No homework ever...wwyd?

[yasmina]

For those who don't believe in homework, where does studying for quizzes and tests come in? Is that homework? Or is it not necessary to do?

How about book reports or projects that could be considered enrichment - like a travel brochure on a certain subject, expanding on something learned in class.

I'm one of those "no homework" teachers. Study for tests, quizzes, and work on projects is still expected to be dones at home. I teach 7th & 8th grade.

 

[Daxx]

I teach Kdg. and have to assign something for homework. Most of my kids go to the 20th Century Club (through Boys & Girls Club) and are supposed to spend 40 minutes doing homework/studying. I give them one worksheet a day and no homework on weekends. If a worksheet takes a child more than 3 mins. to complete, then they haven't paid attention in class. Homework is usually a match the 6 uppercase letters to the 6 lowercase letters or 4 math "problems" or find and circle the pictures that rhyme with "Bat", etc. It's not heavy. I don't know what the heck they do for the remaining 37 minutes. I hope that someone is going over alphabet letters and numbers with them.

 

[Daxx]

Schools waste large amounts of time on stupid stuff.

With all due respect ... will you elaborate on this, please? As a teacher, I am curious as to what is considered "stupid stuff" by parents. Thank you!

 

[daisyduck123]

I would get down on my knees and kiss that teacher's feet, and then do the banana dance in the privacy of my own home.

But seriously, I don't really believe in homework. When I get my own classroom, I hope to give little to no homework.

Same with me.

I'm a teacher...I'd LOVE to not assign any homework at all...my principal has even hinted to us (the other 5 teachers on my grade level plus myself) that we don't have to give homework by xeroxing articles about homework & it's NONbenefits. Well, two teachers out of the six of us want to give it, so we're giving it.

But really, it is more for the parents to feel they have a part in their child's education than it is for the kids. That is the ONLY reason we are giving it....because some parents would FLIP if we did not.

 

[Pigeon]

With all due respect ... will you elaborate on this, please? As a teacher, I am curious as to what is considered "stupid stuff" by parents. Thank you!

Sure. I'm at my kids' school a great deal and dh is a public school teacher, so we know what goes on. Here are a few off the top of my head.

Morning announcements and saying the pledge of indoctrination. It's not a great deal each day, but over the course of the child's education it is a great deal.

Computer time for really little kids. Total waste.

My oldest's class is doing the D.A.R.E. program this year. It is a program that is well documented to have at best no effect whatsoever on drug use, and to actually make some groups of kids more likely to take drugs. It is a huge waste of time, and we opted out.

About 90% of the assemblies. The day the school started holding assemblies to hype up the kids to try to get them to sell Sally Foster crap is the day I stopped believing the "oh, school time is too precious" line.

 

[Pigeon]

Same with me.

But really, it is more for the parents to feel they have a part in their child's education than it is for the kids. That is the ONLY reason we are giving it....because some parents would FLIP if we did not.

Have you actually tried surveying the parents?

 

[daisyduck123]

Have you actually tried suveying the parents?

I teach 1st grade. On Back-to-School Night, some of the parents asked when we would be starting homework. When I replied "October 1st"....there were a few who wanted to know why we were waiting so long.

Well if I had my way (if only I could talk the two teammates who want to assign homework into NOT assigning it), these parents would be waiting until the 2nd grade for homework.

 

[Pigeon]

I teach 1st grade. On Back-to-School Night, some of the parents asked when we would be starting homework. When I replied "October 1st"....there were a few who wanted to know why we were waiting so long.

Well if I had my way (if only I could talk the two teammates who want to assign homework into NOT assigning it), these parents would be waiting until the 2nd grade for homework.

So, you haven't actually surveyed. I think that if you were to actually ask the opinions of the entire group, the people who want homework would be in the minority. You could always offer some optional stuff for the people who just can't force their kids to do enough worksheets.

