Totally OT- homework in kindergarten

FlashMorehouse

Do what we did..tell the school to screw itself. We are not doing homework for k-2, then light to medium homework 3-5.

SunofaBeach14

My third grader is reading a 200-300 page novel every month. Like it or not, the world is getting more competitive, not less, and the US is falling behind. We can either whine about what kids should be doing or we can push them to be competitive in tomorrow's marketplace. It's totally your call with your kids, but I'm not going to stand idly by and watch my kid lose college placement to students from overseas. Good luck!

While I agree with this general point, one of the main reasons why the USA is falling behind in literacy is because they teach with sight words/look and say type methods as the main reading method, and not synthetic phonics. Research in the UK has shown that synthetic phonics is a far superior method, requires way less memorisation and that about 40% of kids don't have the visual memory to memorise so many sight words, and so learn much better with synthetic phonics (and the other 60% can learn with either method but make significantly more progress with synthetic phonics)

additionally, having seen how maths is taught in USA schools and USA maths schemes of work for primary aged kids, again there's a massive emphasis on memorising number facts rather than understanding the concepts that underpin them.

Some good schemes of work from the UK I'd recommend would be any of the better synthetic phonics programmes (BRI-ARI is the one I've used with struggling readers when working as a tutor, and the one I use to teach my own kids to read) and the "maths makes sense" scheme from Oxford University. Also look at the evidence backing up these methods, including two very major studies backing up synthetic phonics.

Giving 5 yr olds an hours homework every night won't fix what's broken in the USA system. It'll just make the problem worse as kids who are struggling at age 5 will become severely disaffected with education and less likely to achieve later on, which negatively impacts the whole system as they throw time and money at these kids when if they'd have got it right initially, they wouldn't have half as many disaffected underachievers later on.

Also, if a parent has to sit and help the child do their homework, then the parent is teaching the child. That shouldn't be happening. Homework should be for extra practice or assessment of what they learned in class. That means they should be able to do it independently (as in maybe a parent needs to make the child sit down and do it, but the parent shouldn't have to show or teach the child how to do it). Giving hours of homework a night where the parent has to bascially teach the child how to do the homework, the question to be asked should be why hasn't the child been taught this in class? I'm not blaming classroom teachers for this, they deliver the system as they've been trained to do it. It's the system that's the problem, i.e. teachers are not trained in the best methods, the way children are grouped etc is not the most effective way for learning, and the curricula are not based on the most effective teaching methods. And the result is the teacher having to siphon half of what the child's supposed to learn onto the parent.

Also, when schools rely on parents teaching the child at home, this greatly disadvantages kids whose parents are uneducated or don't care enough to help. If all the teaching is taking place in school then these kids are a lot less disadvantaged.

I'm sorry, but no. There is nothing wrong with parents helping their kids learn and we are not talking about "hours" of homework for 5 year olds, only an hour or less, and my child is perfectly capable of doing her own homework. We do make sure she does it, help where necessary, and we check it. If that disadvantages some other students then tough luck. As for phonics, I couldn't disagree more. My older child was exposed to both phonics and site words because of school changes, and she had a much easier time with site words and memorization. If anything, we do far less memorization in the US than we did decades ago, and again far less than I saw in Asia. One doesn't learn kanji without memorization. I find it absurd to teach children to spell incorrectly only to have to "fix" it later. If you have a full study on this, with the methodology included, I'd be interested in reading it, but these studies on teaching methods are usually rather self serving. Our experience with phonics leads me to believe that it's absolute garbage. In the end, I would argue that the problem isn't so much one specific teaching method or another, but one of motivation and effort and the US is falling behind both because of the lack of effort of teachers but also from the lack of effort from parents. This thread is a great example. My child is sitting here next to me quietly reading her book and will continue to learn at home every bit as much as she does at school. If someone wants to raise their children differently, I'm certainly not standing in the way, but all I'm reading in this thread are a lot of excuses and justifications for less work rather than pushing for maximum effort.

caitconquersweight

My daughter has homework Mon-Thurs. It's all due on Friday. This was the first week of homework, but the third week of school. This week she's reading a small book, writing some numbers out, and today and tomorrow I think she has to practice writing sentences. She also has extra credit stuff (that doesn't really count for much, I think) that's just optional. She also struggles with writing, she can do pretty much anything else.

headofphat

You would think with all those *kitten* supplies i had to buy before the school year that they would get everything done at school.

We have at least 30 to 40 minutes of homework for our first grader.

sucks.

lisalsd1

I'm a little surprised at the amount...is it 4 worksheets every night???? Or is it a packet that is due at the end of the week?

