Have you ever complained about homework?

[DISvirgin1]

For your kids, that is
We were talking to a friend of ours and he said he told the teacher last year that his child (Kindergarten)would NOT be doing any homework in the evenings/weekends and that they needed to do that work during the day.

I totally understand for younger kids getting unreasonable amounts of homework, but I've never minded doing some work in the evenings, especially if it reinforces the lesson. And I do want our kids to know that school is important (their "job" if you will) and something to try to do well in.

Do you mind the homework? Have you had to speak to the teacher about the amount?

 

[kamik86]

I never minded homework in school if there was a point. I hated the pages and pages of math that only 1/4 of which would be graded in high school though If you undertood by the end of page 1 pages 2 and 3 were pointless busy work. At least by the time I got to college most of the teachers told us what they planned to grade and just said to do more if you needed the practice.

I am young enough that I didn't really have homework in early elementary school. We had a couple of projects but I don't really call that homework... maybe because reading, painting, or coloring were common things I would do when home anyway.

 

[Sgt Mickey]

Never. BUT we have never had an abundance of homework. And homework that young usually involved reading or something simple that never took longer then 30 min.
I know teachers have said if this takes longer then such and such time talk to us. BUT I couldn't imagine saying what your friend did. It sounds like they just want to the teacher to be responsible for school and when they come home the parents want no responsiblity. I would love to know how that worked and what the teacher did when she did have homework

 

[Acklander]

For your kids, that is
We were talking to a friend of ours and he said he told the teacher last year that his child (Kindergarten)would NOT be doing any homework in the evenings/weekends and that they needed to do that work during the day.

I totally understand for younger kids getting unreasonable amounts of homework, but I've never minded doing some work in the evenings, especially if it reinforces the lesson. And I do want our kids to know that school is important (their "job" if you will) and something to try to do well in.

Do you mind the homework? Have you had to speak to the teacher about the amount?

It bothers me how much homework they are dumping on the little ones. Yes, school is their job, but when I leave my job at the end of the day, I leave my work there and focus on family time. I think that is something we should be teaching our kids, not just doing more busy work. With my older son, I complained when he was in the early grades when it went over 2 hours. With my younger, between study halls and what he does on the bus, he comes in under 2 hours so I haven't complained

 

[mhsjax]

For your kids, that is
We were talking to a friend of ours and he said he told the teacher last year that his child (Kindergarten)would NOT be doing any homework in the evenings/weekends and that they needed to do that work during the day.

I totally understand for younger kids getting unreasonable amounts of homework, but I've never minded doing some work in the evenings, especially if it reinforces the lesson. And I do want our kids to know that school is important (their "job" if you will) and something to try to do well in.

Do you mind the homework? Have you had to speak to the teacher about the amount?

Wow, a parent complaining about homework in kindergarten, he is in for a rude awakening. OUr homework in kindergarten tool all of 5 minutes. I have never complained to a teacher about it, although I may have grumbled about it at home. Funny thing is, as the kids have gotten older, I mind their homework less and less. The thing I hated about homework, especially in elementary school was all the stupid projects they had, the dressing up like literary characters, that type of thing. I don't have the time, creative energy or money to buy all that nonsense. My oldest is now in high school, and the homework is no problem.

 

[luvmy3]

Never would I complain to the teacher about homework or tell them my kid won't be doing it and they needed to do the work during the day.
I'll admit that I have been annoyed at times for the amount of homework sent home, like on the night of the Science Fair, or the darn "make sure you color" the sheet when you are in 3rd grade, but never would I take my gripes to the teacher (or let my kids know I have them).

If this parent is like this in K, I can only imagine how they'll be in the coming years

 

[eeyoremum]

I would send any "busy work" back to school unfinished. IF work was assigned at school and not finished that work would be done BUT if extra work was sent home in the younger grades (JK - 5) it was not completed.

They have my child 8 hours a day. There have been a number of studies that show that homework in the younger grades is counter productive.

 

[Jedana]

The only time I have ever had to take up the homework battle with a teacher was when DD2 was in high school.

She had a report due--that they were working on in English class-- and was out for 5 days due to mono (went around the school three times that year--she stopped drinking from the water fountains, and didn't catch it again).

Normally, when they are out for 3 days, the teachers get the work together and the parent picks it up. I even sent in the doctor's note. All her other teachers did so.

This teacher refused to let her work on the report at home, or turn it in when she came back the next week. He wouldn't let the kids use the sources at home (internet, books) to do this report--he wanted it done only in class. It counted for 25% of her grade.

I called him and he wouldn't speak to me about it (yes, she is high school, and she handled all her other battles, but she was sick and he wasn't following school policy). So, I called the VP--who knew me quite well, due to all the time I spent with the band and color guard.

