Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
When I was a kid, during winter and spring break, I didn't have homework (it was break). My elementary school child gets homework during these times though. It can be frustrating--especially when so much of it is online/on computers now and we usually aren't just sitting around at home on breaks with easy access to these resources.
We just got back from spring break--I took time off work and we traveled with my daughter to visit family. We stayed at my mom's (and my mom has horrible, dial-up internet--the connection was so slow, we couldn't really get into the school site). Some of my daughter's homework was online but she was also to read a novel, write an essay, and highlight words in an old book or magazine (my daughter is in 4th grade).
With visiting relatives, trying to get some family time, playing with cousins, and trying to do things like go to museums and see the sites where we were visiting--we had to cram homework in when we could (especially the computer stuff--which we had to cram in before we left and after we got back). It was very stressful for me and for her. And this isn't the first time this happened... she has had homework over breaks for the past few years and it seems like every break there is more and more.
Is this a new trend or just my daughter's school? And if it's a trend, why is this the trend? Do you think it's good?
I have mixed feelings about it. I think the idea of having kids read a book over break is good because there is always time to read (even when traveling and visiting) and it's not overwhelming. But the rest is a bit much--especially considering people travel over breaks. And this is only fourth grade... how much work do they get in fifth grade? Or eight grade? Or in high school?
Elementary school homework is a result of the all that complaining that middle and high school teachers used to do. When a crappy student gets to high school and the teachers there could not do anything about them, they blamed the elementary teachers for "passing them on" without teaching them anything. This is a solution to a problem created by teacher in-fighting.
Our schools don't send homework home over breaks. 99% of homework that my elementary age son has can be done during the week. That's when we do it.
If it's a trend, it's at least 11 years old, which is how long it's been since my youngest was in elementary school. And, when they get older, especially in some honors programs and AP course, summer work will be expected.
I never had a problem letting my kids blow off "vacation" assignments in elementary. I also never had a teacher give me a hard time over it. I agreed to make sure the work was done in a reasonable time frame, but not while we were traveling, or, even worse, the night before school reopened.
When I was a kid, during winter and spring break, I didn't have homework (it was break). My elementary school child gets homework during these times though. It can be frustrating--especially when so much of it is online/on computers now and we usually aren't just sitting around at home on breaks with easy access to these resources.
We just got back from spring break--I took time off work and we traveled with my daughter to visit family. We stayed at my mom's (and my mom has horrible, dial-up internet--the connection was so slow, we couldn't really get into the school site). Some of my daughter's homework was online but she was also to read a novel, write an essay, and highlight words in an old book or magazine (my daughter is in 4th grade).
With visiting relatives, trying to get some family time, playing with cousins, and trying to do things like go to museums and see the sites where we were visiting--we had to cram homework in when we could (especially the computer stuff--which we had to cram in before we left and after we got back). It was very stressful for me and for her. And this isn't the first time this happened... she has had homework over breaks for the past few years and it seems like every break there is more and more.
Is this a new trend or just my daughter's school? And if it's a trend, why is this the trend? Do you think it's good?
I have mixed feelings about it. I think the idea of having kids read a book over break is good because there is always time to read (even when traveling and visiting) and it's not overwhelming. But the rest is a bit much--especially considering people travel over breaks. And this is only fourth grade... how much work do they get in fifth grade? Or eight grade? Or in high school?
I'm not sure when you were a kid but I'm 52 and we always had homework on weekends and during holiday breaks and Spring/Winter recess.
My daughter is in HS and she usually finishes any HW in school but during this last break, she had HW to do -- it was project that is due in parts and the students were to work on one part of it over their break.
I don't care if they get HW during weekends or breaks. What's the big deal? Homework isn't really that big of a deal, especially in the elementary grades. I just looked at what your daughter had to do and it could have easily been done in just a couple of days. Highlighting words, read a book, and write an essay. The highlighting could have been done in no time. An essay is usually a page long so it's not a big deal. The book could have taken 2 or 3 days to read. All stuff that is simple and won't truly take away from any vacation or family time.
Where did you go to school?!?!? I was in elementary in the 70s and we always had homework in every subject, every night, including weekends!
Let's just say I went to a public school in the Midwest in the late 50s and early 60s. Maybe we did have homework once in a while, but I just don't remember doing it. That sounds like me. My Jesuit prep school was a different story entirely. Lots of homework every night.
We started having homework in third grade. We had it on vacations, weekends, all the time. We had summer reading lists, we had term papers with footnotes. This was LONG ago, in the 50s and 60s. It's nothing new at all. I will say that it was too much and it interfered with family life and was too much pressure.
Our school was a pressure cooker designed to send kids to the best colleges. If they didn't have a nervous breakdown from all the homework first! There must be a happy medium somewhere in between.
I would never consider giving homework over break. Most teachers I know wouldn't. Even when we used to grade homework I wouldn't give it over break.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
