My son is entering the 3rd grade. At orientation we were just told that 3rd-5th graders have homework EVERY night. Not only that, but if it is not turned in the next day 20% is deducted. All assignments not finished in class become homework in addition to the normal homework assignment.

My son's school already has a longer day (7.5 hours) than most elementary schools in my area (6 or 6.5 hours). After such a long day, I think the last thing he needs is more school work.

My kids are also active in karate, dance and other activities. When are they supposed to have time for anything else? My older daughter attended private school and she rarely had homework. School work was done in school. The only time she brought work home was if she needed reenforcement. I swear she brought home work like twice and now she's in 11th grade and has transferred to public school (due to finances) and is a very good student.

Do most schools have this daily homework policy for elementary kids now? I think it's ridiculous.

To top it all off, there's a kid in his class who is allergic to everything. We can't send in peanut butter, items cooked in peanut oil, etc. The peanuts are just the beginning. I do feel bad for the kid and I will certainly abide by the restrictions...I'm just not a happy camper this year.

Welcome to it

My DS is in 4th grade this year and has been having at least math every night since 2nd grade.

At the schools here, they have homework every night. Even in Kindergarten. It's usually only 1 or 2 pages, so it doesn't take too long. My DD started the 4th grade this year and they started a new program. They call it a homework program. To me it sounds like detention. Basically what it is, is if your child doesn't turn in their homework when it's due they have to stay after school that same day to finish it. It's manditory. They do call you during the day to let you know, but what if I have something going on right after school. My daughter has orthodontist (sp?) appointments usually scheduled right after school. I'm not cancelling an appt. and have to pay a cancellation fee just because they make them stay after w/o advanced notice. I don't understand why they can't just make them stay in for recess or send the missed homework home. I'm not very happy about this.

As for the homework every night. I would suggest maybe talking with your child's teacher and see if you can make arrangements to get the weeks worth of homework on Monday and have it turned in by Friday. That way if you do have something going on one night your child wouldn't get behind. They used to do that when my DD was in Kindergarten. They would send home a weeks worth of homework on Monday and it had to be turned in by Friday. It was fine if you did it all on Monday just as long as you did it and got it in by the end of the week. HTH.

my niece had homework in KINDERGARTEN last year!!! First I thought it was bad enough we make kindergartners go to school ALL DAY, but she had at least weekly homework, sometimes more. They also did 20 work spelling tests every week..... I just cannot even imagine. I do not look forward to this stuff for sure!

Has your son met his teacher yet? It may not be as bad as it sounds. I am a third grade teacher and I give homework everyday. Usually I ask my students to read whatever they want for 15 minutes a night and study math facts for one. This is important because a child must engage in reading in order to learn to read. I am shocked over the grading of homework however. That is not fair and the parents in your area should so. The amount of parental help is different from child to child. One child may have a parent who doesn't even care while another has a parent who does the homework for hom/her. It is against our district policy to grade homework. I hope things are not as bad as it sounds.

Up until this year (he's in 5th now) they would have homework packets sent home on Monday and they were due on Thurs. They had all week to get them done. Usually he'd wait til wed nite or thurs morning to get done!!

Now he's in middle school and he has homework every nite.

Barb

My daughter just started 1st grade. She'll have homework starting week after next. It's a sheet with 9 squares and we'll have to do three of the squares during the week. We'll also have to do reading every night. I tutored a first grader before and most weeks we would get all 9 squares done because they were easy and I could understand why they assigned them. I'm planning to do the same with my daughter.

When I was in private school, I always had homework. Starting in middle school, we had different teachers for each class and it was obvious that they didn't coordinate the amount of homework given out, because there would be some days when I had enough that it was difficult to get it all done and get my chores at home done too...I would end up doing homework until 1 am because I also had to cook dinner, do laundry (we usually only had one uniform skirt each), give my sisters baths, get them into bed and make their lunches for the next day.

I think a lot of the problem with the public schools is that they have to spend too much time getting the kids ready for standardized testing and it takes away from the time they need to teach useful things.

My son started kindergarten on Tuesday of this week. Came home with homework. Friggin' unbelievable.

If it's too much homework for him or your schedule who cares in third grade what his gpa is? As long as he knows what he's supposed to it really isn't a big deal.

My son is in 4th grade and they never have homework on Friday, all he's been bringing home has been a math worksheet that takes him 10 minutes. I'm not quite sure what the schedule is, last year it was two nights a week at most.

My kindergartener gets homework Tuesday and Thursday. Mostly it's coloring projects or the other thing they'll start doing is sending home a small book that goes with their reading text and he'll have to read it to a certain number of people. It never takes more than a couple minutes. Right now he thinks the homework is fun and gets mad when his brother has some and he doesn't.

Our teachers NEVER give homework for over the weekend and alot of three day weeks we don't see homework at all. The only thing the teachers give points on is we have agendas that the parents are supposed to sign every night, I personally think it's unfair to punish or reward kids for something the parents might neglect to do.

My mom has said there were times when she just told the teachers we weren't going to do it if it was too much. We were never the kids struggling so the teachers never had much of an arguement.