He talked to the teacher, who stood his ground. The VP talked to some other teachers and students and figured out that the teacher wanted them doing this report in class so he wouldn't have to do any teaching while they were doing it! He would sit and surf the 'net or watch sports on his laptop while they worked.

They were reading and doing "work" related to the novels they were reading, but he was just handing them the books (4 a year) and telling them to write about it. He'd throw out a test every 3 weeks or so--it was a few questions up on the board, like "what book are you studying" and "who wrote it"...nothing about plots or summaries or anything.

They couldn't really do anything about it either. The kids were doing work and reading what they were supposed to, according to the standards. He just wasn't teaching.

 

[Schmeck]

I would send any "busy work" back to school unfinished. IF work was assigned at school and not finished that work would be done BUT if extra work was sent home in the younger grades (JK - 5) it was not completed.

They have my child 8 hours a day. There have been a number of studies that show that homework in the younger grades is counter productive.

I'd love links to those studies. I've found that the kids who have parents who don't want to bother with homework tend to struggle the most at school, as the home attitude is not conducive to learning. Don't forget, most of the brain is wired in the first 5 years of life.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

For your kids, that is
We were talking to a friend of ours and he said he told the teacher last year that his child (Kindergarten)would NOT be doing any homework in the evenings/weekends and that they needed to do that work during the day.

I totally understand for younger kids getting unreasonable amounts of homework, but I've never minded doing some work in the evenings, especially if it reinforces the lesson. And I do want our kids to know that school is important (their "job" if you will) and something to try to do well in.

Do you mind the homework? Have you had to speak to the teacher about the amount?

I would say yes but I would not call it "complaining".

If my kid is spending 2hrs doing something that should take 30mins then I know something is "off" with the material and the kid understanding the concepts.

I just dropped off my 15yodd early because she is going in to get some free teacher tutoring in honors Chemistry.

Complaining in K? Wow.

 

[luvmy3]

I would send any "busy work" back to school unfinished. IF work was assigned at school and not finished that work would be done BUT if extra work was sent home in the younger grades (JK - 5) it was not completed.

They have my child 8 hours a day. There have been a number of studies that show that homework in the younger grades is counter productive.

Did it effect your child's grades?

 

[DISvirgin1]

I want to point out that in our district "homework" for K-2 is more like reviewing sight/heart words, or maybe having to write a few lines in a journal. We are not talking about hours of work, or even more than a 1/2 hour. And it's not every night. If it were more than that, I would mention something to the teacher (but not come out and tell them my child isn't going to do anything) Friends with children in other districts have much more homework and I agree that it is way too much!

 

[ladypage]

At risk of possibly sounding like a snowflake myself ( ), in high school a few of us students went to the school board about one teacher in particular handing out ridiculous amounts of work, with another teacher backing us.

It was in an honors class, so we all knew that we would get a lot of work, and more would be required of us than most of the other students (we had no AP class), and we didn't mind. Some of us were also on the Academic Decathlon team, and when we won our county competition, we got to take a week off to go to the state competition. During this time, we had 3 days "off," including the full day of travel, and then to get settled in and deal with everything, then 3 days of testing, with a final 7th day of awards. Sure, those days off were fun, but we spent 90% of the time studying or quizzing each other, not joking around and wasting time.

This was always near the end of the year, and since most of us excelled in our classes, most of the teachers would give us a bit of a reprieve, and only assign one or two things to be done for each class. Not our bio teacher. He assigned 4 chapters worth of reading, notes, questions, and workbooks. And a 3 page essay, which was supposed to be typed, just to top it off. But this was our first year of being on the team, so we just counted ourselves lucky that we didn't have to do as much in all the other classes, and let it go.

Until our coach saw us writing out these essays. She was LIVID. She confiscated all of our bio books and supplies, and told us to forget about it until the testing was over, and made a very angry phone call.

When we got back, it turned out the students still in class only had to read ONE chapter. One. But he still wanted us to do it all, and was going to give us a failing grade on all that we hadn't finished.

So our coach took us to the school board meeting, chewed this guy out in front of them, and they "advised" him to just count what we had done a EXTRA credit. He quit the next year.

 

[Ceila]

I would send any "busy work" back to school unfinished. IF work was assigned at school and not finished that work would be done BUT if extra work was sent home in the younger grades (JK - 5) it was not completed.

They have my child 8 hours a day. There have been a number of studies that show that homework in the younger grades is counter productive.

My first question is how did you know if it was "busy work" or if it had an educational purpose? Often there are lessons embedded that are not readily apparent, but that do actually reinforce a particular skill.

My second question is if you could post a link to the studies you refer to. I would love to read them.