 

[aprilgail2]

Morning announcements and saying the pledge of indoctrination. It's not a great deal each day, but over the course of the child's education it is a great deal.

Computer time for really little kids. Total waste.

.

Computer time even for my 3rd grader is them going online to either webkinz, club penguin or nick.com. I was shocked when she came home and told me they can go on game websites!
Snack time is a TOTAL waste of time-my daughter goes to school at 9:00 and has lunch at 12:30- I see NO reason to have a 10 minute break for a snack at 10:45-I think they could go for 3 1/2 hours and not eat!!
The amount of time the teachers actually "teach" is not much with all these breaks- 30 for lunch, 30 for recess, 40 for either gym,art, library,music, 10 for snack. School ends at 3:20 yet at 3:00 they stop and pack up. So for 2 hours and 15 minutes a day the teacher has "free" time to plan, go to lunch etc...so all they actually teach is less than 4 hours a school day!! If the school day to better use perhaps they could cover what they have to and not send work home for us to do with them.

 

[disneyjunkie]

So, you haven't actually surveyed. I think that if you were to actually ask the opinions of the entire group, the people who want homework would be in the minority. You could always offer some optional stuff for the people who just can't force their kids to do enough worksheets.

I think this varies from community to community.

When I worked in NC, (public schools) the parents didn't want homework. The parents who enrolled their kids in private school did.

Here in NY, I haven't come across one parent in my community who is against their child having homework. (I live and work in the same community)

In my experience, the homework, pulling kids out for vacations, and parents holding kids back varies by community.

Pulling a kid out of school for a trip to WDW or a cruise, is pretty much unheard of in my community.

No matter how late a child's birthday is, no one holds their kids back an extra year. Some people may decide not to send their child to kindergarten. However, they will have them start in 1st grade the following year.

Some people keep their kids home an extra year. Some have them attend kindergarten in a day care center instead of public, private or charter schools.

Many day care kindergarten programs follow the public school curriculum. The day care teachers have the same educational background I think this varies from community to community.

When I worked in NC, (public schools) the parents didn't want homework. The parents who enrolled their kids in private school did.

Here in NY, I haven't come across one parent in my community who is against their child having homework. (I live and work in the same community)
Some do complain about the amount of homework.

In my experience, the homework, pulling kids out for vacations, and parents holding kids back varies by community.

Pulling a kid out of school for a trip to WDW or a cruise, is pretty much unheard of in my community. However, parents will pull thier kids out early (a week or two) to go "home" for the holidays. (Guyana, Jamaica, Panama, Trinidad, Dominican Republic,Haiti, South America...)

No matter how late a child's birthday is, no one holds their kids back an extra year. Some people may decide not to send their child to kindergarten. However, they will have them start in 1st grade the following year.

Some people keep their kids home an extra year. Some have them attend kindergarten in a day care center instead of public, private or charter schools.

Many day care kindergarten programs follow the public school curriculum. The day care teachers have the same educational background and license as public school teachers. (The main differences are salary, number of hours/day worked, no tenure, and a different union)

Never giving homework?? The principals/directors would never hear the end of it.

 

[NC State]

I was upset when my daughter was in the 7th grade and she came home and told me that she wouldn't have homework that year. I couldn't believe it, I asked why? "Well, most of the teachers are coaches and most students play sports so no one has time." Now, that's a good education....

 

[maelstrom]

It is my opinion and experience that homework is usually annoying and/or unnecessary busywork. And sending home assignments for parents is beyond ridiculous. Kids need time to be kids and to spend time with their families. After school, work, and sleep, there are precious few moments left in the day to spend together as a family. I think that time spent together as a family is more valuable than homework/busywork. And I also hate it when teachers send home assignments for long breaks or the summer. Why should I be expected to do an insane amount of work over my Christmas or Easter break? It's a BREAK. Families often plan vacations during those breaks. Teachers act as though their students have no other obligations and that it's their job to fill up their entire school break with busywork. It makes me so mad!