My kids are past those days, but each had homework every night, from kindergarten on. At one time, the idea was 10 minutes per night, per grade through elementary school, so that by 5th grade, they were supposed to have 50 minutes a night.

However, the "best schools" (that is, the ones with the really high test scores) gave more than that.

My son, in 6th grade, was at a special school for gifted students and had almost 5 hours of homework a night...and that was working at a furious pace. I was not pleased.... However, I felt like he was ready for college by the end of that year.

I feel for you newer mommies who are just starting out in the school systems. Wait until they hit jr and sr high school, when they have 6 different teachers, and each one of them not only thinks THEIR subject is the most important, but they assign homework like they are the only teacher in the building giving homework!

My youngest is in 10th grade ... I am THIS CLOSE to being DONE with school systems and I can't wait! At one parent teacher conference, I told one teacher "....but with what you are assigning her to do, you are in effect giving ME homework, and young man, you do NOT have the authority to assign ME homework!"

My kindergarten granddaughter has homework every night ... she actually has a syllabus for the week!! .... and it's basically homework that my daughter (the mom) has to sit down and do with her every night!

And please don't let them give you the BS about how they are preparing them for college. When I was going to college, it was WAY less work than I ever had in high school!

I feel for you guys .... I really, really do. You've no idea what you are about to endure for the next 10 years.

My son is in 1st grade this year and they have homework every day except Friday. They have a new policy about homework this year, if a child does not turn in their homework 3 times (does not have to be consecutive) then they get after school detention on Friday Can you believe that? He is in 1st grade and if he fails to turn homework in 3 times he has to stay after school? CRAZY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! is all I can say!!

I've already had issues with his school this year and it's not even been back started a month yet. There are supposed to be a teacher standing out front when we drop our kids off and two different times there wasn't anyone there. I've talked to his principle both times and next I am going to the superintendent and after that i'm going to the "big" guys in Frankfort if nothing happens with the super. Like I told his principle "I'm sorry if you feel like I am complaining too much but that's my child and I will complain ANYTIME I feel it is necessary!"

The academic curriculum across the board has been so squashed down that the work that I did in in middle school (way back in the '70's), kids are now doing in the lower grades. When I was in kindergarten I don't think we picked up a pencil for the whole school year. My son is now entering 1st grade and last year in kindergarten, he had homework every night. The problem is that many kids are not developmentally ready for this level of instruction. It doesn't mean that they won't be ready someday, just maybe not now. They then say this this child may have "learning problems" because "s/he is having problems keeping up". I work in the public schools and it can be very disheartening.

Well, until they get rid of No Child Left Behind (or seriously change it) you can probably expect things to stay the same or even get harder.

As for the OP, I hate to suggest it, but if your child is going to have to devote a signifigant amount of time to homework, then you may have to rethink some of the other activities.

Maybe you need to look into getting together with other parents (PTA) to champion for some changes. But given that school funding is dependent on successful standardized test scores, I wouldn't get your hopes up.

We go tomorrow to meet my son's 2nd grade teacher and learn about the year. He starts on Wednesday.


Last year he had a packet on Monday and due Friday. It was literally one 5 minute page per day (4 pages in the pack total). It was fun for him for a couple months.

Around December he started hating doing it and wouldn't. So I'd return the partially complete packet in and after about 3 weeks of it hubby and I went in with him to talk about it with his teacher.

To us if it's sent home it's done period. It's the rule and the rule is followed.

She told him in front of us "it's ok if you don't do it, we are just getting you in the habit of taking homework home and bringing it back."




Hubby's going to school and taking his courses online so I can teach in the evenings. He either attends class that way or is doing homework (which is 7 days a week for him).

We told our son that his daily homework will be done before bedtime that night for 2nd grade and it's not an option regardless of what his teacher says this year.

Dad is setting the example and I see them doing lots of homework together this year.

My son just started kindergarten this year at a small, private school. We had the option of having him go from 8-12, 8-3 or 8-6 (parents pick what they want - and pay for it). Instruction is from 8-12 and then they go to lunch. Afternoons are for activities, crafts, nap, etc.

When he goes to first grade next year (and every year after that)... the schedule is from 8-3. The teachers then post the homework assignments for the week online on Monday morning...so if you finish everything on Monday after school, you're done..if you wait until the last minute... that's your choice, but you've got the whole week to do it.

For kindergarten, we were told that homework would start in January and it would be reading assignments twice a week.

My friend's son started kindergarten in public school here, and he goes from 8-3 and has homework every night. He's already behind in his homework, and my friend is stressing. They have a workbook that they work on in class, and then do homework at home out of it. If they don't finish the homework, they are behind for the next lesson that next day in class.

