Unless of course...you know...they have no idea what the hell they're doing. I don't think my parents helped me with any homework after first grade.

~Zoo

Paulo Freire would hate you . . .

No of course not but it's one thing to do the work under the teacher's care and gudance in the classroom and another in a diff setting. Repetition helps to cement what was taught in the classroom. When they do the HW and see the corrected paper later they can learn from their mistakes.

Diff teachers have diff methods and personalities. I found with my kids and others along the way that there were certain personality conflicts that come into play. Sometimes a child just doesn't do well with a certain teacher. Sometimes it's plain and simple the teacher is just not a good communicator and while may know the material, may not be very good at transferring her/his ideas to the kids.

That and sometimes you do just run into a lazy teacher who is there to collect a paycheck. Rare, but seen it happen a few times.



who?



I agree with this. I know one of my kids had a problem with fractions and by doing HW together he got it. I was able to put it in a way he could understand. Maybe the teacher didn't speak his language or maybe he needed the one to one instruction but regardless the HW time was what helped him finally "get it."

"Perhaps the most influential thinker about education in the late twentieth century, Paulo Freire has been particularly popular with informal educators with his emphasis on dialogue and his concern for the oppressed."

WWW Link

I find things.

~Zoo

Thanks, Zoo!

Freire's a stud too, for the record.

I didn't understand two and three-digit subtraction with borrowing until my grandmother sat down with me once in fourth grade and helped me figure it out. My teacher just wasn't teaching it like *I* need to get it. It wasn't that he wasn't a good teacher, I just didn't understand.

ummmmm.....NOT!

How can you so quickly dismiss someone you hadn't heard about until thirty minutes ago?

yikes  

But, what happens if there is nobody at home that can help?  The problem with relying on homework is that you are assuming that there are educated parents at home that can help.  The problem is that there isn't always somebody at home that can help teach anything other than the instructions that you send home (assuming that you send them home).

Also, in that scenario, the argument about repetition is thrown out the window.  If you have it repeated at school and don't understand it, yet somebody else is able to teach it a different way- it's not repetition that is helping you learn.

Also, in that scenario, the argument about repetition is thrown out the window. If you have it repeated at school and don't understand it, yet somebody else is able to teach it a different way- it's not repetition that is helping you learn.

I wasn't arguing for repetition.

The kids who don't have someone at home to help them (which is crap...it's adults choosing NOT to help or care at this level) just don't turn it in. The directions are sent home and are very clear. There is no NEW content being sent home. If the child put forth a smidge of effort in class, he or she should be able to get it by him or herself at home without adult supervision.

How does a teacher satisfy everyone? If I didn't send homework home, half of the families would complain. When I send it home, hardly any of it gets returned anyway. And then those are the parents that complain that I'm not "communicating" what's going on in class, when in fact, I communicate our goings-on DAILY. You're damned if you do, damned if you don't.

It's not about relying on HW. It's about cementing new concepts that are freshly learned. It's about training your brain to think in a new way. That's why I said repetition is helpful. Now I'm not saying usless or junk repetition but just enough for the child,teacher and parent know that he's got it.



This is true. But what about parents that are home and would like to see their child have some HW? I was one of those parents. I would assume the teacher was a lazy teacher if she didn't send home any HW because she/he didn't want to correct papers.



You can't. Impossible. You have to go with your gut. If they seem as if they totally get a concept maybe that's all that's needed. But if there seems to be a struggle classwide,then doing HW would be good practice for them to learn this new way. I also think HW is good discipline for them in all sorts of ways other than just doing the work itself. It's teaching them responsibility in completing a task and turning it in at a proper time.

Marcie-


Oh, I realize that, Marcie. My mother's a public school teacher (and has been for the last 40 years). I realize quite a bit of what's going on. I also realize that the "teaching to the test" is something that the school DISTRICT emphasizes more so than the individual teacher.



Been there. Done That. Still do it. I've disagreed with NCLB (and got into several rather ... heated ... debates with the maternal unit over it.

See, I come from the POV that my 9 year old autistic son, no matter how frighteningly intelligent he is, is not going to be working to the same standard that his little sister (arguable the smartest of the bunch of smart kids) will be at the same age. They just don't THINK in the same manner.


KFC -


Now, that's my problem with homework. Admittedly, I've ALWAYS had a problem with homework. Part of it comes from the fact that I'm a lazy SOB by nature. The other part comes from the fact that I've NOT needed the "reinforcement" or the "cementing new concepts". With my children, when they were in the local school system, this wasn't what the homework was trying to accomplish. It was information that was NOT covered in school. They were using the homework to cover material that was supposed to be covered in class, but wasn't.

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE find a copy of "The Case against Homework" and read it. Check out http://stophomework.com/.

It is amazing to me that "good Homework practices" are not taught as a class in university for upcoming teachers. That's crazy. But the reason it's not taught I think is that there have not been good studies of what is the right amount.

I have told my wife, daughter, her teacher and the administration that I think 10 minutes per grade is appropriate and about the max I will have her do. After 20 minutes (in her case) I'll either know she knows the material or know she doesn't and the teacher needs to do something different (or I do). Doing the problems wrong for an hour doesn't make a kid learn it. it just reinforces the wrong way to do it.

The fact is I'm not a teacher. I don't know how she is teaching and I may not do it the "right" way. [I recall huge fights with my older girls for doing math homework "THE WRONG WAY!!"]

On a personal level, I was a D/C student because of homework. I aced tests and got concepts but refused to waste my time on meaningless work. I won't do that to my kids. And I won't take time away from being with the family or unstructured play so a teacher can have make-work that takes up 30+% of a grade (which I think is crazy). Base grades on understanding (tests + classroom discussion).

As an aside; my family reads for pleasure. Reading at grade level teaches spelling, grammar, comprehension, and critical thinking. This reading does not factor into the 10 minute per grade rule. Reading assignments for class does count.

Tex . .if homework is so hard and your kid is getting the concept . . try to meet with the teacher and negotiate a compromise.

Try to get the teacher to allow you to do half of every assignment. Every odd number, or some such crap. Talk them into agreeing that "getting the concept" is the point of the homework. Get them to agree that "of course it's not busy-work". Then spring the "half-homework for a month" plan. They'll have a hard time arguing with it if you've already won the first to points.

Now you have a place to start a dialog. After a month . . meet again and see what the results were. If your kid is as smart as you claim they'll glom onto this plan and work their asses off to meet it. Work the amount of homework down to what you and the teach think is reasonable to prove knowledge of the concept. Be ready if it fails to step in to fix whatever the problem is.