Anti-Homework Movement Growing!

How can schools eliminate homework without also reducing instruction time?

I’m no fan of each teacher assigning a half-hour’s worth of homework every night, making for several hours for each kid, but I don’t see any reason to eliminate it entirely, either. What about long-term projects, or a research assignment? What about creative tasks like dioramas and such?

And what about practicing music? People learning an instrument need to practice every day, and for kids that means at home, because at school they’re rehearsing in a small group or a band, not solo.

Powers, there is little to no correlation between elementary homework and achievement. Better the child should read, write, play, go to museums, practice an instrument (yes, they should practice!) and group projects that simply cannot be done at school. My high school daughter often meets with a team on a project on the weekends and that kind of weekend work I’m okay with, most of the time. They are in flow, they create, they work together.

I can support two hours of homework in high school. Three in far more advanced programs but that gets treacherous, it can easily escalate from there. More than that and you have diminishing returns. Five hours of sleep is the tipping point. Research shows that when a student gets five or less, they may as well flush what they learned that day because the brain, robbed of critical REM sleep, does not retain it.

But there is a huge difference between ‘homework overload’ and just ordinary amounts of homework. The family linked to didn’t want less homework, they wanted NO homework.

I can understand wanting the children not to have to spend hours every night doing elementary school level work, but I can’t go for the idea that all homework is bad.

There is a middle way.

My kindergarten son has homework 3 times a week. I think the purpose of it mostly is to get the parents involved in the child’s work.

A typical example example might be to draw what clothes people wear in the winter and label them. My son drew a jacket and a hat and I helped him spell and write the words.

It took about 5 minutes, he practiced his writing and fine motor skills, and I spent time helping him. I think this was completely appropriate homework.

J. – rest assured not all schools are like that.

I don’t think even 5 minutes of homework in kindergarten is ok. After 7 hours of school, it’s time to be free at that age. Shoot, even 1st grade too. My first grader should be able to come home and just be. Instead, he has homework 4 nights a week and a project every quarter.

I don’t see why the reason for homework that young is to promote parent involvement in school work. It sounds like institution rhetoric to me. I’m already involved in their life education in so many ways. Weekly worksheets aren’t going to improve upon that.

Do you know what I think these quarterly projects in early ed years do? Teach our children that mommy and daddy will do most of the work for you. What 6 (or even 7) year old can get on the internet and research famous African Americans? There’s a time and a place for those type projects but it isn’t in 1st and 2nd grade.

I have several spelling errors. Sorry guys. “Are” should be “our,” etc.

I think we are talking about 2 different levels. At the elementary level – homework tends to be busy work and not worth the paper it is printed on.

We are not allowed to grade work sent home because the parents were doing the projects. (As in I got a group on video explaining they couldn’t explain their project because Johnny’s father built it while they played GTA. For the record they were supposed to make the project at school even that year.)

But what about reading assignments? In school, we would be assigned to read a chapter, which was then covered in more depth in class the next day. Isn’t that about how it’s supposed to work? If no one’s read the chapter, the teacher has to cover the whole thing in class and can’t get into details or answer questions without taking twice as much time.

Sure! And dioramas, big projects – great! Within reason, and for older students.

A first grader can’t read ahead at home anyway, because a first grader is just now learning to read. The only “homework” for kids that age should be “have mom and dad read with you for 20 minutes”, and that should be the rule for the next few years.

I’m fine with arguing that spelling should not need to be the subject of homework, but arguing that it’s not necessary to learn how to spell correctly is just ridiculous.

Well, you just put words in her mouth, didn’t you? She never said he shouldn’t learn to spell. She *said* he didn’t have to do his homework so long as he kept on getting perfect grades – which is how it should work! Homework is supposed to be a way to review the work you learned. But if you already know it, and don’t need the review, why should you do the busywork?