I teach first and second grade and our district policy is to give homework every night except for Fridays. Homework should only take about 20 minutes. On holidays and on school special event days we do not give homework. In case your child's teacher refuses to give out the week's homework on Monday, it is probably not because she/he is trying to be uncooperative, but the homework we give is current to what is taught that day and/or something that needs to be done to enhance the lesson for the next lesson. Research shows that repeated small short practice is how students learn best, not a sit down to do it all in one shot.
Try to find time to sit with your child while they do their homework, it is amazing how much more they learn when an adult is having a discussion or thinking out loud about what the student is practicing. Homework doesn't have to be negative. A lot of my students love homework because their parents give them that great one on one time that kids crave and sometimes with our busy schedules don't get enough of. And in first and second grade-kids are so curious they want to learn everything!

I am a teacher, and I now have a kindergartener. We have been in session for 3 weeks here. He has had one "homework" assignment, and it was just one of those "getting to know you" sheets about your favorites. It was no big deal. We are lucky that we have a teacher who thinks kindergarten should be fun-- and should include rest time. He absolutely loves everything about school. We couldn't really do morning detention where I am, since our teachers go on duty at 7:15 and the kids start arriving then.

I do think that some homework is beneficial, but not too much especially in elementary school. I think reading every night is very important. Math facts are critical. Other than that, it should be a light load-- and spelling tests in kindergarten are ridiculous.

I know what a pain it is to deal with the peanut/peanut butter issue since my son is one of the allergic. It's tough, and we know it. We only ask that snacks not have peanuts or peanut butter since they are eaten in the classroom where it often gets on supplies. In the cafeteria, he just sits away from kids who have peanuts/peanut butter in their lunches. For him, the traces in something another kids brings are not a problem. Thank you for cooperating even though it inconveniences you. Those of us with allergic children appreciate it very much. I hope that the parents say it, but if they don't, here are your thanks from me.

Same here. I grew up with homework every day and my son's school is the same way (he is now in 6th grade). It's not always a lot, just a worksheet to do. It's not like it takes They also don't give homework on Fridays.

I don't see anything wrong with it. It lets the parents see what they are doing in school. Otherwise, you ask what they did and they say "nuthin'," and you never see what they are working on.

Our schools are in session from around 7:30am to around 2:30pm, with the primary/elementary starting/ending about an hour later. Same everywhere around here as far as I know.

My kids are grown, but they always had homework every night. Sometimes 3 to 4 hours worth (and that was elementary school). Middle school was worse, getting homework from several teachers every night (6 hours). They had homework every weekend, which always put a damper on Sundays, and plenty of projects during holidays. Summer wasn't much better with several books to read and papers to go with them. Lots of stress, not much family time. I'm very happy I don't have to deal with it anymore.

I feel for everyone too. My kids are young, but I remember all the homework I had to do in high school. It becomes a little too much. We go to school for 7 hours and have a few pages of homework each night, but it can be the reading that bothers me. I really think my kids are going to burn out on it. The oldest reads at least one long chapter book a week to get his points. In 3rd grade he read 4 books that were 500 pages. At 500 pages I would assume you get most of your points for the month, but it was nowhere near what he needed to accumulate.

Some subjects I feel they are behind what I learned in school. We learned our math facts and reading before my sons class did and that bothered me because then their homework is harder than mine was. Does anyone else get the math sheets where I can only figure out how to solve it with math beyond what my child is working on. I asked a teacher from another school what the concept was there, and they said they know some kids will get it and some kids won't. Why give it to them? I don't like some of the new methods for teaching. Let's keep it simple. Learn your basic math facts before you move on. I don't even know what to work on with my kids because they jump around so often and they keep the assignments at school. There are no textbooks in gradeschool so I can't look ahead to prepare my child.

I'm nervous and the year just started!!!!

My son just started 5th Grade.

He always had Homework everynight since he was in First Grade. But none on week-ends.

I do not mind it, that is why I never overwhelmed him with other things other than Homework or schook work. NO Sports, NO Music stuff or anything that would take a lot his time away from homework. To me homework is priority, of all things. He is in soccer though, but non competitive, so there is not preasure there. Games are only played on saturdays and once a week practice for one hour and no later than 7PM.

Well, if his homework will affect his grades a lot, then I would say focus on that one.

Ok not to hijack the thread, but I'm now having a problem with my DD's 4th grade teacher. She sent math homework tonight that was way too advanced for my daughter to do and told them to use a calculator to figure it out. I never even had a calculator until I was in High School. I just emailed the teacher asking what's going on. Aren't teachers supposed to "teach" the students how to do it and not let them use a calculator to cheat?! I did not let my DD use a calculator and instead taught her how to do it without it. I'm sorry to vent about this, but this is ridiculous!! I understand that teachers are under stress to get things taught, but to let them use calculators??!!

My view is that a calculator is a tool to allow you to do certain math functions faster and more accurately ONCE YOU HAVE MASTERED THE CONCEPT!!!! I have trained I can't tell you how many people in the corporate world and I ALWAYS taught them the "why" aspect of each job they were doing. If they don't understand WHY they are doing it, they are less likely to do it right.

My sister has the attitude of "why should kids learn to spell when everything has spell check?" I told her, "hand written job applications don't have spell check."

As the saying goes, "The dumbing down of America ... every standard lowered to the lowest common denominator."