4th Grade--No Homework Policy?!?!

[aprilgail2]

Right now in first grade my daughter gets 10 minutes of homework....and I would have a MAJOR problem with it if it was more time than that...she sits on her butt in school all day long, when she gets home I want her out doing things, not sitting on her butt doing MORE school work! The schools are all worried about childhood obesity yet they think nothing of them sitting around all day in school and giving them so much homework that they sit around for hours after school doing homework instead of out at other activities where they run and get exercise. At our open house the teacher said that if we felt the homework was to much at any time to contact her and she would work on having them do some during class time so it wouldn't be so much at home..she said she realizes that the kids have a life outside school....I was SO happy to hear that! Some teachers think the kids have nothing else going on in their lives but schoolwork and homework!

 

[vettechick99]

My 4th grade teacher didn't believe in homework. It was the best year ever!

Sorry, I'm no help. But I did graduate college (3.47 in my major) and all my friends have graduate degrees, so it didn't hinder us too much!

 

[zurgswife]

Our schools policy is 10mins per grade including the credit reading...So, my 2nd grader has 10mins and 10 mins of reading...my 6th grader has 20 mins of reading approx 40 mins of homework...

 

[CharlesTD]

I would be raising this issue with the school board there is no way there should be no home work our daughter in grade 4 gets 2 hours of homework a night. There is something seriously wrong with that system when you don;t give a kid homework I can see if you assign it and the child does it at school during lunch or something else like that. I mean the homework also helps the parents know what the kids are covering in school so as to keep up to date and help out with keeping them on track.

 

[Buckalew11]

My 6th grader has a lot less homework this year than last. People complained and, surprisingly, the school listened.

Some days she has none, some days she'll have a hour and sometimes there are projects.

I also am one that believes that all schoolwork and no playtime makes for an obese/angry/boring etc. child.
I work all day and I don't get off from work and want to more of the same!
Children are so busy these days they don't have time to be a kid and have fun. My goodness, these should be carefree days in their lives but no!

My nephew often has 80 math problems a night. 80! Tell me that is not ridiculous.
(He's 13)

My 16yo niece is up past midnight most nights doing homework. And she will start on weekend homework immediately after school on Friday. What is up with that? And she only take piano once a week--she doesn't play sports where she'd have practice everyday after school.

 

[dis4me]

We moved this summer and the school DS attends has a NO Homework policy in 4th and 5th grade (don't yet know about 6th). They do all their work in class, so no homework comes home ever unless a child didn't get their work done (which has only happened twice for DS since school started on Aug. 8th---which is true for the majority of the class). Well, I would be OK with this in younger grades--but 4th grade is getting a little old for NO homework. My main concern is with Math. I'm a Math teacher (college now, but used to be Middle / High School)---so I know how valuable homework is to turn "short term memory" into "long term memory" when it comes to developing mathematical skills. Being able to complete a problem right after you've seen it demonstrated on the board is good---but being able to work to complete the problem a couple of hours later and removed from the classroom is where the "long term memory development" comes in. He is missing out on that development. They are "married" to this No homework policy, and don't want to change it.


I think I am going to have to supplement his education here at home, but I don't want him to feel punished. So....

My question to you all is 1) what is your homework like for your elementary student and 2) Do any of you have suggestions for supplementing skills at home without "torturing" your kid.

Can I move to where you are? I would be thrilled if my dds had no homework. Of course being a teacher I would supplement with what I thought they needed but really the homework is becoming out of control. most children who have extracurrricular activites are losing sleep because they have to do homework at night.Unless a review is needed or it is to study homework serves very little purpose. You can't grade it because many kids get help from parents so you don't even know if they mastered the skill or not. I only gave my classes spelling because it was the repetitiveness that helped them remember and about 5 math problems a night so that they could retain the lesson taught.

 

[zurgswife]

Oh...and they get recess and 1-3 grade only goes to school 1/2 day's on Monday and Friday....4-6 gets 1/2 days only on fridays and they get recess and still manage to go to top notch colleges after graduating from high school.....

I'm sooo glad my kids don't have to go to public school...

 

[golfgal]

http://www.edu4kids.com/

We used this website a lot with our oldest to practice math facts. It didn't seem like work for him because it was on the computer. You can set it up with a timer or just keep "score" of how many right or wrong they have. You can customize it to what kind of math they are doing. It is a GREAT site. They also have drills for states and capitals and presidents for social studies and some language arts drills. You can use the free drills or they have some more advanced drills that you can buy a membership for, but we have only used the free ones.

Holt math text books also have online study guides and practice problems for each chapter online. We use those if DS is stuck and can't figure out how to do a problem.