And that’s what most homework is, you know. Your idealistic talk of research and creative tasks and long-term assignments is nonsense when most children (especially those in the younger grades, where homework has never been shown to have any benefits at all, particularly busywork) have homework on the lines of “write this 5 times and do so-and-so many math problems and color in the answers according to a specific plan and cut out and glue the letters of your sight word onto a paper”. BUSYWORK. It’s not meaningful, it’s not really connected to anything else, and it’s not necessary.

How can schools eliminate homework without also reducing instruction time?

I can think of plenty of ways. To start, they can send the kids out to recess more often – 20 minutes of recess = 30 minutes of on-task learning and higher test scores.

And what about practicing music? People learning an instrument need to practice every day, and for kids that means at home, because at school they’re rehearsing in a small group or a band, not solo.

Practicing music is something the child and parents, together, have decided is a priority. It doesn’t count any more than washing the dishes counts as labor.

Uly,

When it comes to music, I just gave my daughters the lessons I believed allowed them to learn how to read music. In our case, guitar. They hated the lessons, but I made them take enough of them to learn how to at least read music….so that one day, they’d be able to pick up a guitar (be it their 20’s, 30’s 40’s) and at least enjoy it.

Same with sports — give them enough lessons and/or opportunities to play so that later in life, they know enough about the game to be interested in pick-up soccer games etc.

Sophie

In other words, a parent’s goal should be to ensure success. It should be only to give them the OPPORTUNITIES to create their own success. My only goal with my daughters is to ensure that I maximize their opportunities in life. And, of course, not even a “goal” but my makeup is that I just love and enjoy them so much.

Sophie

OK, less homework good. That’s it. Reading, long term projects etc. are ok. Worksheets as homework are silly.
And anyone who has a child in a school that still as a music program that then assigns homework=unheard of where we are, unless you join band.

Anyway, to sum up. Homework reform good. Worksheets silly.

J said: “Five hours of sleep is the tipping point. Research shows that when a student gets five or less, they may as well flush what they learned that day because the brain, robbed of critical REM sleep.”

FIVE HOURS? That can’t be right. That should be at least 8.5 hrs at a bare minimum.

As I said on this topic before, sleep deprivation is a real problem for children these days (and homework contributes to it) I recommend Chapter Two of NURTURESHOCK.

I don’t have time to read all the posts here. Let me just say that I’m 100% against homework until age 9 or 10.

Homework is a escalating problem over the years. It’s a misguided attempt to counter the depraving influence of Nickelodeon, with its 24/7 programming, in addition to computer and video games and the rest. It punishes the rest of us.

Heather, Queen of Shake Shake – You said everything I was going to! Completely agree!

Powers – The family linked to agreed to practice musical instruments at home.

Ashley – Sorry but I cringed when I read your whole Google thing. Spelling, IMO, is a much needed skill and one that is rapidly disappearing. I do agree that a child that gets it shouldn’t be forced to do extra homework on it, though. My children are homeschooled and I refuse to use those stupid spelling workbooks. My children read enough to get the spelling and don’t need the extra worksheets. Teaching them to read using phonics helped a lot too, again IMO. They learned all the rules and that aided them in spelling.

Sophie – I agree that homework can be used to instill good work habits but do kindergartners need that? No! Can’t they learn diligence from doing chores at home, being responsible for lunch money or bringing home their luinchbox each day? I agree that teens could benefit from this lesson in highschool but elementary school – no way.

OK, getting off my soapbox and going to bed. Night all.

@ J – I have a pile of papers to hand out to the kids and a lot of it is homework and spelling. The math and handwriting stays in the workbooks. Handing out papers is a big time waster and in my class, it’s hazardous to split my attention for even a second. I’m trying to talk my husband into homeschooling our son because of all the time that gets wasted in a school day.

LM, I’m the last person to ever suggest a teacher spend her time handing out papers. In fact, on stophomework, parents argue that reading logs are not only a waste of time for the kid, but the teacher as well! We want to reduce your paperwork, not add to it! I’m not asking for papers! I’m asking for real learning to take place during the day so that the child doesn’t have to generate all those papers at home.

