THANK GOD!!!
So freakin’ tired of homework. And it’s been shown to not make much of a difference at elementary levels except for gifted kids where it actively makes them hate school because the boredom follows them home. If I could do one thing differently with my oldest kid, it would have been to stand up to the teachers and tell them no homework on subjects he already knew (like the math homework in Kindergarten when he was already multiplying and the homework was counting from 1-20).
If you just threw away the TV, the Ipad, the IPhone…
Impressive…now, would a home schooling type of arrangement (hypothetically) been able to take advantage of your son’s advancement in math by customizing higher math for him (while keeping perhaps other subjects as-is)?
I don’t think this would work. What makes you think a kid would be disciplined enough to do their own reading, especially when they are still in elementary school and get to pick their own reading material?
The elementary school by us requires for Kindergarten and 1st grade that any homework is because the student is behind. Also, it has to be specifically for the area that needs work. Otherwise, no homework till 2nd grade. I think that is fair.
Based on my experience, i guess it depends on teacher (assuming average kid).
Some teachers pay a lot of attention and give students very valuable and useful homeworks. In addition, they give them very detailed feedbacks as well.
However, some teachers assign useless homeworks. In that case, indepedent reading is more valuable.
I am trying to correct my failure to not paying attention to my older kid. Doctor’s writing, no kidding. I barely understand what he is writing.
My younger daughter, her writing is so good I am impressed. She is a little bit behind the 4th grade level even though she is getting into third grade this following school year.
I am of the opinion that education should be focused on what’s good for the future of the kids, not on what it makes them look good or informed. Throw away history for a moment, focus on Math or Algebra, Calculus or something that will make them think ahead of their time.
But for that, we need teachers in charge of the education department, not imbeciles in positions where having money is more important than the future of our kids.
Yes. This is exactly where homeschooling is useful. But he’s a very social kid, and so he stuck with school for the social aspect until 5th grade when he finally was so fed up, that he agreed that he’d rather homeschool the next year. I kept thinking he would “catch down” to the other kids, but the longer we went, the more I realized it just wasn’t happening.
Luckily, we found a school for kids like him, and he is the happiest camper ever. But I absolutely understand parents who homeschool because of this, and I do recognize how lucky we are to have so many different flavors of schools–as manch often points out. If we were anywhere else, we might very well be homeschooling until high school where kids finally have the flexibility to accelerate.
That would be totally fine with me. I’m also just fine sending home whatever work didn’t get done during school because a kid was spacing out, though I recognize that there are some kids who just need less work overall.
What I hate, and I’ve said it in other threads a while ago, is busywork sent home to “prepare kids for a the homework load in high school.” Which is exactly what our school was doing–the school explicitly said it. They wanted kids to be prepared for homework in 9th grade, so assign it in 8th. You want them prepared in 8th, so assign it in 7th. You want them … in 1st, so assign it in Kindergarten.
The problem is that most kids don’t have the emotional energy or focus to sit down and do the work themselves until maybe 3rd/4th grade, even the bright ones. Just because it’s easy to finish doesn’t make a kid have the emotional energy to do it, especially if they have other stuff they want to do more (like play with LEGOs or play board games which are both highly educational).
Now, there are exceptions–turns out my youngest LOVES homework and will follow me around the house asking me questions about it and trying to get me to correct it. Ironically, at this point, I could care less if she even touches it. AUGH!
How about no lectures for YOUR future doctor???
TL:DR
I grew up barely doing any homework. I copied my hw in the morning before school and during lunch. After school was for cartoons and then gaming as I got older.
Not proud of it. haha
Yeeeet, here you are…a home(s) owner in one of the most expensive housing markets around… not too shabby, Sir!!!