My Personal Belief on Homework
Ok, I may take a bashing for this and there is no scientific research to back up my opinion, it is just my opinion. I hope to get some public school teachers in on the conversation regardless of whether they agree with me nor not. But, either way, here goes.
I hate homework. Study time is different. Homework is for the birds. In my area, children from the first grade through the eighth grade generally bring home close to 2 hours of homework. I call bullsh!t on that one.
I have already said that I didn’t have that much homework. One reason was because teachers simply didn’t give as much when I was in elementary school. Secondly, I rode the bus and didn’t like lugging those books around so I would work on it all day during any free time I could find.
High school students do not generally have as much homework. By that time, the kids are basically sent home with the expectation of studying. Which I am in full agreement with; studying is the way to learn in my opinion.
I know that teachers who give a lot of homework have their reasons. One being that they simply don’t have time to cover everything they need to cover during class time. (And that leaves the child to learn on their own at home with homework, their parents to teach them the material, or the parents doing the material for them.) The other being that they believe repetition will increase a child’s knowledge thus the words homework and studying are the same to these teachers..
Not me, I still won’t buy into it.
My belief is this, children get 30 minutes of physical education time during the day. The rest of the day they are expected to sit in a chair in a room and do work. So, when they get home, they need time to run and get some exercise.
Doesn’t that sound like what you have interpreted people all over the world to be preaching these days? Exercise. But, our children go to school at 8 AM, come home at 3PM, do homework til 5:30 PM, have dinner at 6 PM, get a bath and do what playing they are going to do by bedtime at 8:00 PM, 8:30 PM, 9:00 PM. And, I also think children through the eighth grade should be in bed by 9:00 PM if they have to get up and get to school by 8:00 AM in the morning. (That’s a post for another day - sleep deprivation kills - you know you’ll be looking for that post don’t you?)
So, in my opinion, spelling words should be sent home to study, science and social study facts sent home to study, math problems should not be sent home, math facts? Yes, math problems? No.
Spelling and vocabulary words can be studied alone or with a parent or sibling can help. Same thing for science and social studies facts. And, honestly, the same goes for math facts.
But…stay with me before you raise your hand to slap me.
Teachers (and realize I’m talking about public/private teachers in this post mostly) do not realize that many many parents cannot help their child do their homework. Notice I said help, not do it for them (which happens and is a post for another day and a personal pet-peeve that I’ve already mentioned.)
Because of the advanced nature of the curriculums and courses of study, many parents simply don’t have the education to help their children with math after the second grade or so. And………..the ones that do, may or may not have the ability to TEACH! After all, people who teach have a talent, some have been formally trained at a university but others are simply natural teachers.
So, when a teacher sends home math problems or science experiment projects, many parents can’t teach their child how to do the work. So, any problem solving, any reading through materials and gathering information, any kind of homework of that nature is useless to a child who hasn’t grasped the concept at school and mom and dad either don’t have the ability to help or don’t have the ability to teach.
So, there, I’ve said it. I don’t like homework. I dread the day that my child has much homework because my husband is a horrible teacher. He is too smart and even if he is trying to walk me through something, he skips steps and I have to get him to back up and start over. I think I can teach some things but the parent/child relationship is a tough one and I don’t know that my children or myself will ever be able to conquer that.
My father was a teacher. He was very good at it too. You don’t teach 19 years if you are bad. He could not help me with my homework or studying because we would end up in an argument. He taught many life lessons, many many life lessons. He taught me many algebra lessons through the daily conversations of life. He taught me many vocabulary words. You get the picture. But, the two of us could not sit down at the table with the intention of him teaching me something.
When I taught Earth and Life Science, I always sent study facts home, I rarely sent homework home. I just don’t like it. Period.
Discuss.
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August 29th, 2008 at 7:25 am
I actually read something not too long ago about a study done in regards to homework and how it isn’t helpful. I printed it out and my 8th grader took it to a teacher to read. She actually started giving less homework.
August 29th, 2008 at 8:37 am
Former public school teacher (now stay-at-home mother) here in COMPLETE agreement. My students NEVER had homework. I always told parents at Back to School Night that I would work them hard enough at school during the day and that when the school day ends, it is time for family, sports, Boy/Girl scouts, music, PLAY!!!!…and those kinds of activities. Not more schoolwork.
August 29th, 2008 at 10:04 am
I’m a senior in high school this year, and I’ve actually found homework to be very beneficial to the learning process. By sending the child home with homework you are presenting them with the oppertunity to re-enforce the facts, and come up with any questions that they need answers to. Plus, lets face it - even if teachers were to assign less homework, most kids will just waste away those extra hours infront of a computer or television screen. Additionally, the whole concept of just ’studying’ is unrealistic - do you actually think that a child will study? I mean, I take my school work and grades very seriously, but whenever a teacher just tells our class that our homework that night is to study, we all just look at each other and fight back laughter; we know we won’t study, the teachers know we won’t study. Heck, when we review what homework has been assigned at the end of the day this is what has actually been said: Me: “So what homework do we have that needs to be completed tonight?” Friend: “Ummmm, finish the history worksheet and than study for Chemistry.” Me: “So we just have that history worksheet to complete?” Friend: “Yup.” Plus, there really is no difference in the amount of time spent between studying and completeing homework.
Well, that all for now. Figured you might want a student’s perspective on the matter.
August 29th, 2008 at 10:20 am
Check out these two books:
“The Homework Myth” by Alfie Kohn and “The Case Against Homework” by Sara Bennett and Nancy Kalish.
