Alright parents and “educators”- how much homework do you think is reasonable for a first grader?
thirty minutes per night, plus mandatory reading of twenty minutes. By third and fourth grade, my kids already had a solid one plus hours per night, four nights per week, in a public school.
If you have a problem with your child’s teacher and the amount of homework, talk to the teacher.
Ten to fifteen minutes max.
Settle down. I’m not sure if I have a problem with the amount of homework yet. That’s one reason I’m asking.
Though if I did, what exactly do you think I should say to the teacher?
If you think it is too much say, “Thank you.” Then get your kid to buckle down and do it.
If you think it is too little, ask for more.
Hmmm.
If I thought he had too little homework, I’d simply give him more work myself. (I think the only way I’d think he had too little homework is if he was having problems keeping up with the concepts being taught.)
You seem to be saying there’s no such thing as too much homework for a first grader. You really don’t think there’s a level at which it becomes pointless and excessive?
What do you think their time would be better spent doing?
30-45 minutes / night. And then of course there are the special projects that may take longer.
Probably depends on the subject matter, right? I mean, it’s been awhile since I was in 1st grade, but is there a lot of stuff that he really needs to practice at home, other than reading? Seems like an hour would more than do it, and that time could be spent better doing activities or Scouts or something like that. But, I don’t have kids, so what do I know. Just make sure he can find America on a map, and he’ll be ok.
**What do you think their time would be better spent doing? **
Kid stuff.
None. Why do they need homework? For that matter why do most kids need homework? If we dropped all the crap in schools that make no diffrence to learning they the 7 or 8 hours they spend in school everyday will be plenty.
An example of this comes from my kids schools. One day I was helping my sons third grade teacher out and I was shocked by the all the bullshit she had to go through. She had 10 mintues to give a spelling test and then review it. She had 15 minutes for a reading lesson. She had to get the reading lesson done on time so that she could then spend 10 minutes on how to read a newspaper. At the end of that 10 minutes we where alsmost running to the computer lab so the kids to read on the computer. Not learn to operate the computer but to read stories on it. She never got a chance to really cover anything. The kids barely got an idea of what they where doing before they where thrown into something else. That night my son’s homework was all the things they missed that day so the school system could feel good about him going through all theses worthless shitty steps do they can show they have a “program” and they are “Doing something.”
Here is a crazy idea. Teach the fuckin’ subject in a simple way that does not put the poor teachers in a job that is more about time managment and less about teaching. We should be spending more time going through the subjects in a detailed manner that allows the kids to learn one step at a time.
Want proof that public schools are fucking up? Read my posts.
You really don’t think there’s a level at which it becomes pointless and excessive?
Well, now you’ve changed the question. This now goes to the quality of the homework and not the quantity.
Yes, there can be pointless homework and it may last only 5 minutes. If I thougt it was pointless I would talk to the teacher regardless of the volume or length of time it took to complete. I would ask the teacher what was the point of the assignment. Maybe I missed it. If there was no satisfactory explanation, I would ask why my child was being asked to complete pointless work.
If I thought the homework was excessive, again regardless of the amount of time it took to complete, I would ask the teacher what he or she thought was being accomplished by the excessive amount of work when my child had clearly mastered the subject matter. For example, if the teacher asked my son to write his name 100 times on a piece of paper, he could accomplish that in very short order. I would consider that assignment to be both pointless and excessive unless there is a satisfactory reason for it.
I have put four kids through first grade. I did not think any of them were given pointless or excessive homework. On average, they were given about 15 minutes per academic subject. That amounted to 30 to 45 minutes per night.
Well, now you’ve changed the question. This now goes to the quality of the homework and not the quantity.
Actually, I guess I changed it by adding an additional question.
- Is there pointless homework?
- Is there a level at which the quantity of homework for a first grader is excessive, in itself?
I’m more interested in responses to the second question, because at this point, purely from a learning perspective, just about all of the homework is pointless.
Well, if you think all the homework is pointless, then more than 30 minutes of pointless homework is ipso facto excessive. Just consider it time better spent than watching another episode of Spongebob.
If the homework is not pointless, I would begin to be concerned if my child were doing homework for more than one hour each night.
**Just consider it time better spent than watching another episode of Spongebob. **
Maybe. If that was the alternative.
** I would begin to be concerned if my child were doing homework for more than one hour each night. **
There we go. What would you do about it?
I have a first grader as well. I think quiet time at the end of the day is important (not video games). Homework is fine but it’s probably not necessary. Studies seem to indicate homework prior to high school is a complete waste of time. I don’t disagree as long as kids are able to get that quiet time to do something constructive on their own (not sports). Creativity, problem solving and learning to think are important and I think quiet time encourages this.
Why homework isn’t working
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,2000531,00.html
Parents, authors and even some teachers rebel against homework
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/287317_homework03.html
At the 1st grade level, I think the primary benefits of homework are twofold. First, it provides some sort of continuation of the learning process. Since kids are easily distracted, homework gives them a reminder at night so to reinforce what they learned in class. Second, homework gives parents a chance to participate in their children’s education and to show them that it’s important and can be fun and a family activity. At a young age, that’s important to setting up good habits and a good attitude towards learning.
There we go. What would you do about it?
Pull him/her out of school and homeschool?
But seriously, you are always probably going to have some disagreement with the way your children are taught…is it so outlandish to assume perhaps the teacher is an expert on working with first graders, knows what to do, and is doing his/her job appropriately?
Kids need to learn good study habits. I don’t think at a young age they need a ton of homework, but if they don’t have any until high school they will not have learned the importance of time management. I do think homework is important for things like math and reading. Times tables don’t learn themselves. It can be as simple as 10 mijutes a night quizing. My daughters teacher calls it “Math Facts”. We can do it in the car or while we are making dinner.
This is the 1st year my daughter gets letter grades (3rd grade). We just got the grading scale last night, its crazy. 84 to get a “B-”, 93 to get an “A”. In additional to the tougher curriculum they have higher standards. Poor kid.
** you are always probably going to have some disagreement with the way your children are taught…is it so outlandish to assume perhaps the teacher is an expert on working with first graders, knows what to do, and is doing his/her job appropriately?**
No more outlandish that to assume that perhaps I know my kid and his needs better than the first grade teacher does at this point, I guess.
In other words, no, I have no intention of sitting back and accepting the methods employed in my kids’ education uncritically. So let’s put the “teachers are all experts and you’re not” card back in the deck and leave it there.