Should kids do homework?

[DataDoxy]

Some schools in Calgary are going 'homework free' while other schools have started to pour it on.

Some people believe that if we do not assign homework, are we coddling our children too much. They fear that kids will not be able to develop a strong work ethic and the ability to persist and survive in our rapidly paced world. On the other hand, by not assigning homework are we giving our kids the freedom to participate in other important learning and social activities such as sports, music, dance... etc?

Any thoughts?

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by DataDoxy

Some schools in Calgary are going 'homework free' while other schools have started to pour it on.

Some people believe that if we do not assign homework, are we coddling our children too much. They fear that kids will not be able to develop a strong work ethic and the ability to persist and survive in our rapidly paced world. On the other hand, by not assigning homework are we giving our kids the freedom to participate in other important learning and social activities such as sports, music, dance... etc?

Any thoughts?

I have thoughts on homework.

My kids usually don't have homework because they get their work completed in class (my daughter is in gr 6 and son in gr 3).

The exception is spelling tests, if the kids have end of the week "tests" in spelling we will go through the words with them. We also have the kids read when they come home or in the evening. Generally they read around 30 mins +/-.

I will be honest, at their age I don't see a need for homework. Let them have evenings/late afternoons to do things other than school work. I don't have any study to back this up, but I hope that kids that allow their brain some non-school time, actually do better in school. I hope it allows them to understand the difference between "work" and "play" and will allow them to develop a heathly work/life balance.

[rotten42]

There is no need for it in elementary.

[photon]

Originally Posted by DataDoxy

Some people believe that if we do not assign homework, are we coddling our children too much. They fear that kids will not be able to develop a strong work ethic and the ability to persist and survive in our rapidly paced world.

I don't see how that argument makes much sense, since most jobs involve working at the job, not taking the job home for several hours every night.

Some jobs involve extra work, but I'd rather teach my kid to get a good job with a life balance than have to be a slave to a crappy job that demands 50% extra unpaid hours a week.

Originally Posted by DataDoxy

On the other hand, by not assigning homework are we giving our kids the freedom to participate in other important learning and social activities such as sports, music, dance... etc?

I think there's lots more to life than school learning, and I'm probably the biggest proponent of eduction even if it's meaningless irrelevancies there is lol.

My kid rarely gets homework as they provide enough time to complete their expectations at school, I think that's reasonable. Throw in the odd time where extra work is required for extra projects is fine.

The only exception I can see is if concepts aren't being mastered, in some subjects one thing builds on another and if they're struggling with the basics that can hamper them for many years, so for stuff like math or spelling where repetition beyond demonstration of understanding might be helpful I can see where homework might be helpful.

[DataDoxy]

Just found this article in the National Post entitled "No more homework: Growing movement especially early on, to ban after-school assignments".

http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/09...l-assignments/


Very interesting! Any thoughts?

[GGG]

Link doesn't seem to work.

In elementary I think the only homework should be reading, math skills that aren't mastered, and spelling that's not mastered.

Reading especially should be mandatory for a half hour per day.

Back when I was in school it was things like build a diorama or do some stupid creative way of presenting what you learned from a book. To me they were time consuming tasks that provided no learning.

In high school an hour or so of homework total per day should be reasonable. Mainly to get students used to the idea of work outside of class time that occurs in university.

[ma-skis.com]

I have no problem with homework as long as students have time to work on work at school as well. I'm always frustrated by situations when kids are given problems, assignments, projects with little to no time for support. If time is not utilized well at school, then it becomes homework. The biggest thing is the opportunity for students to receive feedback or ask questions.

I think I seem to be speaking to higher grades maybe grade 7 plus with that model.

Elementary... I don't see the purpose of homework for students up to a point. If anything, it's a battle with children at that age and often creates more problems in regards to having a negative attitude towards school rather than positive.

Reading actually makes the most sense for elementary homework... otherwise, I don't see what the point might be.

[DataDoxy]

Link fixed! Sorry!