Finally, based on observation, I have to agree with the PP who said that the students who routinely come to school without their homework completed tend to be the ones who have little parent support at home. They also tend to have much more difficulty comprehending and gaining academic skills. This doesn't mean that a parent who makes a conscious decision to allow their children to leave their work unfinished is an uninvolved parent. However, I have to wonder if their children will grow up with the same commitment to education as children of parents who place value in reinforcing skills learned in school at home by completing homework.

 

[rgf207]

I would send any "busy work" back to school unfinished. IF work was assigned at school and not finished that work would be done BUT if extra work was sent home in the younger grades (JK - 5) it was not completed.

They have my child 8 hours a day. There have been a number of studies that show that homework in the younger grades is counter productive.

And I, as the teacher, would mark a 0 in my grade book for that homework assignment.

 

[Jennasis]

Seems like a sure fire way of earning a school-wide rep as "that parent" to me.

 

[luvmy3]

And I, as the teacher, would mark a 0 in my grade book for that homework assignment.

I have to wonder what sending back unfinished homework teaches your child through the years. I would guess they grow up with a lack of respect for their teacher's rules. Maybe we could find some studies about that

 

[Piper]

Homework should be to practice skills already learned--not to acquire new ones. When I taught elementary math, I would give mixed practice of 1 to 5 of each kind of problem I had taught. I purposely mixed them up because I wanted the student to look at the problem, not mindlessly put an answer. I only gave a few of each kind because if the child knew how to do the problem, I can tell with only a few.....if the child didn't, I didn't want them to practice doing it wrong!!

With language arts, I would again give a short story to read and then have the child practice the skill we had been learning--identifying the main and secondary characters, the setting, the "Problem" that needed solving, the plot, have them write a one paragraph summary, etc.

The only social studies or science homework was before a test and would involve a study sheet of vocabulary terms and pertinent information that either I had provided or we had gone over in class. I didn't want them to write a definition that wasn't correct.

I think a small amount of homework helps parents know what the child is learning, but it should not overwhelm either the child or parent. I also gave assignments on Monday for the week. It was due on Friday. That way, if a child (or parent) had obligations during the week, they could make a plan on when to do the work--this is a vital skill in my opinion!

 

[Acklander]

I'd love links to those studies. I've found that the kids who have parents who don't want to bother with homework tend to struggle the most at school, as the home attitude is not conducive to learning. Don't forget, most of the brain is wired in the first 5 years of life.

Oh please. Just because I don't agree with formal homework for younger kids doesn't mean my kids will struggle. There's more than one way to learn, than sitting in a class and then regurgitate the exact same thing while doing homework. Some kids are academic kids, some aren't. And forcing a 6 year old to sit at the kitchen table doing busy work for an hour isn't going to change that. Personally, I'd prefer a kid who can think more than one who can memorize facts.
I'm a very hands off parent when it comes to school stuff. I've never been to a PTA meeting, don't go to school night, never been a room mom, don't hover over my kids while they do homework, don't check on projects, AND take my kids out of school for family trips. Personally, I could care less about stuff like that. Education has been so watered down for "the test" that I have very little respect for what they do at school and I'm not going to encourage more of that crap at home.
I've encouraged reading for pleasure, not just because a book has more points than another on a reading list. We watch the news together where everyone voices their opinion and thoughts. I encourage my kids to have a different opinion than me and to defend that position. When we go to political marches and occupations we look at the different signs and discuss which ones we agree with and which ones we don't and alternative ways to solve the worlds problems.
When given the choice of taking an old tv apart to see how it works or writing out the times table over and over I'd rather he take the time to tear apart the tv.

We may not be conventional, but just because we don't toe the line exactly how the school plans it out doesn't mean that my kids are doomed for failure. In our school last year there were 2 kids in the middle school who received perfect scores on the state testing, of which mine was one of them. So if you want to look at it from a statistical point , half the kids with amazing scores on the test lived in a home where parents thought homework in the early grades was a waste of time.

 

[Soben]

I have to wonder what sending back unfinished homework teaches your child through the years. I would guess they grow up with a lack of respect for their teacher's rules. Maybe we could find some studies about that

In our grade school your child would lose their recess to do it. Then if they/you kept it up, there would be detentions.

I have one that does it right away to get it over with. One that loves to procrastinate and do everything half-assed at the last minute (HS of course). And one that sits there and takes 2 hours to do 20 minutes worth of work.

I like the homework that reinforces what they're learning. You need to practice spelling words many times over the week before they really stick in your brain. I hate the coloring or busy work. When our oldest was younger she was word-search impaired, and eventually, we helped her find them all. I figured in the big scheme of things...