When the kids were in K-2nd grade, if they didn't have homework, they read for 20 minutes or so. They got quite a bit of homework in 3rd grade so if they didn't have any, that was a free night for them. Now they are in 8th and 5th grade and get plenty of homework, so again, if they don't have homework, it is a free night for them.

 

[barkley]

Have you taken the time to accustom yourself to the lunch and recess policies of today?????

My son has 20 minute lunches...yes you read that right 20 minutes, which starts the second they leave the classroom, so thats 20 minutes to walk from the room, wait in line, eat, clean-up and then walk back (no lunch recess)......they get 2 10 minute recesses (which include getting drinks and going bathroom)....a total of 20 minutes of playtime for elemntry school?????? Even if he wasn't in football take that 2 hours away and he is still getting homework done at 8:00pm...way too late to be outside playing......so in order for him to have playtime he has to be in an extracurricular activty or just not have as much play time...things have changed from when we all were in school!!!!!! I understand that school is important and all that jazz, but when do they get to be kids?????

I would be fine with 1 hour of homework that is still alot but gives them much more freedom...but 2+ hours is ridiculous! remeber 4th grade they are only 9 or 10

maybe i'm confused here-i AGREE with you there is too much homework being doled out. but i don't think that an argument that homework impedes with a kids ability to participate in outside activities is valid. most schools with team sports require a (far too minimal in my opinion) minimum g.p.a. for participation, and cheerleading squads, dance teams etc. are following suit. they are trying to drive home the message that school work comes first.

you said your child has to participate in his extracurricular or he just would'nt have as much play time. this is where i am confused. does the school make allowances for these activities (and reduce their work load) so that a non participating child is somehow given less free time?

and yes, i am aware of recess times and lunch breaks-my kids (2nd and 5th) receive one 10 minute recess, one 20 minute physical ed period (organized activity or laps as mandated by state law) and 20 minutes for lunch.

i advocate parents working with school districts to make reasonable arguments for homework expectations but i just don't believe that any school will take under reasonable consideration an argument that the homework is preventing a child from being on a team, in a theatre production or other non essential activities.

just my opinion.

 

[wendyl]

While I don't necesarrily advocate a complete NO homework policy....

No surprize that it is a TEACHER who would be the one complaining!!!

:

I'm sorry---Is this aimed at me? It sounds like you agree with me--you don't advocate a complete NO homework policy....so I guess I don't get your comment

 

[foolishmortal]

maybe i'm confused here-i AGREE with you there is too much homework being doled out. but i don't think that an argument that homework impedes with a kids ability to participate in outside activities is valid. most schools with team sports require a (far too minimal in my opinion) minimum g.p.a. for participation, and cheerleading squads, dance teams etc. are following suit. they are trying to drive home the message that school work comes first.

you said your child has to participate in his extracurricular or he just would'nt have as much play time. this is where i am confused. does the school make allowances for these activities (and reduce their work load) so that a non participating child is somehow given less free time?
and yes, i am aware of recess times and lunch breaks-my kids (2nd and 5th) receive one 10 minute recess, one 20 minute physical ed period (organized activity or laps as mandated by state law) and 20 minutes for lunch.

i advocate parents working with school districts to make reasonable arguments for homework expectations but i just don't believe that any school will take under reasonable consideration an argument that the homework is preventing a child from being on a team, in a theatre production or other non essential activities.

just my opinion.

No what I am saying is without him being in sports he would never have any "playtime" This is outside of school (city league if you will). The school doesn't adjust acccrodingly...so if he was or wasn't in sports either way it is 2 hours sometime more of homework. So if he wasn't in sports he would be getting done with homework at around 8, but by then it's to late to go play outside to get exercise or social time, so he would be in his room playing videogames or sitting watching TV.

I can understand that much homework in highschool and such, but in 4th grade there is no value what so ever to having that much homework!

 

[disykat]

Our schools policy is 10mins per grade including the credit reading...So, my 2nd grader has 10mins and 10 mins of reading...my 6th grader has 20 mins of reading approx 40 mins of homework...

 

[padams]

I would be thrilled if my 4th grader had no homework. The homework that comes home is usually busy work that is a waste of time. Also, don't even get me started on the "projects" that usually end up being done by a lot of the parents. Seven hours of school should be plenty of time to teach what the children should learn at each grade.

My 4th grader is expected to do an hour of homework a night plus 20 minutes of reading.

Childhood is short. Let children be children. There is plenty of time for homework in junior high, high school, college, and graduate school.

To the OP and those parents who believe in homework, did you do homework in 4th grade?

I didn't.

 

[luv2nascar]

homework stinks for the kids and parents. And yes most years it is too much homework not too little. So far so good this year -we have had an appropriate amount some most nights in the 30-40min range for 5th grade.
what happened to 10 minutes per grade. none for kindergarten, 10 min 1st grade, 50 minutes for th grade sounds about right to me.