I am SO GLAD that I am out of school. And I am also SO GLAD that I opted to homeschool the last couple years of high school. I was going crazy in that place, quite literally. And I will never send my children to a public school. I am all for homeschooling.

 

[Karel]

I view homework time and projects AS family time. I want to know what they are doing in school and if they understand it. I know if they can't do it on their own and need help, then I need to keep an eye on that class and maybe contact the teacher. It also helps me when they have a test. If I know that they've been doing the work independently but get a low test grade, I know they did their best and tried hard.

If my kids don't have homework, they actually spend less time at home and more time out of the house.

As for homework during breaks, that's not done here, unless it's a long term project such as the science fair. I actually try to get those long term projects done during break plus I think it's a good way to teach time management and organizational skills.

I like to do projects with my kids because it's fun to work on something and learn something together. Also, two of my kids are horrible test takers so those hands on projects can really boost their scores. I'd rather help them with a book report poster than quiz them repeatedly about plot, characters, theme...

 

[BuzznBelle'smom]

Wow, I'm really surprised that so many parents are against homework. In particular, it really comes across as "homework is such an interference on our lives". You may not mean it in that way, but that's the message as it appears to me. I always have looked at homework as a way to reinforce schoolwork and allow parents to see children's work habits, strengths and weaknesses in regards to school.

As far as the big projects go--let me tell you my experience with one. In 4th grade, our school studies NY. At the beginning of the school year, each child has to do a project to attract tourists to a NY destination. When DD12 did it, she chose the Museum of Natural History--she made a poster, a diorama of the Hayden planetarium, and a brochure (one of these would have been sufficient, but she was really jazzed on the project). I provided the posterboard but otherwise stayed out of her way. 2 years later, DS10 had the same project. He's much less fond of school than his sister, he chose to do a poster on the Bronx Zoo. He needed more help--mostly, to organize his time and get things done in the right order. You know, here are the pictures, choose which ones, decide on a layout, captions, etc. YOu know what? Not only did both kids get 100, but in both cases, the teachers told me that it was obvious that the children had done their own work. I think she meant it as a compliment, despite the fact that a snake photo was glued on sideways and the planetarium diorama was pretty lame. More importantly, both children were extrememly pleased with their work and proud of the grade that THEY earned. I didn't see these projects as burdensome on our family in the least bit. And if you could have seen how my son's face glowed when he said that his teacher wanted to take her own son to the Bronx Zoo, after seeing my son's poster--it was priceless! And shouldn't that be the purpose of school work--to teach children that they're capable and can produce work of value?

 

[Mkrop]

I just dont get how this interferes with family time or play time. Yes I can see if the homework is two hours long (we have had nights like that and those I dont agree with) but 30-40 minutes! What is your kid missing, my kid has this, and plays two sports that he has to go to practice to and he still has time to play. I think homework is the way I find out what he is learning, where he is struggling etc, then there are no surprises when he has the tests. I mean even kids that go to aftercare have time there to work on homework and usually have staff there to help them (at least that is how it works here) so I really dont get how kids are not starting their home work until 5:30 or 6 when they get home, what are they doing from 3 or 4 I am majorly confused about this attitude against homework.

 

[golfgal]

Sure. I'm at my kids' school a great deal and dh is a public school teacher, so we know what goes on. Here are a few off the top of my head.

Morning announcements and saying the pledge of indoctrination. It's not a great deal each day, but over the course of the child's education it is a great deal.

Computer time for really little kids. Total waste.

My oldest's class is doing the D.A.R.E. program this year. It is a program that is well documented to have at best no effect whatsoever on drug use, and to actually make some groups of kids more likely to take drugs. It is a huge waste of time, and we opted out.

About 90% of the assemblies. The day the school started holding assemblies to hype up the kids to try to get them to sell Sally Foster crap is the day I stopped believing the "oh, school time is too precious" line.