[JiriHrdina]

Homework in Elementary School should only be assigned when the kid doesn't get done the required work in class.
Let kids be kids. One of our biggest challenges as a society is promoting work/life balance.
The amount of homework I see my nephews trying to get through on a nightly basis is absurd.

[btimbit]

I really enjoyed school until grade 4. I had a teacher that gave out an absurd amount of homework and it completely killed my desire to learn.

Some homework is fine, if it's stuff that could/should have been completed during school hours finishing that at home seems reasonable, maybe even a few big projects a year. But overall, I don't know how much it's changed since I was in school, but I sure hope it's less.

[DataDoxy]

Here is yet another article on the "Homework Squabbles" from the New York Times posted yesterday. It asks the question, do teachers assign too much homework?
http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/20...%3A17%22}&_r=0

Hearing what btimbit said about too much homework makes me sad as school should never kill one's desire to learn!

Any more comments or thoughts?

[DataDoxy]

In the link I shared earlier, an article in the National Post ( http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/09...l-assignments/) suggested that homework might help some students get ahead while hurting others.

In it, a math teacher from Red Deer Alberta said that when assigning homework, “I was probably making about 5% of my kids excited about mathematics,”. He further argued that homework in his class had always seemed to “buoy the strong and discourage the weak,” as the students who could do the 30 problems at home probably didn’t need to do them, he said, while the less math-savvy struggled with even one.

I have seen this in my high school math classes over the years as high performing students generally do their homework but are not usually the ones who need the extra help/work.

Do you think homework divides students? What are your/your children's experiences?

[photon]

I certainly liked most of my homework, when I even had to do it (usually got it done during class). But in most cases I probably didn't need it except for the subjects I really didn't like.

I don't think the homework itself would divide the students, the divide would probably already be there.

[Azure]

Nothing wrong with homework if it involves a big project or a concept the child doesn't properly understand and the teacher is assigning extra 'practice' to help.

But the teachers that lecture for the whole 90 min block period, and then assign multiple assignments in the last 5 min that need to be completed the next day are ridiculous. Interestingly enough, the classes I did the best in were the ones that didn't require much homework outside of big stuff, and allowed for the students to work together during class hours on the work. Weekly tests for marks were done on the topics, and then essays after the subject matter was over. All the work during class hours as a rule wasn't for marks. Some kids took advantage of that obviously, but most kids would work together in their small groups on the classroom work, and because of that they were able to balance the work out between the collection of students. Some kids are better at this, some are better than that. The result was you picked up a concept much better than you would working on it at home and having to rely on your parents for help. Our grade 11/12 physics class were run like that, and every single student did pretty good in a really tough course. By a long shot the most rewarding class I've ever been in, and I actually finished with decent marks despite not being a good math student. I credit that 100% on the fact that I was able to get help from the smart 'math' students I was able to work on the questions with, and didn't have to just rely on the teachers for every concept I didn't understand. When you have a class of 25 students, and 10 of them struggle with certain stuff the teacher simply doesn't have enough for 1 on 1 work with all 10 kids. But if you assign smart kids to work together with not so smart kids, the results are great. Obviously the kids need to be able to work together, but after 10 years of going to school together our group got along just fine. Just an absolutely great class. Enjoyed every single minute of it.

[tvp2003]

What are your thoughts on homework starting in kindergarten? I have our oldest waitlisted for a charter school (still unsure if she'll even get in), but I understand from a friend who put his kid in the same school a few years back that's what they did and he ended up pulling her out after a year (apparently it didn't work out very well).

I'm of the position that kids should be allowed to be kids when they're that young and as long as they're learning and having fun that's what's important. However, I'd be interested to hear what the profession thinks...

[DataDoxy]

Kindergarten kids and young children need to explore their world through creative play in order to learn optimally. In addition, they need to vocalize their 'thinking'. This is what I call 'cognitively designed play'.

From the research I have done, I believe that cognitively designed play is the best way for little guys to learn. To do this, adults need to encourage young children to create things and to play naturally with things like blocks, lego, dolls, and cars and such. As they play, it is important to ask them questions (not yes or no questions but have them explain what they are doing and why they are doing it). For example, count things with them like cars or blocks, or compare things like dolls or the things they make with lego and/or duplo blocks. Ask questions like, 'how many', 'how much more', 'how do you know' and 'why' as much as you can.

