Is Too Much Homework Bad for Our Kids?

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My son is 4 and a half years old and going to JK .he only goes for 2 and a half hours ,and JK he is getting lots of homework.believe it or not but its huge.4 or 5 pictures ..he has to colour them and then have to write the alphabets on a plain sheet,then again have to make different pictures with them and of course per day one story book for him ,which parents should read it to him.well i know homework is a good thing ,but dinner, bath, and the homework, doesn’t leave any time for “family” time. he is really getting to strongly dislike school and I’d have to agree with him on this one.

From what I gather from other moms I know, homework has run amok. It used to be 10 mintues per grade level (or something like that) and now it has gotten where most kids spend most of their time doing their homework instead of other things (like getting outside and excersizing!).

too much homework may be counterproductive and make your child dislike learning altogether:naraz: i think it depends on the teacher too ..i am also in this field and my believe is that which a child learn in the class with his friends ,he/she cant learn that much at home soo i am a NO HOMEWORK type teacher:halo: .

ok to cut the story short tell me Do you think kids today are getting too much homework?

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Re: Is Too Much Homework Bad for Our Kids?

there was a report on this very same thing on the news a few weeks back. It mentioned how children nowadays are getting so much homework that it is impossible for them to finish it on their own. The parents end up doing it for them just so the kids can turn it in and get a grade for it. This cant be good for them!

This is EXACTLY why i cant stand the traditional educational systems...montessori school is the way to go ( i taught there for 2 yrs)! there is no homework AND the kids overall turn out more advanced then a child that went to a traditional school.

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Re: Is Too Much Homework Bad for Our Kids?

Hayallah sheen,,, can we go on strike.. I would be more then happy to get rid of my assignments :(

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Re: Is Too Much Homework Bad for Our Kids?

some womens kids get no homework at alll but they always make a big deal about it..... "oh i have to go home now....my kids have homework"......"i cant do this now my kids have homework"......"blah blah my kids have homework to do"

soooo annoying...

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Re: Is Too Much Homework Bad for Our Kids?

I used to think so, but now I don’t. Need to keep those little morons busy before they turn into bigger morons. :smiley:

But give assignments that have some purpose. Not busy work. And that will vary depending upon the subject and the particular lesson they’re learning and the concepts they’re learning. Some concepts - you have to practice and practice. Like math problems for example.

Some concepts, you need to do more synthesis and critical thinking (higher levels of thinking) to understand the concept.

Some stuff - its not about really making sense of things, but just memorizing them - like in natural sciences.

As long as the assignments are pertinent and accomplish the goal of getting most of the students to understand and remember what they need to get through successfully, its worthwhile HW.

Otherwise, they end up doing stupid senseless stuff with their time, unless you’re on their back and making them do constructive activities with their spare time, or unless they just like to do healthy activities in their spare time.

Keep 'em busy :k: They’ll stay out of trouble.

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Re: Is Too Much Homework Bad for Our Kids?

Montessori as in small children type montessori - or are you talking about a different teaching system altogether?

I agree - a good teacher who holds a good class - in that class, students will walk out understanding stuff by the time the teacher is done yapping and the bell rings. Then you give 'em some HW and excercises to do at home, and that reinforces their knowledge, and they come back the next day - review a little bit, do some warm-up stuff, and they have it down cold.

Not all teachers are like that, and it just takes a crapload of practice to really get that good at explaining things to kids.

But doing some HW is necessary. Not just for learning purposes - but a lot of these kids grow up in homes where adults aren't always around. So they get into trouble, and they end up hanging out with neighborhood trash (and there is ALWAYS neighborhood trash no matter how expensive your home is), and they lose focus. Doing HW and projects, etc - helps them get more geared towards the idea of working towards a goal and accomplishing it and feeling good about doing something correctly and well. Establishes independence, etc.

But yeah, I remember I would get so many students who brought in work that was clearly done by parents. And there isn't much you can do to stop that, because even if you give them something simple and straightforward, and they just don't want to think too much, they're going to hand it to their parents.

I ended up telling them I'd mark off points if I felt like they had the work done by an adult. That sorta helped.

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Re: Is Too Much Homework Bad for Our Kids?

That looks like a lot of homework. The way we teachers calculate homework time is as follows:
In grade one, a child should have 10 minutes of homework. In grade two, it's 20 minutes and so on. By grade 6, students should have between 45-60 minute of homework a night.

FYI- In Ontario, teacher's are NOT allowed to use homework for assessment.

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Re: Is Too Much Homework Bad for Our Kids?

PF...are u a teacher as well?

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Re: Is Too Much Homework Bad for Our Kids?

if u want ur son to be a nerd, its not bad .. :p lol