I think if they are taught well in school homework is almost unnecessary.

 

[CharlesTD]

I would be thrilled if my 4th grader had no homework. The homework that comes home is usually busy work that is a waste of time. Also, don't even get me started on the "projects" that usually end up being done by a lot of the parents. Seven hours of school should be plenty of time to teach what the children should learn at each grade.

My 4th grader is expected to do an hour of homework a night plus 20 minutes of reading.

Childhood is short. Let children be children. There is plenty of time for homework in junior high, high school, college, and graduate school.

To the OP and those parents who believe in homework, did you do homework in 4th grade?

I didn't.

Actually I got all my homework done at school before going home thus not having any yes it was given but I always had time after doing the in class work to get the homework done.

 

[Disney Ella]

My fourth graders want to go the school with no homework! They have between 30 - 60 minutes homework every night and some projects that take longer, but are assigned a week or two in advance.

 

[Pineapple Princess]

Childhood is short. Let children be children. There is plenty of time for homework in junior high, high school, college, and graduate school.

I teach first grade and I hate how I am required to give 30 min of homework a night. If it was up to me homework would be 15 min of reading. My students arrive at 7:45, and then they are expected to "be good" till 2:15. We have 25 min for lunch, and no recesses. Think back to when you were 6. It is not the same now. The standards are outrageous. We are asking for more earlier and earlier. 1st grade used to be known as 2nd, maybe even begining of 3rd grade. Kindergardeners are expected to know how to read and write. When I was in K we learned how to get along with others, and how to share, and play. Whatever happened to playing??

And please don't assume the teacher has control over the homework policy. She/he may be being told that they HAVE to give that homework every night. Go and find out, and if it is out of the teacher's control go in and do something about it. My hands are tied on many things that a parent could easily change.

 

[goodeats]

{Is it because I'm in Discreet mode that the 'quote' won't work?}

Anyway, yes I did have homework in 4th grade. And it probably averaged an hour a night. What with Math problems (that I agree need to be reinforced nightly), reading/book reports, social studies questions, etc. But I was in Gifted and Talented, so maybe it's different. I don't consider an hour of homework in 4th grade to be obscene. Now 2+ hours maybe that's excessive.

 

[MinnieM3]

Our 4th graders have probably 45 min. to an hour a night minimum. My 3rd graders have about 30 minutes, maybe less. I have never heard of a policy like this!

One idea for helping your child (I haven't read this whole thread yet, though) may be to check the website for his textbooks and see if there are any accompanying activities that will mirror the lessons in the books. I know ours do.

I'm curious....is this a policy from 5K on to 5th grade....is that the whole school or does it go higher? What's the policy at the district middle school?

 

[MinnieM3]

I did have a good bit of homework in 4th grade and every other grade. I was a good kid and a very good student. I would come home, have a snack, play outside, come in and do homework, probably from about 5 til 6 or something like that. Dinner. Bath. More homework in later years after that. There was time to get everything in. Some nights it was harder than others, but that's where I learned time management and self discipline.

I have been accused by parents of not giving enough homework because apparently the 2nd grade teachers gave more than I did and they expected me to give more than 2nd grade. I just told those parents that I was sorry but I felt my homework amount was age appropriate and I still wanted my students to have time to just be kids. No complaints this year! I also will NOT assign homework just to have some. If we have a day that does not warrant any homework, then there'll be no homework.

I never send classwork home to be done as homework. It's my job to see that classwork is done in class and that the child understands it! How can I assign homework unless we've checked the classwork and I know the kids "get it?" If they can't do the classwork, they certainly can't do the homework!

I DO believe that 2 hours of homework in 4th grade is too much and that poor 2nd grader filling in all the state capitals overnight is ridiculous, but having some amount of homework to reinforce skills is important. Teachers should realize that kids need time to be kids, though.

However, coaches/program organizers need to realize that football/soccer/gymnastics, etc. is not MORE important than a child's education. Yes, it has its place in a child's life, but if a child can't make a practice because of a heavy homework night, the child should NOT be punished by the coach/adult by not being allowed to play in the next game or some such nonsense. Coaches/Organizers should not schedule practices 4 nights a week until 8 or 9 at night. It's overload!! (That's how it is in my town)

And please don't forget that kids can still get exercise and socialization and free time (sports practice isn't exactly free time to me!) without belonging to an organized sports team/other group. They can ride bikes, play basketball in their driveway, walk around the neighborhood with friends, etc. And for a good bit of the school year here kids can play outside until 7pm easily.

Boy, I guess that was a soopbox moment for usually quiet me. JMO as a teacher and mother of one non-sports kid, one every-sports kid, and one that we have yet to see!