How much time do you spend helping with homework? (method, teaching, average)

[twoincomes]

How much time do you spend helping your children with homework? What ages/grades?

I have a child that will be entering kindergarten next year and wondering how much time I might need to spend helping them with their homework, and for how long this parental time commitment lasts. I would like them to do well in school but generally feel homework is their responsibility and not mine.

[lkb0714]

That is an attitude as a teacher I would support.

Help them by providing a quiet area, with minimal distractions in which to do their homework after allowing them some time to play or otherwise decompress. Oh and a snack too. But sitting down with them, and going through it line by line with them sets a precedent, that you are responsible for their homework or that they are not capable of doing it alone.

When they are young, the kitchen table where you can keep an eye on their progress is a good idea, by high school most will be able to do their homework in their rooms.

If your child is spending huge amounts of time on their homework, you both may be well served by speaking to the teacher for some homework strategies.

[annabanana123]

In kindergarten I'd say we averaged 30 minutes a night but it was largely due to 15 minutes of battling over actually doing it. Now that we're in 1st grade it's more like 15 minutes a night that he's doing it and I'm around but only check the answers and read a big word if he has trouble with it. Otherwise he can do it all himself.

[pkbab5]

In Kindergarten, the only required homework at our school is reading. The school sends 3 new age-appropriate books every night (this is a private school). My husband and I each take turns reading one of the harder books to our Kindergartener, and then they read the easiest book to one of us. This takes no more than 30 minutes a night. My gifted kid also came home with another 20 minutes or so of "optional" work in Kindergarten, which basically consisted of AR reading, and beginning spelling tests.

But then I also add a few extra things for my kids. The state of math education in this country is abysmal, and at least 2 years behind other advanced countries. So I also buy an accelerated (Asian) math curriculum, and spend 30 minutes a night teaching math 2 years ahead, plus extra critical thinking, problem solving, and logic topics they usually don't cover in school here in the states. Finally, I enroll my kids in piano lessons. At the Kindergarten level, this requires a parent to sit down with the child and "help" them practice (get the books out, point to the notes, help with the metronome, and check off each song as it is done). That's another 20 minutes.

So I would say an hour and 20 minutes of parent-assisted time an evening for a Kindergartener, more if they are either gifted or struggling.

Our school is a college prep school. They strongly encourage high parent involvement in homework in the early years, to model what homework is supposed to look like. They start to phase it out gradually through the years, and expect that by middle school the parent would have minimal involvement, basically just providing, space, time, and materials. The idea is that by then they know how to do it because they have been taught, and it's become habit. My eldest is in 2nd grade, and my expected involvement this year is to help her make sure her assignment book is filled out correctly, check each assignment to make sure she completed it, and be around to answer questions. That level of involvement is about the same for piano lessons too. I still sit down and teach her advanced math, but generally the "teaching" only takes about 10 minutes, and then the 20 minutes of practice she can do on her own. Then I have 10 minutes of grading to do.

I never understood parents who thought that a Kindergartener should somehow know how to teach themselves study skills. I'm guessing that's where all the tears come from. My kids LOVE spending an hour and a half each night "working" with mommy or daddy. They crave the parental attention, and they love learning at that age. Any tears over homework are few and far between, and mostly have to do with mommy turning the TV off lol.

[FalconheadWest]

My school's district is leaning more towards very little homework. My son is in Kinder and there is optional homework like writing his name 5 times and drawing objects for each number. We did it the first month, but it was more energy to get it done than worth it. We focus on the reading. 10 minutes with me and 15-20 minutes on his own each night. Bedtime at 7:30 and lights out by 8pm.

My daughter is in 3rd grade. 1 page of math comes home a week, front and back. They can have all week to do it, but it takes 5 minutes. They have 1 page of language arts that takes 5 minutes as well. Nothing like 1st and 2nd grade, but that was only 20-30 minutes worth. Again, we focus more on reading habits and she reads about 30-45 minutes each night. Bedtime at 7:30 and lights out by 8:15pm.

[annabanana123]

Oh I forgot to add the reading time. With reading it was closer to an hour but we already read for 30 mins a night anyways so that wasn't a change for us.

[Metaphysique]

My older kids, 6th and 4th grade, when they ask, which isn't often. They may need some assistance on a math problem or two, but it's not often they need help. They're very good independent learners.

I'm not a fan of homework in grade school, really. My son is non-neurotypical and struggles with homework or as I call it, useless busywork. I discussed it with his teacher in Kinder to assign work that is better suited for him. We did the same this year, first grade. He's a very bright kid who picks up information quickly and is very analytical, but busywork is frustrating for us. So we focus on reading and audio/visual methods.

My older two have to read at least two hours on Sat and Sun, or non-school days, and at least an hour on school days.

ETA:

Khan Academy is a great site for lessons, and there are edX courses that are suitable for secondary school learners.

[mo8414]

This year not to much because my son is starting to catch on to math. Last year was a couple, few hours a night. Being on 12 hours don't help since I'm the only one proficient enoughin math to help with homework. We would be up till 10 or 11 at night some days. Eventually I just did enough problems for him to be able to do a couple on his own and wouldn't do the rest. I would just write that it was getting late and he knew it. That was good enough for the teacher.

[Riley09swb]

My son is in 3rd grade this year and has integration delays. He usually doesn't remember most of what he learned that day in class so homework sometimes takes longer with him. I would say about 40 minutes or so a night not including reading. If it's been a bad day then it can take 1.5 hours sometimes. He gets easily distracted especially if other things are going on around him. With a younger sibling, it's not always quiet as he needs it. He reads on the bus ride home which is 30 minutes.

He has 1 math sheet weekly that is given on a Friday and is due the following Friday. It's only usually about 20 problems or so and I have him do a row each day. That doesn't take long usually only 5-10 minutes or so. Some weeks he has a scholastic news worksheet to do and then whatever they are learning in Science. He had longitude and latitude worksheet come home not long ago and that took about 20 minutes longer than I thought it would.

My daughter is in an immersion program and I would say she has about 30 minutes of work a night.

When my daughter was in K, we worked on sight words and her reading to me daily. She also had sorting words and spelling. That was the focus for the first 4 months or so.

[Jayerdu]

All I do is help with organizing and procedure. I do check the homework. When the kids were young, I would be present when they read.