NewDanceShoes
High Gold Member
Registered: July 06, 2007
Posts: 776
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Reply with quote | #41 |
Oh, I'm there with you on the crazy homework! I was really irritated tonight as DD had a ton of homework for each class. Why, because they had off all last week and report card grades are due this week so it appears the teachers are cramming everything in with homework. Don't get me started on the crazy week off in November each year and then the mad homework rush.
What irks me even more is that the homework isn't even reviewed in most of DD's classes to see if they did it correctly so I see no value in it. The teachers do a check to see if you have a paper done where it appears that you did the homework but they only spot check it, uggh! But, if you don't do it counts against your grade for that class.
I also don't believe that homework should be anything but reading and perhaps a project that they do at home over a given period but not something due each day. I get very frustrated that DD will have some days of very limited homework and then other days she is slammed. I wish each teacher would assign weekly homework on Mondays due on Friday and you could work it around your schedule during the week. We had a teacher do that several grades back and it so much better for everyone. I have asked several teachers why they don't do that and the answer has always been the same, they don't have the time to organize a weeks worth of homework - but somehow they think the students/parents have the time do the homework every night! |
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dancemom23
Platinum Member
Registered: Sept 16, 2006
Posts: 1,778
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Reply with quote | #42 |
I guess I am just a mean mom. Except for special projects that they needed help getting things for, and when they were in Kindergarten and needed me to participate in their 5 minute daily assignments, I have never helped my kids with their homework unless they didn't understand a particular assignment or problem. When I was a kid, nobody helped me with my homework and I feel that on a daily basis, I shouldn't have to help them either. Most days I don't even see their homework.
However, when I hear people complaining about the loads of homework (even from my kids' own classes), I have to wonder why my kids don't have that much - their answer is always that they finished it in school. I guess I am just lucky - plus I know that, especially now that they are older, I wouldn't be of much help with any of them especially when it comes to math (even though math was always my best subject, they have all surpassed my highest level of math at this point).
Yes my kids get frustrated at times when they ask me "how do you spell..." or "what does ... mean?" - my answer has always been - "look it up". But I did my homework, now it is their turn. I am glad that they are able to accomplish nearly all of their homework before they ever get home.
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Chris
Mom to dancers Kayleigh 18 & Alyssa 16 and golfer Kevin 14 |
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jeanne4379
Diamond Member
Registered: Aug 21, 2005
Posts: 9,077
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Reply with quote | #43 |
I don't care. I'm not doing any more homework!
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"Perhaps loving something is the only starting place there is for making your life your own." Alice Koller
"Good art is a form of prayer. It's a way to say what is not sayable." Frederich Busch |
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Spitsfire
High Platinum Member
Registered: March 07, 2008
Posts: 2,842
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Reply with quote | #44 |
Quote: I don't care. I'm not doing any more homework!
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Forgive the ones that hate you and love the ones that love you!
I'd rather be hated for who i am than loved for who I'm not ...
Don't blame me I voted for McCain!
Tough times don't last TOUGH PEOPLE DO |
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jeanne4379
Diamond Member
Registered: Aug 21, 2005
Posts: 9,077
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Reply with quote | #45 |
On the other hand, homeschooling has a lot of advantages. If I only knew then what I know now......................
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"Perhaps loving something is the only starting place there is for making your life your own." Alice Koller
"Good art is a form of prayer. It's a way to say what is not sayable." Frederich Busch |
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jaryja
High Gold Member
Registered: Sept 09, 2007
Posts: 757
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Reply with quote | #46 |
Homework is still making me want to cry!!! I am loosing my mind, and this is only grade 5!! sigh........... |
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jeanne4379
Diamond Member
Registered: Aug 21, 2005
Posts: 9,077
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Reply with quote | #47 |
My bil (before he passed away young) used to tell the teachers that they had his kids for 8 hours a day and when they came home the kids were his and wouldn't do homework at all. MInd you, it was color the state map and other useless stuff in the lower grades then. The last time we got one of those (color the states in the continental USA), dd and I made it all a tatersall with colored pencils instead. I sent a note to the teacher to please refrain from sending home busy work. Coloring assignments, really!