You might find there is more to support your opinions than you realize.
August 29th, 2008 at 10:22 am
Oops…and this article, which sort of summarizes the main points of these books:
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1376208-1,00.html
August 29th, 2008 at 11:13 am
Actually, there’s a lot of support for your views and there’s no research showing any correlation between homework and academic achievement in the early years. So you’re right to oppose homework and talk about it with your children’s teachers. And, if you want to see how parents are organizing against homework in other communities, take a look at http://www.stophomework.com. If you need any help or ideas, feel free to contact me.
Good luck.
August 29th, 2008 at 11:14 am
Alexis has a small amount of “homework” this year…but the teacher sends home the stuff on Mondays and it has to be done by Friday. It’s things like reading her story to me (from her reading text book) and us discussing it to help build on comprehension they do in class or writing a few complete sentences about the weekly reading topic etc…simple stuff to reinforce what is going on in class. Part of the home work is to study for spelling test and sight word test too…but so far it has all been stuff she did early last year so it has been a quick review and we’re good to go.
That being said…my cousin is in AP classes at Spain Park there in B’ham. His mom teaches 3rd grade in a nearby school. He came home last year with a min. of 5-6 hrs A NIGHT of homework. He got to the point that he asked his mom if she’d schedule a conference and go with him to discuss the amount of homework with the teachers and they did. He expressed how so much work in and out of class simply wore him out to the point he wasn’t in bed at decent hours and then lacked ability to feel he could concentrate in class. Actually, the teachers listened and some backed off a bit.
I think some if good if it truly helps the child to comprehend and reinforce what is being done on a daily or weekly basis. But…”busy work” type of stuff doesn’t fly well with me either.
August 29th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
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August 29th, 2008 at 4:43 pm
Amy,
Apparently I was the only one who had no knowledge of all that is going on in the world about homework….
Ariel
I appreciate you stopping by to read and your comment is wonderful. And, I think you just re-enforced what I was trying to say which is, “the only homework that is necessary is the kind that teaches and helps you learn and study at the same time”. With that though, you say when you are told that your homework assignment is simply to “study” but you dismiss those as not even real, you are cheating yourself. One day, trust me, one day the time will come where you need good study habits. Not good I-know-how-to-do-my-homework-assignments habits but actually study-habits…learning something and retaining it..not simply putting it in your brain for temporary storage and then forgetting it. Just think if our heart doctors and brain surgeons only did homework and didn’t study and retain their knowledge of medicine and surgery? Sad thought, eh?
I do not want you to think I am beating you up because I was thrilled to see that a student posted here. And, at the same time, I want you to understand where those assignments of “study” are important!
Anne,
Do you think that makes us old school in our philosophy? I mean, like I said, studying I believe needs to be learned so that they have good study habits for high school and college. But, most kids don’t, they have good sit down and moan and grown about homework habits but studying is something foreign to them. Again, just my 2 cents.
Dana,
Did you see that Sara Bennet actually commented right behind you. I am so glad that folks out there realize what a crock of crock of crock this is. Thanks for visiting and commenting! I love you guys.
Sara,
Holy Cow! I had no idea. I really figured I was going to get bombed for my opinion. Honestly, I just don’t know if there’s much that can be done because I know time and scheduling is difficult at school for teachers, but I also know that children do not get enough exercise and all that homework is ridiculous. The trend here is that grades first through eight have way more homework than the high school students….which is weird to me..I think that high school kids (who have less time because of extra-curricular activities) could probably benefit more from doing the same algebra fact over and over with different figures than a kid actually writing his spelling words 400 times a night. I want your book, is it easy to get, Amazon? Regular book store? I HAVE TO HAVE IT! I wish I had known before our trip tomorrow. If I can get it at a regular large book store, I’ll stop on my way through Birmingham and get it so I have beach reading material and awesome blog writing material. Let me know so I can plan on how to get it!
Holly,
I read this from my phone before Walker got to the lunchroom for our “date”. Before I left the lunchroom I ran into a cousin (remember, I’m kin to everyone here) that teaches 3rd grade and has taken in one of her husband’s cousins who is 6. The little boy was in my daycare, he played on Walker’s t-ball team and is a very sweet and gentle kid. Anyway, I asked her how the little guy was doing and her answer was, “He is doing good but we have over an hour’s worth of homework every night”. She teaches third grade and I was too much of a sheep to say, “well have you quit giving as much homework now that you see how it affects kids lives?” …nope I couldn’t say it, but man did I ever want to. Just FYI, the little boy had a hard time adjusting in the kindergarten but with all that was new just with school, his father was very ill and his grandmother who has custody of his brother said she couldn’t keep him too so that’s when my cousin and her husband took him in…..so who would blame the kid for having a rough year…..
August 29th, 2008 at 7:03 pm
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October 14th, 2008 at 3:40 am
I completely agree with this study thing. I certainly don’t need to be told what I have to do to work at home. Especially returning to school having not bothered with it then the school thinking it has a right to force me to complete it during lunchbreak, regardless of how important it is(actually hasn’t happened since grade 8).
I’m not sure if it’s just where I live, but the homework given doesn’t do much anyway. It doesn’t reinforce what is learnt in class just supports busywork. And in primary school, the homework is generally the same thing each week, just with different spelling words and different math problems. I believe that a lot of students would benefit more with just studying what they need, when they need to. I could probably turn this into another blog post, well i’ll consider that later
November 20th, 2008 at 11:38 am
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