Oh - and I also recommend reading stories to young kids as reading should be a part of every child's learning at every age. As you read, don't forget to ask questions! Also, be sure to read some stories where children have to imagine things on their own (not just rely on pictures). Ask them questions about what they 'see'. This is important as visualization and imagination are early keys to reading comprehension, problem solving, and higher order thinking later on.

I personally do not recommend doing 'homework' on top of this!

[MillerTime GFG]

I know this is not necessarily the intent of this thread, but I could use the professional insight:

My 8 year old (soon to be 9) daughter is in grade 4 and has been struggling with some tests early on, mainly in math. After seeing the results on her first (failed) test, I went over it a few times with her before she was to retake the test this past Friday. Sure enough, she didn't do much better. Her teacher wrote on the test "Don't be lazy Alina".

So there lies the problem. Bias aside, she is a smart kid and generally does everything correct when she puts her mind to it, such as when I'm watching over her. She is literally just lazy, and doesn't care about the consequences. Part of that is because I guess there aren't really any at this point, but eventually as she gets further on, there will be. She will leave questions blank because she just doesn't want to actually try to use her brain. We've noticed it being an issue with laziness, and now so too has her teacher.

Any ideas? My thoughts are to just make her do more homework until it starts to translate into better grades. Problem is that unless she's constantly supervised, she will just goof around. And to think she's not even a teen yet...

[Ashartus]

I think there's a difference between doing "work at home" and formalized "homework." At the elementary level, the former is important - practicing reading and writing in particular - but I don't think formal homework is a good idea. In later grades maybe it becomes a bit more necessary but should still be limited so students can have a balanced life. Personally I didn't do most of mine and don't think I suffered for it, but was a strong enough student to get away with it (some of my teachers would avert their eyes when walking past my desk during homework checks since they knew I probably hadn't done it...).

[BurningSteel]

Homework in all level is a waste of time. Should be time to work on assignments on school time. Seems that teachers are pissed that students dont have to work at night like they do so they assign a ton. I dont know of anyonw who brings work home (teachers do) school should reflect real life. University is different.

[Mathalete]

Originally Posted by MillerTime GFG

I know this is not necessarily the intent of this thread, but I could use the professional insight:

My 8 year old (soon to be 9) daughter is in grade 4 and has been struggling with some tests early on, mainly in math. After seeing the results on her first (failed) test, I went over it a few times with her before she was to retake the test this past Friday. Sure enough, she didn't do much better. Her teacher wrote on the test "Don't be lazy Alina".

So there lies the problem. Bias aside, she is a smart kid and generally does everything correct when she puts her mind to it, such as when I'm watching over her. She is literally just lazy, and doesn't care about the consequences. Part of that is because I guess there aren't really any at this point, but eventually as she gets further on, there will be. She will leave questions blank because she just doesn't want to actually try to use her brain. We've noticed it being an issue with laziness, and now so too has her teacher.

Any ideas? My thoughts are to just make her do more homework until it starts to translate into better grades. Problem is that unless she's constantly supervised, she will just goof around. And to think she's not even a teen yet...

Disclaimer: I'm a high school teacher

What I see at the age level I work with is kids come to the table with drive or without it. Some can't be stopped no matter what obstacles are in their way. And some you can't find the switch to turn them onto learning.

One of the most consistent things I see is great students often come from parents who have found a way to motivate them and be involved in their education.

As hard as it might be, think of something that will inspire your child to care. Ultimately, you want kids to be intrinsically motivated but if you need to extrinsically motivate them to get them going, then why not. If the carrot is big enough, then she will be more inclined to jump through the hoops that you and the teacher are hoping she hops through.

Find something she really wants (and is reasonable) and offer it as incentive. Instead of looking at a punitive way of dealing this, you are hopefully offering up something positive to get her to get herself on track.