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"Perhaps loving something is the only starting place there is for making your life your own." Alice Koller
"Good art is a form of prayer. It's a way to say what is not sayable." Frederich Busch |
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cantstopthosefeet
Gold Member
Registered: Dec 31, 2007
Posts: 262
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Reply with quote | #48 |
OK - defensive teacher going to come on here. I have been lucky in the fact that when my own children were in elementary school they did have minimal homework. I will have to say that there IS a place for it. Some work can only be learned when they are young. It has been proven through numerous studies that if a child does not know his/her multiplication tables by 4th grade (yes - that is right - 4th grade) - the likelihood they will ever learn them is not good at all. I am a little old-school as a math teacher. What is now being pushed by NCTM (National Council of Teachers of Mathematics) is that you put a calculator in their hot little hands very early in elementary school. I personally feel this has greatly hurt the number sense in our students. I teach high school Algebra and Pre-Algebra to 8th graders. My pre-algebra students usually only get 15-20 problems a night - and most days have adequate time to complete the work in my classroom. What typically happens? 1/2 the class says they get in trouble from their parents if they don't have homework when they come home so the students refuse to do it in class! My algebra students - out of NECESSITY to understand/solidify the concepts in their minds! - have between 25 and 40 minutes of homework a night. I constantly tell my parents - there are only 4 concepts in math - addition/subtraction/multiplication/division. From there math is a SKILL (like dance!) - it's what you do with those operations that make up the dance. You need to practice those skills and problem-solving concepts utilizing them in order to be better able to perform that skill.
Sorry - off my soap-box now. I hope that at least gave some people something to think about. Oh - as a reference - I think we all remember Cliff Notes? They now have "Cliff Quicks" for every subject area out at your local WalMart, Target, and bookstores everywhere. Great refreshers for all of us that haven't looked at different subject matters in a while (and I am including myself in that category!) |
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momtodancinggirl
Platinum Member
Registered: June 28, 2008
Posts: 1,113
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Reply with quote | #49 |
what bugs me about homework is if my kids need help...sorry, to sound like a bad mom, but I AM NOT A TEACHER....I try to help them and it frustrates me. I did not go to school to be a teacher, so even though I know how to do a math problem or whatever does not mean I know how to TEACH my child>
Ack- see this won't be popular here- but my best friend is a teacher, and NOTHING is more frustrating to a teacher than a parent who says "it's not my job, I didn't go to school to be a teacher"
I think it is ABSOLUTELY our job as parents to fill in the blanks. If the kids aren't getting it in class, we have to back it up at home! I'm a dance mom, believe me, all the way, but NOTHING comes before school- nothing!
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ozmum
Platinum Member
Registered: Jan 28, 2007
Posts: 1,837
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Reply with quote | #50 |
Yes,
But the way I was taught Maths is NOTHING like the way my kids are being taught. So I can more than likely get the correct answer, but cannot help them with HOW to get the correct answer they way they are being taught to do it. |
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cldancersmom
Gold Member
Registered: April 10, 2008
Posts: 414
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Reply with quote | #51 |
Quote: It has been proven through numerous studies that if a child does not know his/her multiplication tables by 4th grade (yes - that is right - 4th grade) - the likelihood they will ever learn them is not good at all.
cantstopthosefeet - I would like to know which study this came from because I know for a fact that it is not true. My youngest dd failed every single timed multiplication test they gave her in 4th grade. They would work all year in the 4th grade to be able to complete 100 multiplication problems in 1 min (or something equally ridiculous), and she never got it. My son also failed almost every single test. Yet low and behold by the sixth grade they were placed in Honors math. Your statement lies at the true problem with the USA's education system. Although teacher go through a degreed program and must pass a test to teach, they never receive training on what type and how much homework to assign.
Quote: My 5th grader gets a math sheet on Monday which is due Friday. 10 problems each night, mainly review question from different pages of the textbook. A spelling packet due Friday. A vocabulary packet which is due the following Monday. From time to time she will have other work, but never a lot. 20 minutes of reading each night is required and she has a reading log to turn in on Mondays.
My 2nd grader is given a packet on Monday which is due Friday. In the packet are 20 spelling words which they need to group by sounds, pick 10 words to uses in sentences, and pre-test the night before the test. One math page, and one reading/comprehension sheet. They also have a reading log due on the following Monday, they are suppose to read a total of 140 minutes each week. They are given 10 vocabulary words on Monday and are tested on them the following week.
raazmom - I would and have been up to the school so fast if my kids brought home this much homework. If this is the districts idea of scaling back I would hate to see what the homework was before the change.
jacaranda - No homework in 1st grade. How appalling!! That would never fly here in the USA, and imagine you were what amounts to Valedictorian in the USA without completing your homework. How's that possible since we all know the more homework you do the better student you will be. |
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raazmom
Gold Member
Registered: Jan 24, 2009
Posts: 428
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Reply with quote | #52 |
Not sure if I was completely clear. The homework given on Monday is not due until Friday so they have the whole week to do it. This only takes about 20 minutes or less to do each night.
