, my fifth grader 1 1/2 hours, and who knows about my seventh grader - she does homework in her room, on the 3rd floor. Around here, third grade is when it gets crazy.

 

[WantToGoNow]

My son's in 2nd grade and he gets a list of spelling words on Friday and has a pre-test on Monday - if he gets them all right (which he hasn't done yet), we don't have to worry about them that week - otherwise the test is on Friday. He gets a short list of vocabulary words that he has to know the meaning and able to put them into a paragraph on Friday. He has to read a book every night (15-20 minutes) and usually a math page but not always. He forgot to put his name on his paper the other day and had to write his name 25 times as homework as well.

My dd4.5 has preschool homework about 1-2x a week - usually cutting out shapes out of a magazine and gluing them into a book.