Typical first grade homework....

[lillygator]

for those with or who have had first graders...or teachers...what was your homework like? daily? more than one subject?

DD started school on Monday and has had homework every evening. There is a math test on F. I don't mind in the least, she is enjoying it and seems almost proud that she actually has homework and that she can do it. (hopefully that stays that way for a while)

 

[mjkacmom]

Ours typically get 2 things, a math worksheet, and a spelling assignment (ie - put in alphabetical order, put in sentences, etc.). They also get a reading, spelling, grammar, and math test every Friday.

 

[golfgal]

Our kids had a little bit of homework every day staring in kindergarten. It took our kids MAYBE 15 minutes to do it and it was really intended to get the kids in the habit of doing homework. I LOVED it. Our oldest did not have this and homework is much more of a battle with him. Our twins never fight about doing homework nor do we ever have to tell them to get it done. They got in the habit of coming home from school, getting a snack and getting their homework done. They still do that now and have the entire evening free to play or do whatever.

 

[barkley]

i think you'll see a wide variety of responces-it varies wildly from school to school and teacher to teacher. here's my experience-

dd's school in first grade MANDATED an hour of homework per nite (they had this thing about wanting kids to be up to 3 hours per nite by 3rd grade on to "prepare" them for the "demands of highschool and college"-we yanked her out after a couple of months because it was sucking the love of learning out of her). a couple of the first grade teachers there would do it in what i saw as a logical/practical way-tell us the kids had to read for 15 minutes, write out/practice the weeks spelling words 15 minutes, do a one page practice sheet on whatever math skills they were doing, spend the last 15 practicing their handwriting or memory verse (christian school). dd's teacher gave them frustrating, and time consuming "busy work" that required the parents to spend insane amounts of time looking up research material at the library or on the internet ("for every letter of the alphabet come up with a fruit or veggie and a name and have student write a sentance with a verb in it-example: marla mango ran in the park"-i challenge anyone reading this thread to spend less than a few hours trying to find a veggie or fruit for every letter of the alphabet, there are some letters for which none exist).

ds's school in first grade did'nt believe in formal homework assignments. they would just send home the spelling words and memory verse at the begining of the week and ask parents to have the kids review them for testing each friday. in addition to that they just wanted the kids to either read aloud to the parent (or the parent read to the kid) for 10 minutes a nite.

ds is in 6th right now and his current school only has them do anything they have'nt finished that day in class, long term projects they are working on in class (getting research for it), or shorter stuff that supplements a topic/subject they are currently studying (so if they are studying mapping they might have to come home and see what kind of maps we have or map the neighborhood or the alternate routes to school). he also has to practice his spelling words and his memory verse each nite.

 

[PatsGirl]

If I can remember that far back I think my kids had 20-30 minutes of reading of their choice each night M-Th, and spelling words given to them on Mondays for a test on Friday so we'd spend time on T and Th going over those. There might have been the occasional math paper but not nightly. Emphasis in our school system seems to be reading/writing in the earlier grades, K-3 or so. By the time they were in 4th grade, they were expected to read 45 minutes each night of a chapter book (again, their choice) and keep nightly journals with the additional math papers each night and occasional science work.

 

[james'mommy]

DS's first grade teacher sent home homework at the beginning of the week. He would have 4 math sheets and 4 spelling activites each week. We did one of each every day. We also had to read for 20 minutes each night. They had a spelling test every Friday.

 

[3boymthr]

Our school's recommended homework load is 20 minutes per grade (though that seems to go out the window in Jr HS where DS has less than his younger brothers )

The first two had the same teacher, Mrs. B., for first grade. Homework was always one assignment a night. M was spelling words three times each, T was alphabetize the spelling words, W was read a small booklet that focused on the phonics dipthong of the week, Th was study for spelling test. F was read a book - Mrs. B had take home books - a different one went home every F and the kids were supposed to read that book over the weekend.

Every so often a project would come home for science or history or similar.

Youngest DS starts 1st grade next week, we'll find out his homework load then.

ETA - Our school has an optional reading program that starts over Christmas Vacation and runs thru april where the kids are rewarded for reading. For every 250 pages they get a prize at 2,000 pages they get a reading medal, it's bronze and really nice. Last year the combined pages for 1,300 students was 1.2 Million

 

[golfgal]

Keep in mind that 20 minutes/grade is a pretty standard formula for homework but it is also based on the average time it takes to get done. Some kids will have that done in 5 minutes and others will take an hour to get it done.

Last year our twins' friends' parents were all complaining about how much homework their kids had. We were starting to get concerned because it never seemed like our kids had very much at all, maybe 30 minutes on most nights-8th grade. We asked about it at parent/teacher conferences and all of their teachers said the same thing-the kids that had too much homework at night were also the ones that were not using their time wisely in class. They all said that our kids got down to it and did most of their work in class. The twins told us that they were smart enough to figure out that if they did their work in class they would have more time at night to do whatever they wanted.

 

[castleview]

First DD never had homework in first grade. Second DD had it every day. I liked it because it got her into the habit of doing homework when she got home. From what I remember, it was fairly consistent: Monday - write spelling words, Tuesday - math, Wednesday - language, Thursday - write story with spelling words, Friday - weather watching worksheet.

 

[live4christp1]

DD so far usually has a couple of sheets each evening. They have done one side in class, we do the other side at home, usually one involving math, the other spelling/writing/phonics. She also reads from her reader each day and practices her spelling words. She doesn't complain about homework at all, she loves it and will often sit at the table and read or write after she's finished just because she likes to.

 

[MM27]

In my district, we are required to give homework nightly. The policy is for students to have 10 minutes of homework per grade level, so my 4th graders should get 40 minutes per night.

 

[Lauralee131]

Oh man...first grade was positively PAINFUL!! Our son has ADHD which makes homework take even longer than it should, but we were getting homework starting the 2nd day of school....math, spelling, writing, reading and by the middle of the year we had to do reports over the weekend...there were some nights we did homework for an hour and forty-five minutes, but again, you have an additional half hour in there for distractions and stopping every two minutes to say "focus", etc...

And it was hard work - they had to meet a lot of requirements and curriculum areas such as increasing 16 levels in reading, etc...

2nd grade, despite more homework, was actually easier than 1st...

 

[golfgal]

DD so far usually has a couple of sheets each evening. They have done one side in class, we do the other side at home, usually one involving math, the other spelling/writing/phonics. She also reads from her reader each day and practices her spelling words. She doesn't complain about homework at all, she loves it and will often sit at the table and read or write after she's finished just because she likes to.

Does your school use Saxton? That is what our kids had and I LOVED it.

 

[live4christp1]

Does your school use Saxton? That is what our kids had and I LOVED it.

I haven't really looked to see on DD's. I know that DS's text books he brings home are Saxton (7th grade). There has been a huge change in him this year and he's getting the homework done, etc. I don't know if it's because he understands it better or what......the school we were at before used all materials from Bob Jones or Abeka I think.

DD's has been very easy for her and she just breezes through it but she was reading very well last year in K5.

I'm so thankful that both my kids love to read!!!!!!