The reading is just a log of the minutes they read and is not turned in until the following Monday. The school suggests children read 20 mins. a night, but I require my kids to read 30 minutes after dinner or before bed each night. They can read whatever they wish, a comic book, a magazine, etc. just as long as they are reading something.
I guess I don't consider the reading homework, it is life work. Children who read do better in school. |
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cantstopthosefeet
Gold Member
Registered: Dec 31, 2007
Posts: 262
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Reply with quote | #53 |
cldancersmom - I agree timed tests are ridiculous! That does not tell whether they actually know their multiplication tables - they only tell whether you can recall them quickly. There is a thing called "wait time" that any self-respecting teacher must recognize. I don't grade based on how quickly somebody can answer something - I grade on whether or not a person actually has the knowledge they need. I will not allow others to stop the learning/thinking process in my classroom. Each and every student is encouraged to use their knowledge to learn new skills. I believe I facilitate the learning - not impart what I know on them. In others words - it's not speed of a timed test. I'm sure your children knew their multiplication facts - it was a teacher that believed they needed to be able to recall the facts and have the reflexive writing to respond to some ridiculous amount of prompts in a short period of time.
I wish I could quote the study to you - but believe me - our special education department and administrators let us know about it every year when we discuss the use of calculators in our classrooms! They insists that some students have calculators in their hands at all times - even when I am testing actual calculation skills! It's a huge hot topic in mathematics! |
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Jacaranda
Gold Member
Registered: June 26, 2008
Posts: 439
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Reply with quote | #54 |
A lot of schools here in Australia have actually removed all homework from 1st-9th grade. There was talk of banning it completely in all schools until the 10th grade but nothing came of it. They did some studies at it was discovered that when kids weren't given homework, a lot more learning was going on at home. The kids had time for a different type of learning and their results in school went through the roof. It would be hard to do a similar survey in the US as it seems the homework is an integral part of their grading system.
I'm not sure about the multiplication tables. I didn't learn mine until I was 15 years old but I still know them now. I think the issue is they aren't practiced enough after 4th grade but kids can do it in their own time. |
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jeanne4379
Diamond Member
Registered: Aug 21, 2005
Posts: 9,077
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Reply with quote | #55 |
Wow! I love that. Young children learn through playing. Take that away and I wonder what we are seriously doing to them? When do they learn how to use their imagination and then apply their free-tought processes/imagination to practical knowledge? I'd take the homework out of hte equation in a heartbeat.
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"Perhaps loving something is the only starting place there is for making your life your own." Alice Koller
"Good art is a form of prayer. It's a way to say what is not sayable." Frederich Busch |
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lokerstudiomom
High Silver Member
Registered: Sept 25, 2008
Posts: 175
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Reply with quote | #56 |
I will also agree about the timed test for multiplication tables being ridiculous! My oldest daughter is a perfectest and it was very, very, very hard for her to finish the facts in a one minute timed test - not because she didn't know them - but because she didn't want to miss any! Same was true with the timed keyboarding tests. I understand the concept of timed tests, just that they aren't for every child.
The homework I have the most problems with are the projects! I feel that if they are not completed during class then they just became a mom and dad project - who has the most money, most time, most artist ability, most whatever..., because it always seems that if its not done in class, some projects look like a rocket scientist did it, or that Leonardo da Vinci painted it. I always feel sorry for the child who does not have help and actually did the project the best he or she could with whatever materials they could find. |
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cantstopthosefeet
Gold Member
Registered: Dec 31, 2007
Posts: 262
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Reply with quote | #57 |
I couldn't resist. This excerpt is from an article on Yahoo about what China is doing different than the US...
What the Chinese can teach are verities, home truths that have started to make a comeback in the U.S. but that could still use a push. The Chinese understand that there is no substitute for putting in the hours and doing the work. And more than anything else, the kids in China do lots of work. In the U.S., according to a 2007 survey by the Department of Education, 37% of 10th-graders in 2002 spent more than 10 hours on homework each week. That's not bad; in fact, it's much better than it used to be (in 1980 a mere 7% of kids did that much work at home each week). But Chinese students, according to a 2006 report by the Asia Society, spend twice as many hours doing homework as do their U.S. peers.
Part of the reason is family involvement. Consider Liu, the 7-year-old who had to leave the birthday party to go to Saturday school. Both his parents work, so when he goes home each day, his grandparents are there to greet him and put him through his after-school paces. His mother says simply, "This is normal. All his classmates work like this after school."
And we think we have room to complain?
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