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I need to vent and am curious as to how other people feel: As a parent of two Elementary school aged children, I am finding myself in a bizarre situation of helping my children do their homework each and every day for hours on end. If it's not worksheets or projects then it's significant time spent studying for tests... and I'm talking about 2-3 hours each day (sometimes/often more). If my kids were in High School I'd expect this and I would expect also for my children to take 100% ownership of responsibility, but instead we're talking about Elementary School aged children!
Just to provide a frame of reference, I'm a college educated adult (with multiple degrees), but growing up I can say with absolute confidence that I rarely brought home much homework at all... all the way through High School. The occasional project; sure. Cramming for tests; sure. The one or two high school teachers at any given time who burdened us students with a lot of busy work that counted significantly towards a grade; sure. But in Elementary School? Heck no. My busiest High School afternoons I clearly remember having perhaps 3 out of 8 subjects of significant work to do, but 2 hours was more than enough time to get it all done. My kids are dealing with a situation with more daily homework in grade school than I had to deal with in High School! That seems crazy.
What the heck is going on with our educational system these days? I haven't done it yet but I'm compelled to tell my children f-it, it's fine to let some of the work slide as striving for 100% in everything now seems impossible and a ridiculous sacrifice of personal time. My kids go to a great school system but realistically I don't see too many of the top graduates attending Ivy League Colleges/Universities (1-2 per year tops) so I really wonder if the personal sacrifice to be perfect or near perfect is even worth it.
How you raise your kids is not something I want to give advice on
Mine have had about 1 hour of homework every day since kindergarten. It is a PITA and gets done under my wife's supervision. You can't expect that young a kid to sit still and finish on their own.
It is what it is. The school is pretty challenging, I don't know why. Maybe because US is trying to compete (blindly IMO) with East Asian countries in STEM subjects, maybe common core, maybe constant testing due to NCLB, ...
Occasionally I think like you (they are killing my kid!) But that's all the kids know about so to them it's a fact of life. They don't see it as a sacrifice.
One comment on the Ivy League thing. That is not the important thing. If your kids learn hard work at such as early age, they will shine in life no matter which school they go to.
I do think if my school (where homework carried zero weight) had insisted on hard work with grades based mostly on homework , I would have been a better man for it.
Agreed. Forcing that much work upon kids early on will only make them hate school and learning.
The problem is all the politically-correct liberals who run the show. Same kind of people that suspend kids for making guns with their fingers. They are simply too deep in the system.
I need to vent and am curious as to how other people feel: As a parent of two Elementary school aged children, I am finding myself in a bizarre situation of helping my children do their homework each and every day for hours on end. If it's not worksheets or projects then it's significant time spent studying for tests... and I'm talking about 2-3 hours each day (sometimes/often more). If my kids were in High School I'd expect this and I would expect also for my children to take 100% ownership of responsibility, but instead we're talking about Elementary School aged children!
In my area, even the most rigorous and prestigious schools, do not have "2-3 hours each day" of homework at the elementary level on a regular basis. Perhaps, an occasional "crunch time" when a deadline for a major project coincides with one or two chapter tests, for a 4th or 5th grader but basically never, ever for a younger elementary student.
Typically, the elementary homework is something like read for 20 minutes, practice your math facts for 10 minutes and study for your spelling test, with a different 15 to 20 minute activity/assignment once or twice a week. I would be shocked if most 4th or 5th graders have more than 2 or 3 hours a week of homework (except for daily reading practice and a periodic science project or diorama or something similar).
Are you sure that this is actual homework? Is it possible that your children are not finishing their work in school and bringing it home as homework? Is it possible that your children are dawdling and taking 2-3 hours on work that could be done in 1/3 or 1/2 the time? Are they perfectionists, who may study several hours for a test (to make absolutely sure that they get 100%) rather than do less studying and accept that they may get a problem wrong?
If you are sure that it is actual homework, is this common with all of the elementary schools in your area? Perhaps, their school is trying to raise their test scores above the other area schools? Or the school thinks that most parents expect that much homework for their children? Or there is something special about the school, such as needing an extra 45 minutes a night to study and practice Chinese or review advanced math or something like that?
Check with other parents in your children's grade or in the school to see if their children have that much homework.
Many of the better private schools have figured out how to teach children in class through grade 5 without the need for homework. It can be done. Those children are not behind others for want of homework in the early years. In fact they are generally ahead.
That's too much. My wife and I both teach in elementary schools. I always hear (and it may be policy) "No more than 10 minutes per grade level". So, a fourth grader should have no more than 40 minutes. Of course, one child may require less and another may require more, but you get the idea.
It has been stressed to us by our math office that students only need a few well selected problems for practice. We aren't supposed to give worksheets with rows and rows of problems to solve.
Most teachers I know tell parents to stop if the homework is taking too long or is too difficult. The child should be able to do the homework independently. If not, we want to know.
A couple of years ago when we went to standards based grading, the grading policy for homework changed. We grade only on what is demonstrated in school. We no longer count homework towards the student's academic grade. It can be applied to an effort grade, but I think that has lead to a reduction in homework.
That's too much. My wife and I both teach in elementary schools. I always hear (and it may be policy) "No more than 10 minutes per grade level". So, a fourth grader should have no more than 40 minutes. Of course, one child may require less and another may require more, but you get the idea.
It has been stressed to us by our math office that students only need a few well selected problems for practice. We aren't supposed to give worksheets with rows and rows of problems to solve.
Most teachers I know tell parents to stop if the homework is taking too long or is too difficult. The child should be able to do the homework independently. If not, we want to know.
A couple of years ago when we went to standards based grading, the grading policy for homework changed. We grade only on what is demonstrated in school. We no longer count homework towards the student's academic grade. It can be applied to an effort grade, but I think that has lead to a reduction in homework.
Agree!
OP have you had any communication with the teacher regarding homework? What is the teachers and school's policy on homework? Is it 2-3 hours of actual work, or is it taking your child 2-3 hours to complete work that he/she should be able to complete fairly quickly?
That's too much. My wife and I both teach in elementary schools. I always hear (and it may be policy) "No more than 10 minutes per grade level". So, a fourth grader should have no more than 40 minutes. Of course, one child may require less and another may require more, but you get the idea.
Most districts in my area have 10 minutes per grade as either official or unofficial policy. It may not count things like "read 20 minutes per day" (2nd/3rd and above) or "read the book in your daily book bag" (usually K/1st grade) which is considered more of an optional activity, if the child has the time. However, most students do the 20 minutes of reading each evening.
One other thing to talk to the teacher about is if your child is using class work time wisely. Some students will dawdle and find every excuse in the book to not use work time (have to go the bathroom, need to get a drink, need to sharpen 5 pencils, must walk across the room to get a book, walks across the room to look at something, realize they got the wrong book, so now must walk back to get the correct book, gets sidetracked by something on a different page, etc. etc. etc.)
Other children are able to utilize every available minute of time to work on school work, and therefore have very little work to take home.
Talk to the teacher.
Also, are you sure your child UNDERSTANDS the work? Students who struggle take longer. If your child is not understanding and is afraid to tell anyone they do not understand, there will be a lot of frustration in your house.
I think now a days pattern of study in schools has changed up to great extent. I agree with you that even the kids are having too much burden of completing their homework. Because in previous days we never use to carry too much homework at least up to high school. Teachers need to understand this thing that giving too much homework will not improve their mental ability but it is only a burden for them.
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