My point is that I had no real grasp of what happened in the classroom. My daughter was hard pressed to fill me in as well and when I queried other parents, it seemed no one really knew. The assignments done at home were not marked up. It was an A if turned in on time, a B with the letters ONE DAY LATE scrawled in red. Reminded me of The Scarlet Letter. No comments, just a grade. I was left wondering, my child could have stayed home and done that!

I realize a classroom is not home. But when we homeschooled for that one year, we were able to do twice as much in half the time. My larger point was, why am I sending her to school?

Look, I would have been happy if school had done school and we could have homeschooled on the side. But homework was not only eating up our entire afternoon and evening but spilling into weekends too. It’s only gotten worse as the years have worn on.

I applaud you for convincing your hubby to let you homeschool your son. Too much time is wasted in school. I’ve heard all the excuses. Some are valid, some are nonsense. I feel for teachers who have their hands tied. But at the end of the day, our children need an education, not an excuse.

We have a giant monolith. It is called public school. It takes vast resources to operate. Is it delivering? You be the judge.

We keep talking about practicing music. My daughter was forced to give up an instrument (two in fact) because of homework. I wish we’d written our own opt-out policy. It certainly would have included time for music!

There’s something else missing in this discussion. Good that it’s generating talk about the value of homework or lack thereof. But do remember one thing. If I successfully negotiate an opt out policy for MY CHILD, it does not mean YOU can’t still get homework.

If you want homework, do it to your heart’s delight. The Milleys aren’t saying YOU can’t get homework. Don’t worry, if you want it, it’s there for you. Ask for more if you’d like. They just find they have better ways to spend an afternoon, an evening, weekends, holidays and summer. Like actually learning?

Amy writes: “My kindergarten son has homework 3 times a week. I think the purpose of it mostly is to get the parents involved in the child’s work.”

Amy, please stop and consider how insulting this is. I realize you didn’t say it, you’re just quoting it. The purpose of kindergarten homework is to involve me in my child’s work. Think of how condescending that sounds. It posits that as a parent, I am such an idiot, so disconnected from my child’s learning, that the school has to force me to be a better parent. And you mention work. As Alfie Kohn says, children are learners, not workers.

My daughter attended a private full day kindergarten. This is before full day K was popular in the public schools. It was a good program. We had social issues (teased and bullied) but she did great on the academic front. Actually, no, she was not challenged, we had to fight for more advanced work but that’s another story.

The school’s day was seven hours. The administration felt that after a full day, a five year old is tired. That she’s been sitting a long time (this was in the halcyon days when we still believed kindergarteners were, well, kindergarteners, so they got two recess periods and nap time) and now it’s time to play. The school sent no homework home. They did occasionally but it was optional. We opted right out of it. She was five. Homework could wait.

Well, yes, there was show and tell and bringing in something to match the letter of the day and all that but we didn’t think of that as homework. Homework, as you describe it, Amy, are worksheets. Your child sits down and must fill out certain pages, designated as homework, to be turned in. Nope, not at this school. The administration got this one right!

I juggled my work schedule so I was able to pick her up from school. Here’s what My five year old and I did in lieu of homework. Let me add that I also did not believe she should be overloaded with extra-curriculars. She had many interests. We cut the after school organized programs down to two:

1. Piano
2. Swimming lessons

Now for the unscheduled stuff: Let’s start with books. Books books books. Reading time dominated.

Now let’s do the museum list:

1. Air and Space Museum (her favorite. She wanted to be an astronaut)

2. Art museum (she loved to draw). We talked about the paintings, the history, the style.

3. Okay, I’ll spare you the museum list. Suffice it to say, over the year, we covered all of them. Multiple times.

4. Walks through the city to study the grid, the pattern, how the streets were laid out. She learned geometry.

5. Nature centers to learn about bugs, flora and fauna.

6. Long hikes after school in the woods.

7. Drawing, modeling, sketching, coloring.

8. Grocery shopping where she just had to weigh everything. Math skills.

9. Science in a kit where we made all sorts of things

10. Helping Dad cook. Math skills.

11. Cleaning her room, putting her toys away. Teaches responsibility.

12. Helping parents around the house. Teaches responsibility.

14. Now get this. She had workbooks. She did them all the time. Some would say, what’s the difference? Plenty. It’s a concept borrowed from unschooling, that says kids are hard wired to learn and when you are not hitting them over the head, their curious minds take over.

