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Last year, my 1st grader had about 20 minutes of homework and 20 minutes of reading each day. My 4th grader had about two hours of homework each day. I thought that my older daughter's homework was excessive. In the winter especially, by the time she got home, changed, had a snack, and did her homework, it was already getting dark outside...no time to play or exercise.
This summer, my kids are doing absolutely nothing. They have both moved into one bedroom and converted the other bedroom into a doll city with dollhouses they've built out of books and boxes and tubs. They learned to make homemade ice cream this week. Last week they made paper mache sculptures and pinatas. The week before, they made doll furniture from foamboard and scrapbook paper. Next week, we're making cloth dolls (have to wait because the puppy ate the embroidery hoop). They have a watergun fight with their buddies next door and across the street at least twice a week, go on long bike rides, collect rocks at the construction site and come home to look the rocks up on the internet, etc. On Saturdays we ride our bikes to garage sales and the kids practice bargaining for things and sticking to their budget. Nobody is getting dumber this summer, but nobody is getting burned out either. We cram as much play into the summer as we can, to tide us over until the next summer.
My son will start the 1st grade, but I know he won't get much homework. My daughter is going into the 3rd grade so I'll have to wait and see. They do play a lot during this summer. The pool is very close, same with the park. My daughter enjoys crafts but my son just plays with his Legos, which to me is good because he really enjoys them. On the weekends I take them to a garage sale or run errands with me. The burn out issue I think is over rated. Kids are tougher than we give them credit for and neither one complains about being tired.
3-4 hours of targeted at home study is usually a lot more intense than anything that a child of those ages would be doing during an *entire day* of elementary school. While I think that it's great that you're having them keep their skills up over the summer, it does seem like a lot. Maybe too much.
You could probably boil down much of what they're doing into one or two less time consuming ways. Ex: Every day have them write in a journal what they did that day - emphasize neatness, clear handwriting, good grammar, punctuation and spelling. The younger one could draw a picture and write 2 or 3 complete sentences about their day instead of completing a full journal page. It's simple and a great keepsake of their summer.
Other than that, read - alone and out loud together. Play games, do mad labs, science experiments, etc. And take them places that they can't go during the school year - like the outdoor swimming pool, camping, biking, boating, hiking etc. Get together with friends and just have fun.
3-4 hours at the table with math, writing, spelling, grammar, reading, but kids being kids, actual time spent learning is about 2 hours at best...I don't have a ruler to smack their hands when they run off....
Yes, when I was living in Japan there were some schools "going western", but the vast majority of the parents ignored that and still kept sending their children to cram schools after regular school...then study at home...amazing to see how much they study....
2 hours a day of homework for a 4th grader is excessive. 40 minutes for a 1st grader is excessive. My kids go to a private school and get significantly less homework than their public school peers. Their homework tends to be less busywork and more substantial than their public school peers. I think that speaks to the poor quality of the public schools in my area, not public schools in general. It is hard to generalize about public vs private as schools differ so much.
3-4 hours a day of drilling during the summer is excessive for young children although it is not excessive if you are talking about more intellectually interesting activities. There are tons of things to learn that kids don't get to experience in school. Summer is a time to explore those things.
My kids are teens (18, 16, 13). This summer the oldest is working full time. He is busy getting ready for college. He likes to read and has been reading some books of his choosing this summer. He is happy to be free of summer reading requirements that he had in high school. He has been working out all summer in preparation of his first college football season. He is spending time with his girlfriend and both of them seem sad to be leaving each other soon. He is learning about growing up and moving on with his adult life. That is more important that schoolwork.
My middle son went to music camp this summer. The camp was fun AND he learned a lot. He also visited his grandmother in NY for a few weeks. He saw a show on Broadway, went to quite a few museums and went to the beach with my MIL. He has summer reading requirements that he will need to complete before band camp starts in August. He loved learning about making music with other people, and the decisions that need to be made. He doesn't really get that experience in the school band as all decisions are made by the teacher.
My youngest also went to NY to visit his grandmother. They spent time at the beach and went to quite a few museums. He especially loved the Museum of Natural History in NY where he got to see the big dinosaur bones. He is currently taking a class at the Duke University TIP program. He is having a blast learning things that "they don't teach us in school." He is enjoying taking a political science class that is unlike anything offered in a traditional middle school.
Whether something is excessive depends on what it is and whether the kids are having fun. If they are having fun and learning at the same time there is no such thing as excessive. If they are just drilling boring stuff then I would say they do not need more than half an hour a day of that sort of "learning."
My daughters math homework in the 2nd grade from school was 1 or 2 pages..it was a joke..15 spelling words...reading...that was it...way too little..and this is a private school....
If I could afford music lessons I would rather have them take that, but it's just too expensive right now.
My daughters math homework in the 2nd grade from school was 1 or 2 pages..it was a joke..15 spelling words...reading...that was it...way too little..and this is a private school....
If I could afford music lessons I would rather have them take that, but it's just too expensive right now.
Yes, when I was living in Japan there were some schools "going western", but the vast majority of the parents ignored that and still kept sending their children to cram schools after regular school...then study at home...amazing to see how much they study....
[quote=totsuka;25231298]My son will start the 1st grade, but I know he won't get much homework. My daughter is going into the 3rd grade so I'll have to wait and see. They do play a lot during this summer. The pool is very close, same with the park. My daughter enjoys crafts but my son just plays with his Legos, which to me is good because he really enjoys them. On the weekends I take them to a garage sale or run errands with me. The burn out issue I think is over rated. Kids are tougher than we give them credit for and neither one complains about being tired.[/quote]
Yeah and lots of times little kids just don't do that. And what happens as grades increase the burden of homework/studying increases will you still insist on adding those extra 3-4 hours of study? In the end children have certain abilities along with desires in life. Pushing to some extent is good but if they don't have both naturally all the extra study you force on them will serve no purpose. Hell i was in AP classes and saw both boys and girls with parents who pushed to the max. These same kids would be burned out and overdo the letting loose the first year to de-stress, along with making up for lost time. And the other factor is for example out of my AP history class was that most of the kids went on to get degrees that the burden of extra study served no point. I mean even in my case with a degree in religion the extra worked served little point in the end. Remember that these little one's won't be little for long and they only have a brief time to enjoy being kids so you should let them.
3-4 hours at the table with math, writing, spelling, grammar, reading, but kids being kids, actual time spent learning is about 2 hours at best...I don't have a ruler to smack their hands when they run off....
If they're getting up and running off, the lessons aren't working. Right now, they're spending 2 hours actually learning and 1 or 2 hours trying to get out of their assignments. Not good.
Just from an efficiency standpoint alone, I think you should look into streamlining the work that you're giving them - simplify and condense their lessons. Get everything - reading, writing, math practice - done within two hours. Otherwise, they'll continue to lose their focus and that is not a good habit for them to get into.
3-4 hours at the table with math, writing, spelling, grammar, reading, but kids being kids, actual time spent learning is about 2 hours at best...I don't have a ruler to smack their hands when they run off....
You are worried about homework, but you don't own a ruler?
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