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When I receive the homeworks from my kids, I ask them how they understood the lesson. There are times that they're NOT SURE about it! IT tells me that they didn't really understand it well. Now it's my turn to teach them.
In school, teacher's give generic concept that may or may not work for some. Since I'm their parent, I know my kids soft spots. I use different example/perspective/concept that is more effective for them to understand. They are all smiling afterwards, a confirmation of "now I knew it daddy!"
We don't give much homework, but we try to make sure that any homework we assign is able to be completed by the student independently. That is why not all students receive the same homework. From the beginning of the year we tell the parents to let us know if their child seems confused or frustrated by the assignment.
Two questions for parents with children in Elementary School, specifically grades 4, 5, and 6: (1) Do you feel that homework plays an important role in the education of your child?
Other than subjects like math that requires practice and working out problems, no, and even then, I'm not a fan of it during lower grades. I know there are districts that are phasing out required homework, and a number of teachers (some teach in Canada and the UK) that don't assign homework, especially busywork.
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(2) Could you give some reasons to support your view?
There are numerous articles on this topic. Quality, not quantity, should be the main focus. That means forgoing useless busywork that reinforces bad learning and study habits like rote memorization.
I supplement a good portion of my kids' education and encourage a true passion and love for learning. They retain a lot through reading and self-directed learning. My older two kids are voracious readers and they've retained a lot of information by taking such a strong interest in reading. It pays off in many different ways.
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Originally Posted by tnff
I disagree on homework at the early ages. What I observed with my kids and their friends is homework was negative learning. If they didn't understand what they were doing, that hour or so just reinforced bad habits that were hard to break later. I also believe kids that age need to develop mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually. An over abundant focus on homework develops none, and hurts the physical and spiritual development they need.
On the topic of homework. There were numerous times our older two kids (now 7th and 5th grade) would come to us about math problems, a subject they don't usually have problems with, and when asked how the lesson was covered, they explained that it was barely covered. There seemed to be a lot of half-assing these lessons, and math isn't a subject to half-ass. We worked with them and they watched the video lessons on Khan Academy that were far more thorough and easy to follow.
Homework is useless if it's busywork and/or the lesson is poorly taught.
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