What kind of homework does your 4th grader have?

[left210]

Ok I know some of you may think I am crazy for complaining that my 4th grader has very little homework. He has one paper 3 days a week and no spelling at all. We have pretty high expectations for his education and thought 4th grade was supposed to be so much harder. I am sure it is his teacher but before I inquire I wanted to find out what the norm was.

 

[Bethenny]

It's still early in the year, could be they're still doing a lot of reviewing. My 4th grader definitely has more than that, but it's still not a ton. I don't think he's had more than 30 minutes any given night.

 

[Tinkermommy]

My daughter is in 4th grade and it does seem that she has less this year than last. She usually has a math worksheet and then she is required to read (anything she wants) for 120 minutes a week. We have to turn in a readying log on Mondays.

We have only been in school 3 weeks though. And we they are not having spelling tests this year, they are doing more writing and have a pocket dictionary at their desk to use for spelling reference.

 

[minniebeth]

I have a sophomore in HS, an 8th grader and a 3rd grader. Both my older two had a lot of HW in 4th grade, even right off the bat.

My 3rd grader gets nightly HW, no more than an hour total.

4th grade for us was typically a big "project" year, lots of projects, usually state history, and the start of research.

Even if the class is still in review, I say to get them used to writing assignments in their planners, being responsible for handing work in, is reason enough for some type of homework.

If your child's teacher is not sending anything home, take it upon yourself to have your child read 20-30 mins, review math facts (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division) and go over some spelling words that every 4th grader should be proficient in. You can find lists on-line.
There are also a lot of fun math websites that give kids practice with math at their level. Even have kids journal in a book about their day and draw a simple picture to go along with the entry.

 

[ICF]

My son had way more in 3rd grade then he did in 4th.....although he did have a weekly 20 word spelling test.

 

[luvmy3jewels]

My 4th grader has to read for 30 minutes, do spelling work, and a math worksheet Mon - Thurs. She also has to start working on a math fair project that is due in October. Last year, dd would spend up to 2 hours every night on homework. So far, this year it takes her less than 1 hour but I would expect that to pick up a bit.

Right now our biggest complaint is that dd's teacher is not challenging her and the other advanced kids enough. For example, in the past her teachers would pre-test spelling words at the beginning of the week and if they knew how to spell them they would be assigned more advanced words (I couldn't even spell some of last year's words). This year the teacher isn't doing that, so she is stuck doing the words that are way below her level (she tests at an 8th grade reading level). I know a couple of the other parents have expressed the same concerns and at this point we are hoping that things will pick up soon.

 

[lemondog]

My oldest is in 4th grade. Our nightly homework basically consists of...

2 pages in spelling workbook
1-2 pages in math workbook OR a math worksheet

plus we study every night for the following weekly tests, held on either Thurs. or Fri....

Vocabulary (10-12 words)
Spelling (20 words on Thursday and 10 "content" words on Fri)
Math/English/Social Studies/Science/Religion ---> usually 2 subjects per week

plus she has to read a minimum of 20 minutes per night, 6 nights per week.

 

[clori]

My dd was in 4th last year. Regular homework was given Mon - Thursday. On a regular basis she had a double sided spelling worksheet, 2 double sided English worksheets though some of it may have been reading passages, and 1 or 2 math worksheets. There was also homework in science and social studies but not quite as routinely scheduled. They were also supposed to read at least 20 minutes 7 days a week. It never took more than 30-45 minutes to do the homework (not counting reading) unless there was procrastination. I seem to remember 25 spelling words - vocabulary was part of the English homework.

There were also various projects mostly for science and social studies some taking just a few days and others were longer term projects. These assignments varied in time and how much was done per day vs all at once etc.

 

[Mickeypooh99]

My DS was in 4th last year, and the only homework he had on a regular basis was his reading log. He finished everything else in class. The kids who worked slower on their school work had to bring the rest home as homework. So maybe your 4th grader has "homework" and is just finishing it in school.

He did have a couple of projects last year. He worked on those at home, but they weren't an every night thing.

I also have a huge problem with the teachers not challenging him enough. Thats why we supplement at home.

 

[SaraJayne]

So far this school year (we started Sept 1st) she's brought home two math worksheets that took her about 5 mins to do.

I'm not complaining.

 

[design_mom]

My son is in 4th grade and I've been surprised by how little homework he's had (so far). One or two worksheets a couple times a week and no spelling words yet. He's supposed to read 30 minutes/day, too...but he loves to read, so that's not really homework. I was surprised because the one thing I'd heard about his teacher is that she gives a lot of homework.

We had curriculum night at school on Wednesday. The teacher said that she's still in the process of assessing where the class currently is, so she hasn't really started homework in earnest yet. She said for the rest of the year, we should expect the kids to have 45-60 minutes of homework per night.

