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Are these "competitive" school districts? I ask because I attended a competitive district in the 1980s, and I had 4-5 hours homework per night by senior year. Plus extracurricular activities (maybe 90 minutes per day). The school day was 7 hours, and I basically came home and did academic work and dinner. Socializing was weekends only.
This workload was tremendously helpful in college and beyond. If you think high school piles it on, wait til medical school. While this is not appropriate for every kid, it is indicated for the top 10%.
I almost never had "homework" until the ninth grade, and that was algebra.
We did, however, have a bookshelf, next to our beds, stocked with informative books including an encyclopedia for "just browsing through" in down time. It was "just there" and, we used it when there was nothing else to do. No parental force.
My brother and I were both double promoted - me, twice; both National Merit scholars. Not nerdy, either. Just "passively informed" over years.
Yes, there should be some, particularly in math and reading/writing. The amount of time should increase gradually as students age. In kindergarten it should be occasional and short. In AP courses in high school it is reasonable for an hour per course per evening, on average. I was top in my class when I graduated and it took an average of 4-5 hours per night, every night, including weekends. But it was worth it. My family made 'family time' by eating dinner together every night.
What should not happen but sometimes does, is busy-work. Any homework assigned, in fact anything done at all, should be purposeful.
Are these "competitive" school districts? I ask because I attended a competitive district in the 1980s, and I had 4-5 hours homework per night by senior year. Plus extracurricular activities (maybe 90 minutes per day). The school day was 7 hours, and I basically came home and did academic work and dinner. Socializing was weekends only.
This workload was tremendously helpful in college and beyond. If you think high school piles it on, wait til medical school. While this is not appropriate for every kid, it is indicated for the top 10%.
My kids went to a competitive high school in metro Denver, graduated 2002 and 2005. I'd say they usually had 1-2 hours of HW per day, plus extracurriculars. Very little socializing during the week.
If its the football team, they would NEVER miss a three hour a day practice--with little to no chance that they will ever play football for a living.
If it is academics, why can't a family encourage their child to dedicate a couple of hours each day to mastering the subjects which are going to define their entire working life?
Did you ask them what they were doing in the evening? There's nothing wrong with running around all afternoon. How does that explain why they didn't get their homework done? There's plenty of time after dinner.
That's my point...there is nothing wrong with running around all afternoon. It just doesn't explain why they couldn't do the 30-50 minutes of homework at some point.
Like I said, they parrot what they hear their parents say. I tell my students that I would rather hear them take ownership of their mistakes, but don't give me excuses.
I think the greatest value of elementary school homework is that it provides parents a window into their child's day. With twenty-four students in a classroom, even the most attentive teacher misses things. A parent who takes the time to review a child's homework will identify struggles very quickly and can then take steps to provide the support needed. An aware parent helps by reviewing difficult concepts, notifying the child's teacher of a skill gap, hiring a tutor, or doing whatever else is needed to help the child succeed in learning.
This. It's really the only reason I like my 7-year old to have homework. I want to know what she's doing, what she's learning, and more importantly, what she's NOT learning. If I see that she's struggling with a concept, I can take the time to give her one-on-one help, that perhaps an overloaded teacher will not.
My 2nd grader gets a homework packet on Friday, that's due the next Friday. It's 4 math worksheets and two "reading responses" - in depth questions to leveled readers. I estimate that it takes her two solid hours to do the entire thing, which she may or may not spread out over the week. Sometimes she just sits down and does the whole thing on Saturday, to feel free for the week.
My 4th grader gets daily math and ELA homework, but doesn't bring it home that often. She uses extra classroom time to finish most of it, or the time between the end of school and the bus arriving, or the 20 minutes the morning before the bell rings. She's stronger academically than the 2nd grader, though, so I don't mind that I don't see it. She does great all on her own.
The amount of homework seems to vary widely even within a school district. I have several friends whose children are at other schools in our community who report that they are doing two hours worth every night. That seems insane to me, for such young kids. I don't want that for my kids. I don't think it's necessary; both of mine are doing very well with a pretty limited amount of homework.
But in university, students are in class only 15-20 hours a week.
That's class hour . The general guideline; which for me hasn't been true but its what people warn student of is 3 hours of hw per hour in class. Assuming its 2 instead of 3 that's 30-40 hours a week on work; which in my case is about accurate (I typically spend about 30 hr a week in class) and then you have work (anywhere from 10-30 hours a week ) and so on and so fourth. So I do think its practice esp for time management purposes
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