Inspired by sick kid thread - work sent home

[Jennifer S]

My DS had to stay home today and will tomorrow - he has strep. Well his teacher is sending all work - not just homework - all work missed for the two days. He will spend hours doing it - thank goodness we have all weekend. He is only in second grade.

My question is this - why do teachers load up on work when they are SICK!? I can see doing some work but this lady sends every single thing home they missed.

Anyone else have a teacher like this? Teachers can you shed some light?
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[Mkrop]

that is how it is at our school but they are given extra time to make it up.

 

[Mermaid02]

He's got strep- he'd probably like to sleep instead of do homework. I wouldn't make him do it.

 

[CheshireVal]

I imagine that people would complain if teachers DIDN'T send work home. You can't please everyone.

If your son can't do it, just tell the teacher he was too sick. No biggie.

 

[JessicaR]

He's got strep- he'd probably like to sleep instead of do homework. I wouldn't make him do it.

Thats exactly how I feel.

 

[Jennifer S]

I'm not going to make him do it while he isn't feeling well but I know we'll be doing tons of work all weekend. It just got dropped off and it is a lot of work. My other son who is older went through the same school and never had a teacher like this. I know it's not school policy - just hers.

I'm all for making up work but I think the amount is ridiculous.

 

[lilyv]

He could probably use some extra support, too since he's under the weather. Maybe you could hang onto the homework stack, and give him the assignments a bit at a time. One longer one, one shorter one, and so on. You may find you get through the list quicker than it seemed at first.
Hope he feels better, soon!

 

[Jennifer S]

I imagine that people would complain if teachers DIDN'T send work home.

You think? I can't imagine that at all.

 

[WDSearcher]

Well of course she's sending home every single thing that he missed. If he was in school, he'd have to do it, right? I mean ... it is what the rest of the class has been doing.

If he went back to school and the rest of the class knew something that he didn't -- and it put him behind -- then wouldn't you wish that she HAD sent it home?

If he's too sick to do it, he's too sick to do it. And you can certainly contact the teacher and ask her to prioritize the work so that he's doing the important stuff and not the busy work. But sending everything that he's missed is just being a good teacher, IMO.

 

[Julia M]

Well, I thnik it depends on why a kid is home sick. SOmetimes my kids have a cold, and I don't want them getting everyone else sick, but they are fully capable of doing some work. If they're really sick, I try to pick and choose what's important.

The difficulty is, as kids get older, if you haven't at least reviewed what went on while you're out, it can be difficult. Subjects like math build upon themselves.

My advice would be try and do a little of each assignment, so you can on with the current work easier.

Julia

 

[budbeerlady]

DD got hers all sent home. I gave her over the weekend to get it done. She needed to learn it, she would have learned it in class but now she has to learn it at home. We ration it out over the weekend and turn it all back in on monday. It looked like alot but it went fast enough.

 

[Jennifer S]

WDSearcher - good point- and I agree with you to some extent. I just looked at the work and some of it he really needs to see but there is some stuff in there that is just fluff and could have been skipped.

 

[Stacerita]

You think? I can't imagine that at all.

I complained when the sweetpea's teacher didn't send home all of her stuff. Last year she broke her leg. At first we weren't sure how long she was doing to be out, so the teacher only sent home a few things. The sweetpea did them right away. I kept having to ask for more. As soon as we knew she was going to be out for a long time (6 weeks), I let the teacher know and explained how we needed "everything". The sweetpea has been trying to get into a prep school and needs to get high marks in core work. By not having all the work the first week she was out put her back some. One grade reflected it.

If your son doesn't feel up to doing the work, don't make him do it. But I don't see why the teacher wouldn't send home all the classwork and homework. Its the work he is missing.

 

[Kathi OD]

When students are out sick it's not unusual for a brother/sister/neighbor to show up looking for little Suzie or Johnny's homework. I always tell them that the homework is to get better. If a child is too sick to come to school, they are usually too sick to do class/homework. This is especially true today, when both parents are working and it is often difficult to take off of work unless a child is very sick.

 

[Briarmom]

DS8's teacher doesnt' do make up work at all. Not even when we went on vacation for a few days before Christmas.

 

[mickeyboat]

Last year (1st grade) when DD's were both out sick for a week - there was not one thing sent home - and I asked. One kid had one worksheet to do when she returned, the other had nothing.

This year is different. I think they are moving so much more quickly and covering so much more material, there is more make-up work to do. Hannah was out sick on Monday. The teacher sent home two worksheets, and as of yesterday, there was still one more project she had to do to make up everything.

Denae

 

[DelaneyRose]

DS was sick yesterday. Today he asked me to sign his planner. I said "why, you didn't write in it b/c you weren't at school yesterday." He said that if he goes back after being ill and every day isn't signed regardless of whether he was there or not, he has to stay in at recess. So I signed. I hope he's exaggerating (sp?). That seems a little excessive.

In most of the area elementary schools they get one day to match each day they were out to make up homework. Maybe the teacher was thinking "hey, if the child is home sick, maybe his or her mom would like it if they had something to do." ??

 

[dogluva]

My DS had to stay home today and will tomorrow - he has strep. Well his teacher is sending all work - not just homework - all work missed for the two days. He will spend hours doing it - thank goodness we have all weekend. He is only in second grade.

My question is this - why do teachers load up on work when they are SICK!? I can see doing some work but this lady sends every single thing home they missed.

Anyone else have a teacher like this? Teachers can you shed some light?
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My kids teachers send work home so we will know what was missed. I have them do it piece meal. It may take weeks but they usually get the important stuff done.

 

[Magpie]

We were grateful for any work my son's teacher sent home when he was out for two weeks. He was so bored with being sick!

I gave it to him in small chunks, so he never got overwhelmed. It was finished a lot faster than I expected.

Having the work to do helped me keep him in bed, and resting, instead of trying to get up every few minutes. School work can be fun, sometimes!

 

[lyzziesmom]

My DD9 (third grade) never had much make-up work to do in the past, but this year she certainly did. Her teacher is a first-year teacher and is very gung-ho about teaching, which may be part of it. When she missed 4 days in the fall for vacation, the teacher said, "Oh no problem, my philosophy is to let them enjoy their vacation and don't worry about school." I repeatedly asked if there was some work she could do while we were out, and she kept telling me not to worry about it. When DD returned to school, she came home with a packet almost 2 inches thick of work!

Yep, it was every single thing the class worked on - in class and at home - for the 4 days she missed. And she had one week to turn it in. This of course was on top of her regular classwork and homework. She got it all done, but it took 2 hours every night and much more on the weekend to finish it, and much of it was obviously busy work.

This time she's about to miss another week. I've asked that some of her work be given to her ahead of time so it's not so overwhelming this time, and the teacher agreed. I think I'm going to let DD skip some of the obvious busywork that is things she already knows inside & out, and just focus on the newer concepts.