I used to teach elementary school. My son is a Kindergartener currently. He was actually in K at a private school last year due to the date of his birthday and the cut-off for school. At public school, he won't start receiving homework until October. Last year, homework started a bit earlier, but I think it was max 1 sheet a night. The teacher last year said the homework should take between 10-15 minutes.

edited to add: plus 10-15 minutes of reading (my son is reading on his own now, but this includes reading with a parent)

EvgeniZyntx

My third grader is reading a 200-300 page novel every month. Like it or not, the world is getting more competitive, not less, and the US is falling behind. We can either whine about what kids should be doing or we can push them to be competitive in tomorrow's marketplace. It's totally your call with your kids, but I'm not going to stand idly by and watch my kid lose college placement to students from overseas. Good luck!

While I agree with this general point, one of the main reasons why the USA is falling behind in literacy is because they teach with sight words/look and say type methods as the main reading method, and not synthetic phonics. Research in the UK has shown that synthetic phonics is a far superior method, requires way less memorisation and that about 40% of kids don't have the visual memory to memorise so many sight words, and so learn much better with synthetic phonics (and the other 60% can learn with either method but make significantly more progress with synthetic phonics)

additionally, having seen how maths is taught in USA schools and USA maths schemes of work for primary aged kids, again there's a massive emphasis on memorising number facts rather than understanding the concepts that underpin them.

Some good schemes of work from the UK I'd recommend would be any of the better synthetic phonics programmes (BRI-ARI is the one I've used with struggling readers when working as a tutor, and the one I use to teach my own kids to read) and the "maths makes sense" scheme from Oxford University. Also look at the evidence backing up these methods, including two very major studies backing up synthetic phonics.

Giving 5 yr olds an hours homework every night won't fix what's broken in the USA system. It'll just make the problem worse as kids who are struggling at age 5 will become severely disaffected with education and less likely to achieve later on, which negatively impacts the whole system as they throw time and money at these kids when if they'd have got it right initially, they wouldn't have half as many disaffected underachievers later on.

Also, if a parent has to sit and help the child do their homework, then the parent is teaching the child. That shouldn't be happening. Homework should be for extra practice or assessment of what they learned in class. That means they should be able to do it independently (as in maybe a parent needs to make the child sit down and do it, but the parent shouldn't have to show or teach the child how to do it). Giving hours of homework a night where the parent has to bascially teach the child how to do the homework, the question to be asked should be why hasn't the child been taught this in class? I'm not blaming classroom teachers for this, they deliver the system as they've been trained to do it. It's the system that's the problem, i.e. teachers are not trained in the best methods, the way children are grouped etc is not the most effective way for learning, and the curricula are not based on the most effective teaching methods. And the result is the teacher having to siphon half of what the child's supposed to learn onto the parent.

Also, when schools rely on parents teaching the child at home, this greatly disadvantages kids whose parents are uneducated or don't care enough to help. If all the teaching is taking place in school then these kids are a lot less disadvantaged.

I'm sorry, but no. There is nothing wrong with parents helping their kids learn and we are not talking about "hours" of homework for 5 year olds, only an hour or less, and my child is perfectly capable of doing her own homework. We do make sure she does it, help where necessary, and we check it. If that disadvantages some other students then tough luck. As for phonics, I couldn't disagree more. My older child was exposed to both phonics and site words because of school changes, and she had a much easier time with site words and memorization. If anything, we do far less memorization in the US than we did decades ago, and again far less than I saw in Asia. One doesn't learn kanji without memorization. I find it absurd to teach children to spell incorrectly only to have to "fix" it later. If you have a full study on this, with the methodology included, I'd be interested in reading it, but these studies on teaching methods are usually rather self serving. Our experience with phonics leads me to believe that it's absolute garbage. In the end, I would argue that the problem isn't so much one specific teaching method or another, but one of motivation and effort and the US is falling behind both because of the lack of effort of teachers but also from the lack of effort from parents. This thread is a great example. My child is sitting here next to me quietly reading her book and will continue to learn at home every bit as much as she does at school. If someone wants to raise their children differently, I'm certainly not standing in the way, but all I'm reading in this thread are a lot of excuses and justifications for less work rather than pushing for maximum effort.

From my point of view on phonics and sight words - this is a bit of a sterile (and old) debate - both systems work, both bring value.
My daughters speak 3-5 languages at varying levels and have learned using mixed systems - pure phonics simply falls apart in a multilingual environment, sight words is too unwieldy.

In kindergarten - and early grades - what should be taught is a love of knowledge and learning. If those sheets or other exercises work for that then so much the better - if it is seen as a frustration, absolutely find a change or adjustment.

An different perspective from here (Germany/France) - My kids did varying levels of homework depending on the grade or school but we always did some home learning. Very often, many schools here have little homework, but longer school hours. If a child is in school for a 'full day' schedule - homework seems superfluous. Especially if it is executed as a task and not as a learning experience.

