homework | Imamother

yo'ma ↓

Fri, Mar 14 2008, 1:21 pm

My childrens school hardly gives homework. They're not changing schools and it also might be the mentality of the country not giving h.w.. My kids have a tutor once a week to review everything with them because I don't understand the language, so they do review. I was wondering if there other schools like that, that give practically no h.w.?

Barbara

Sat, Apr 05 2008, 9:43 pm

Yo'ma -- while I'm not particularly up on the research, I have read on other forums that the current research suggests that homework does not serve any educational purpose for younger (elementary school) children. At most, there should be 10 minutes per night per grade. So your children's school may be holding by the latest educational theories.

I don't mind a bit of homework, personally. It gives me a chance to see what the kids are learning, and to see if they're struggling. OTOH, when kids aren't even getting home from school until nearly 5 pm, and are supposed to read for 1/2 an hour, do 45 mintues of research for a report, study for two tests the next day, AND do homework on top of that ... its just too much.

Fox

Sun, Apr 06 2008, 12:44 am

Barbara wrote:

the current research suggests that homework does not serve any educational purpose for younger (elementary school) children.

Absolutely true! The only area where homework has been shown to increase competency is in arithmetic, where a small amount of review each evening can increase the accuracy and speed with which kids perform basic arithmetic functions.

A serious problem in the field of education is that the leaders seem incapable of striking a happy medium. When I was a child, the concept of "open education" was in vogue. I went to a hippy-dippy school where we were basically allowed to roam around and learn when/where/how we wanted. This was great for me -- I was very motivated and self-directed -- but it was disastrous for less academically-inclined kids.

So the pendulum swung back to the complete opposite: rigid classroom control with tons of homework, memorization, and tests. And guess what? Not all kids do well with that approach, either. What makes it so sad is that the majority of principals and teachers believe that there is one "right" way to educate kids and that anything else will result in a whole school full of hoodlums.

The truth is somewhere in the middle: the majority of kids do need a bit of structure, but it doesn't have to be heavy-handed or relentless. A small amount of homework in certain subjects can be worthwhile, but beyond that, it serves no desirable educational purpose. I'm sure the pendulum will swing again soon, and by the time I have grandchildren, I"yh, we'll be back again to open classrooms and bongo drums!

ffbmom

Sun, Apr 06 2008, 5:53 am

If your kids are in a Jewish day school, they just cannot get through the curriculum without some form of homework. The day is just too short. So, in addition to work not completed in class, there is usually some form of math homework, spelling tests, projects. If your elementary school child is getting too much homework, I'd speak to the teacher.

Imaonwheels ↓

Sun, Apr 06 2008, 8:05 am

In boys' charedi schools there is no hw after 3rd or 4th grade and its not necessary due to the type of learning. Girls have up until the end and in sem.

To those who think hw is unnecessary it is not so simple. I work with educational theory and hanhalot. If the learning style is one that encourages reading and expressing, discussing and reasoning only review is necessary. To have this kind of experiential learning take place one must first master basic skills or knowledge.

There are certain subjects, such as mathematics where the basics must be memorized, practiced and only then used creatively. Music is similar.A person who hasn't done scales so many times that he could do them in his sleep and the fingers play on their own cannot do improvisation, the most free type of musical expression.

One does not do an F scale or multiplication by reasoning each time. Until they are memorized they cannot be used efficiently.

Chani

Sun, Apr 06 2008, 8:49 am

Quote:

I don't get it don't they think we have better things to do at night time then do homework all night long?

I am so with you on this. I mamash don't know how we're going to do it next year when I have all four with homework. B'H my oldest almost never has English b/c he does get a little time sometimes in class to work on it, or does it on the bus, or b/n classes (limudei chol is very very easy for him, even though his school does have a demanding curriculum in both limudei kodesh and limudei chol), but the limudei kodesh takes a long time every night w/my husband - reviewing the gemara, then what he's learning in mishnayos, chumash, navi - it is a lot, and what it really means is that my husband has had to cut back his own learning schedule in order to do homework.

This year I just had one in kindergarten of the little guys, but even there there is kriah every night plus english a couple of nights a week. Granted if he did it straight off it would take 15 minutes, but by the time we get through all the inevitable interruptions of his little brothers and the occasional whining about it, it's turned into 45 minutes. Next year when he's in first grade and I have two kindergarteners to get through it, I may lose my mind! The one saving grace is that my babysitter (a frum girl) who watches the kids after school until I get home from work will sometimes do homework with the younger son, although she doesn't always have the opportunity.

I think what kills me is that the school depends on the parents to do the homework WITH the child. I went to a fabulous school, which sent a very high percentage of girls to Ivy League colleges, and we never had hw in early elementary. By 5th grade we did have hw, but even that hw was designed to be done independently by the student. I can't think of a single occasion in which my parents helped me with homework, other than driving me to the library when I had papers to research and write.

shopaholic

Sun, Apr 06 2008, 8:54 am

DS is in 2nd grade. He only learns Hebrew subjects. His HW (& not every day) is a sheet that has a few pesukim to review with the Yiddish translation & sometimes a Rashi or 2.

Then he goes to separate English classes. As its only twice a week for 1.5 hrs at a time, he comes home with quite a lot of HW. Good thing is we have Sun, Mon & Tues to do Sunday's HW & then Wed, Thursd, FRi/MS to do Wed's HW.