She said they are currently doing review and pre-tests in spelling and will get their first spelling lists next week.

 

[jfoofj]

My DS started 4th grade Aug31st, and he is having his first two tests today- spelling (which will be weekly on Fridays, 20ish words/week) and a Social Studies test that is pretty much review from last year (continents/oceans/equator/meridians). He has had a math worksheet each night, and he has a vocab booklet that he was been working on, and also a cursive handwriting booklet. He also has a book report that is due the first week in October. He also has to keep a log of his leisure reading, and they want to see at least 20 minutes per day or 2 hours per week. He reads way more than that anyways, so that isn't a big deal.

It is a bit more than 3rd grade, and I am trying to emphasize to him that when he gets an assignment thats not due for a while, to get started on it early so that he doesn't end up stressed out or doing it all last minute.

 

[LuvOrlando]

Every kid is different, maybe you should ask him where and how he is getting his work done. It could be he finishes some work early so the teacher lets them do homework during that free time if they want, i know my kids teachers have always done this.

 

[kelleyrn2000]

My 4th grader doesn't have much homework either. But at open house her teacher explained that homework is typically work that they are given time to complete in class, but haven't finished. So if she completes it at school, she doesn't have it for homework. They have spelling tests, book reports, and other things to do at home too, but it really isn't very much.

That said, she has a wonderful teacher this year that has her so excited for school. She and the class got to be on the news this week because her teacher was nominated for teacher of the week, and she was so excited for her teacher. And after seeing the news clip...I want to be in the class too . So, as long as she is learning and doing her work, I won't worry about how much homework she has

And yes, I'm glad she doesn't have as much homework this year so far!

 

[RadioNate]

We've been in school nearly a month and my 4th grader's homework is still light. He has a daily math worksheet and then the standard 20-3- minutes of free reading.

I actually hate homework so I'm not going to tell the teacher it is too little.

We haven't started spelling tests here yet but I think that is coming.

They are supposed to be "studying" for tests and such but I don't think anyone has sat them down and actually taught them how to study. I guess I need to come up with ways to teach that.

Thankfully, his teacher isn't big on projects so hopefully we will only have 2-3 this year.

 

[mrodgers]

Last year my 3rd grade daughter had no life outside of school. She got home, had half an hour or so before dinner. Ate dinner then did homework all evening. After homework it was shower time, then she could read for half an hour before going to bed at 9 pm.

So far this year in 4th, she has 4 exercises to do for spelling words for the week and a math page every so often.

She has not had to read anything for homework yet. She reads novels for pleasure every night, and usually all day on the weekends. So does my daughter in kindergarten.

It seems silly for my 1st grader to do her reading homework every night which is usually a couple page booklet of simple 3-4 word sentences when she is reading my 4th grader's novels when done with them.

 

[taximomfor4]

ds finished 4th grade last year. Quite honestly, while I know he spent some time each day (even weekends) on homework, I never really saw any of it. Except if he had a project that he honestly couldn't tackle completely on his own.

I am relatively sure his homework consisted of lots of Language Arts stuff and math nearly every day. There was definitely also social studies because I know I saw him looking things up in a book that were social studies related. Science, at the very least, had projects sometimes because the experiments are what he needed help with sometimes. OH, and he had to make some presentations of some kind because he did a power point and also needed poster board. But once again, I just noticed those things were being done at home. Other than that, I just saw things once they came home graded...and they were excellent grades so I just stayed out of it.

I do, however, have a 3rd grader right now who is not like my son...she doesn't buckle down and do things on her own, all the time. Sometimes I have to remind her. Luckily, she gets a homework packet. It has a mix of math, spelling, Language Arts, and even the occasional social studies. It comes home on Monday, and is due the following Monday. We keep it in the van, so she can work on it on the hour-long drive to and from dance. Then we make her finish up on the weekend.

 

[Stargazer]

I also agree that DD has less homework in the 4th grade compared to last year.

On a typical night, we have:
Review for spelling test - about 20 words and 10 bonus words (the teacher only chooses two bonus)

Review for vocab test OR Independent reading
This week was the 1st week she's had reading - they will have to do a book report on in class and then take an online test

Review for social studies or science test - it was over map skills this week

Review for math test, but so far they're still on things that were covered last year, so she hasn't had to study too much at home

 

[Pigeon]

My dds had way too much homework almost every night. There would be several pages or worksheets of math, spelling words, social studies worksheets, grammar, and endless projects. In addition, she was supposed to read for 20 minutes and practice an instrument for 20 minutes.

Before you decide that your child has too little homework, you might want to look at the literature on homework and academic achievement in elementary school. You might be very surprised.