"Why are you doing this?" is something every learner should come across when doing homework.

Oh - and on the "competition front" - my kids will likely not go to university in the US - while excellent, just not getting the best bang for the buck for now. Maybe grad school (but probably not). One is studying archeology/history in Strasbourg and the other is starting architecture in Paris.

I believe school systems and our own fears capture us in trying to provide the best education and a balanced life. I truly believe we are fundamentally unaware of how radically different knowledge awareness will be in 20-30 years or how we even compete with time for teaching with everything else and how focus cycles have radically changed.

Those worksheets are also, probably, tools to teach parents to get involved.

rml_16

I hate this trend. Thankfully, it hadn't quite started full-force when my daughter was in kindergarten. I have a vague recollection of some little bits of homework, but nothing that took that long.

They didn't start homework in my school until third grade and it was only one night a week. Somehow, my classmates still managed to get into Ivy League schools and stuff. It's ridiculous to give homework to 4 and 5-year-olds. Even all-day kindergarten is a joke. It's more about free daycare, really.

da_bears1008

My oldest is in 5th grade, and I'm guessing he will be bringing home assignments this year, but previous years, he RARELY had homework.

My 1st grader does a lot of worksheets in school, and just brings them home. He does have weekly spelling and he is reading nightly, but as far as homework, I don't see that happening much either.

nilbogger

That's really crazy. When I was in kindergarten a whopping 25 years ago we had NO homework.. and that was only half day. Very few kids went for a full day. In first grade we started getting one night of homework per week, in second and third we had two and in fourth grade we typically had four nights a week. I think most of the homework in the earlier years was simply to prepare us for later years... not so much for reinforcement.

I don't think I do 40 minutes of homework on an average night as a part-time college student.

BenjaminMFP88

Oh gosh, I have a 3 year old and an infant and I hope they have at least this much homework. Success either comes from knowing someone or being the best at your field. An hour of homework a night is not that much and is is no way close to what children in other areas of the world are doing.

rml_16

Oh gosh, I have a 3 year old and an infant and I hope they have at least this much homework. Success either comes from knowing someone or being the best at your field. An hour of homework a night is not that much and is is no way close to what children in other areas of the world are doing.

Actually, a lot of children in other parts of the world (with very good education systems) do not have homework at all.

And kindergarten is way too young. There is a lot to learn from free play time. This is scientific fact. You can be very successful in your field without having an hour of homework at 5 years old. I kind of feel sorry for your children.

Also, and I don't know if they are related, but it's certainly something to look at, over the last 20 years or so, our children have been performing worse and worse. And it is over the last 20 years that kindergarten went from half to full days, that homework has been given at earlier ages, that PE and recess have been cut way back ...

JenAndSome

That does sound like a lot, but it also depends on the child. I have two boys who are in the second and third grade. The younger one has had the same teacher as the older boy for the past two years, so the homework amount given has been the same. However, my older child has rarely had to even bring homework home because he finishes it at school. The younger child will spend sometimes an hour at home working on work sheets and spelling. The teachers job is to try to make sure the students reach a certain standard by the end of the year (at least in Indiana). If your child is struggling with something it is the teachers job to ensure the student works at it until the concept is understood. Unfortunately a lot of times that means more work for the student.

SunofaBeach14

Oh gosh, I have a 3 year old and an infant and I hope they have at least this much homework. Success either comes from knowing someone or being the best at your field. An hour of homework a night is not that much and is is no way close to what children in other areas of the world are doing.

Actually, a lot of children in other parts of the world (with very good education systems) do not have homework at all.

And kindergarten is way too young. There is a lot to learn from free play time. This is scientific fact. You can be very successful in your field without having an hour of homework at 5 years old. I kind of feel sorry for your children.

Also, and I don't know if they are related, but it's certainly something to look at, over the last 20 years or so, our children have been performing worse and worse. And it is over the last 20 years that kindergarten went from half to full days, that homework has been given at earlier ages, that PE and recess have been cut way back ...

Yep, that's it. Less work is more, and it's study and school work that are making our kids fat. I'm convinced.

Oh, and I feel sorry for everyone else's children too.

gypsy_spirit

Success either comes from knowing someone or being the best at your field.

I guess it depends on how you define being successful.

Education is not just about what happens at school and the amount of homework completed. Just because a child is assigned homework, is in no way indicative of their success as an adult. There is a much bigger picture here. Learning happens all day, every day. The most successful people are those who are exposed to all types of learning experiences throughout their lives.

Our educational systems are chasing their tails and have been for years. If you stick around long enough, everything old cycles around again.

dansls1

Shouldn't they be digging for worms and making awesome art projects?