I guess it is all about perspective--book reports show that a child is actually comprehending what they read, showing they understand the theme of the book, etc. When they get to high school/college they will NEED these skills and they develop them through repetition starting at a young age.

Computer time for young kids, give me a break, you can't work at McDonald's these days without using a computer. My 12 year olds type faster then I do thanks to the training they have gotten since kindergarten. They often have to type reports, etc. for school as well as put together power points and other computer projects, just like many of us in the working world these days. The skills they are learning in school do transfer over to the working world. You can't just expect a person to turn 23 and KNOW all of this stuff.

As for the DARE program, I would like to see your source for your information on how kids that take DARE are more likely to use drugs. I know for my kids it has scared the crap out of them and I am thankful for that!

I truly feel sorry for your children with your negative attitude toward school. It is really going to hurt them in the long run.

 

[Kath2003]

Computer time for young kids, give me a break, you can't work at McDonald's these days without using a computer. My 12 year olds type faster then I do thanks to the training they have gotten since kindergarten. They often have to type reports, etc. for school as well as put together power points and other computer projects, just like many of us in the working world these days. The skills they are learning in school do transfer over to the working world. You can't just expect a person to turn 23 and KNOW all of this stuff.

We didn't have computers when I was at school and I would consider my ICT skills to be excellent (I'm almost 23). No you don't learn it overnight but equally there's little point in sitting down a 5, 6, 7 year old in front of the PC. ICT training should be introduced gradually, not from the word go.

I wouldn't call that approach a "negative attitude towards school". In fact, I'd say it's actually FRUSTRATING for kids who want to actually study and learn to be spending time in assemblies and reciting that pledge thing you all have. They'd rather be in the classroom actually doing, touching, feeling and learning rather than being talked AT.

 

[golfgal]

We didn't have computers when I was at school and I would consider my ICT skills to be excellent (I'm almost 23). No you don't learn it overnight but equally there's little point in sitting down a 5, 6, 7 year old in front of the PC. ICT training should be introduced gradually, not from the word go.

I wouldn't call that approach a "negative attitude towards school". In fact, I'd say it's actually FRUSTRATING for kids who want to actually study and learn to be spending time in assemblies and reciting that pledge thing you all have. They'd rather be in the classroom actually doing, touching, feeling and learning rather than being talked AT.

The kids coming out of our schools that have had computer since kindergarten will have far superior skills then you at the same time. That poster makes it sound like the kids are in assemblies all day long. That just isn't the case in most schools. Yes, there are some fundraising assemblies that happen but the take about 4 hours out of the entire school year. The kids DO enjoy the break from the regular classroom routine for these things. That poster has an extremely negative feeling for schools mainly because she is over exaggerating the time involved in doing these activities (the pledge takes all of 30 seconds out of a school day).

 

[Cindy B]

The kids coming out of our schools that have had computer since kindergarten will have far superior skills then you at the same time. That poster makes it sound like the kids are in assemblies all day long. That just isn't the case in most schools. Yes, there are some fundraising assemblies that happen but the take about 4 hours out of the entire school year. The kids DO enjoy the break from the regular classroom routine for these things. That poster has an extremely negative feeling for schools mainly because she is over exaggerating the time involved in doing these activities (the pledge takes all of 30 seconds out of a school day).

Ok, as for pledge... Let me tell you what I have seen.

First the pledge (30 seconds or so)
Then the school pledge (30 seconds or so)
Then the IB theme ( 1-2 minutes)
Then the character word of the month explanation complete with examples (2-3 minutes)

This will take about 5 minutes before everything is all said and done.

 

[Kath2003]

Well I don't know how assemblies work there but at the school I was in last month there were 3 15-minute assemblies a week. Getting all the kids in and out of the hall also takes 5 minutes at best (10 at worst!). So you're looking at an hour a week at least. I don't know about you but I reckon kids could do with an hour a week more math/science/english etc.