I think this is great, if your child is preparing to either dig holes or take his chances at being an artist later in life. (The term 'starving artist' comes up because so few are actually successful).

bugaboo_sue

Oh gosh, I have a 3 year old and an infant and I hope they have at least this much homework. Success either comes from knowing someone or being the best at your field. An hour of homework a night is not that much and is is no way close to what children in other areas of the world are doing.

Actually, a lot of children in other parts of the world (with very good education systems) do not have homework at all.

And kindergarten is way too young. There is a lot to learn from free play time. This is scientific fact. You can be very successful in your field without having an hour of homework at 5 years old. I kind of feel sorry for your children.

Also, and I don't know if they are related, but it's certainly something to look at, over the last 20 years or so, our children have been performing worse and worse. And it is over the last 20 years that kindergarten went from half to full days, that homework has been given at earlier ages, that PE and recess have been cut way back ...

Pretty sure it's not the full day kindergarten and homework that's making kids perform worse it's the crappy teachers that's doing it. It's the "No child left behind!", "Everyone is a winner!" and the banning of using red pens to mark up papers because it's "harsh and mean and little Timmy will cry". It's keeping those children who excel in class at the level of everyone else because 'it's not FAIR that Janie is in first grade and reads at a sixth grade level while poor little Tabitha barely knows her ABC's." When I was in grammar school my goal was to excel. I wanted to be the person who was better than everyone else. I skipped a couple of reading groups because I was an excellent reader and I wished I was able to be so good that I skipped grades. Now days the chances of that happening are slim to none because the kids that excel have to be kept back for the kids that don't.

So don't blame the long days and homework that is given in kindergarten. Instead look at the school system and the teachers because that's where the real problem lies.

gypsy_spirit

Shouldn't they be digging for worms and making awesome art projects?

I think this is great, if your child is preparing to either dig holes or take his chances at being an artist later in life. (The term 'starving artist' comes up because so few are actually successful).

:laugh: Funny. Learning happens all around us every day. Manipulating mediums (such as digging for worms and art) is very beneficial to a child's overall learning experience. It teaches much more. I hope you were just shooting for humor. Early childhood development and learning are so much more than worksheets and sight words.

rml_16

Oh gosh, I have a 3 year old and an infant and I hope they have at least this much homework. Success either comes from knowing someone or being the best at your field. An hour of homework a night is not that much and is is no way close to what children in other areas of the world are doing.

Actually, a lot of children in other parts of the world (with very good education systems) do not have homework at all.

And kindergarten is way too young. There is a lot to learn from free play time. This is scientific fact. You can be very successful in your field without having an hour of homework at 5 years old. I kind of feel sorry for your children.

Also, and I don't know if they are related, but it's certainly something to look at, over the last 20 years or so, our children have been performing worse and worse. And it is over the last 20 years that kindergarten went from half to full days, that homework has been given at earlier ages, that PE and recess have been cut way back ...

Pretty sure it's not the full day kindergarten and homework that's making kids perform worse it's the crappy teachers that's doing it. It's the "No child left behind!", "Everyone is a winner!" and the banning of using red pens to mark up papers because it's "harsh and mean and little Timmy will cry". It's keeping those children who excel in class at the level of everyone else because 'it's not FAIR that Janie is in first grade and reads at a sixth grade level while poor little Tabitha barely knows her ABC's." When I was in grammar school my goal was to excel. I wanted to be the person who was better than everyone else. I skipped a couple of reading groups because I was an excellent reader and I wished I was able to be so good that I skipped grades. Now days the chances of that happening are slim to none because the kids that excel have to be kept back for the kids that don't.

So don't blame the long days and homework that is given in kindergarten. Instead look at the school system and the teachers because that's where the real problem lies.

What are you basing "teachers are bad" on?

And just so you understand, I actually work in the early learning field.

ELMunque

I have a problem with excessive homework, I have 6 kids and things can get hectic when everyone has excessive homework, because it's all left up to me to help them all with any issues, when only a few have homework the older kids can help the younger kids. Works out great. That said, and hour a night is not excessive homework. They can get that done while I'm cooking dinner. There have been nights when my kids have passed their bedtimes because they are on their 5th hour of homework. That's excessive.

An hour a night, they can get their dinner done, do their chores, get ready for bed and get a full nights sleep. All week long, it teaches them responsibility. Sure they want to do kid things and you want to do kid things with them. That's why they are off every weekend. Make the most of it. Let them know that they get to enjoy the things you do on the weekend because you are so proud of them for working so hard all week long.

I went to school in England until I was in 4th grade. I was in 9th grade in the states when they caught up to me.

rml_16

I went to school in England until I was in 4th grade. I was in 9th grade in the states when they caught up to me.

You read Shakespeare and did advanced trigonometry in fourth grade?