15. Hours and hours spent building leggos and k’nex. There’s your future engineer. Which is in fact what she wants to be.

16. Long discussions with her parents on everything.

I could go on and on. Where in this list do you have time for mandatory worksheets? I don’t care if they only take your kid an hour, a half hour, ten minutes, five minutes. The point is, we don’t want them. I don’t want my afternoon prescribed. The school’s had her all day, I get a little sliver, now it’s my turn. Kids this age need to touch, smell, feel, walk, experience. As Maria Montessori says, play is a child’s work. There is not a single homework or early childhood expert worth his or her salt that would ever advocate homework in kindergarten. This is a construct cooked up by politicians to raise test scores.

Notice you don’t see television or video games on mylist. Okay, a little Arthur on PBS won’t hurt. We just always had so many better and more interesting things to do than while away all afternoon on electronics.

Please trust that intelligent educated parents have thought this through carefully. We are not looking to raise selfish ungrateful unmotivated children. Have faith in us. Give us some credit. It’s not easy swimming against the tide. We do because in the end, it all comes down to the children. What is best for THEM?

Lara writes; ” And the “no homework” movement is as much an extreme, as the brights movement, the homeschooling front”

Whoa, there , Lara. I homeschooled for a year. I’m not an extremist. Get with the program. Yes, homeschooling does have that stereotype, that it’s either done by Christian fundamentalists or hippie isolationists.

Times have changed. A lot of families you would consider highly normal and hardly extremist are homeschooling. These are people who never imagined themselves taking their kids out of school. Many of these parents are extremely intelligent and thoughtful. When you talk to them, some quick reasons given for this new path are:

1. My child’s school was spending the day test prepping. He wasn’t learning anything and he was starting to hate school.

2. Mediocre instruction: Yes, teachers must deal the hand they are served. But with 32 kids in a class of every imaginable ability, parents simply felt their kids were not getting a quality education. Many were schooling after school to make up for the deficincies.

3. Homework overload.

4. Not meeting the needs of the gifted.

These are but a few but some of the most common reasons parents give today. Harris Cooper of Duke University, known as the nation’s homework expert, advocates for no homework in elementary and no more than two hours in high school. I’m glad we have studies to back up what I already could have told you anecdotally and intuitively. Experience counts!

Lara, in conclusion, I did homeschool. I advocate for less homework and none in elementary. Math and science in our household have never gotten short shrift. She wants to be an engineer! She is two years ahead in math. We must have done something right!

Ok, I’m guilty. I was on the school board in the mid-nineties and actually proposed a homework policy. But hear me out! When I moved my then 10 year old daughter into this district from a much better one in the Princeton, NJ area, she went from doing a lot of very challenging homework every night to doing NOTHING. Our prior school district had the best test scores in the state, proof of the dedication that so many asian parents had towards fostering their kids’ education. Our new district loved trends. One of those trends was a math program from the university of Chicago. We came to the school district mid semester and were completely lost. There was no homework. My kid went from being very proficient in math to close to failing in a couple of months. But despite all my efforts to get extra help for her, her teacher blithely refused to give her any additional worksheets or content so she could catch up.
In fact, MOST of her classes were like that. Not only was the curriculum in our new suburban community about a year behind the Princeton suburb, there just wasn’t any emphasis on doing much of anything. So, I ran for the school board and won. One of the first orders of business was to get a homework policy.
Now, that is not to say that I was in favor of hours and hours of homework. No, I did my research. I was really hoping for something more along the line of the Japanese model. For math in Japan, the homework assignments consist of only a couple of problems at night. The idea is to reinforce what is learned in class for that day. It’s not supposed to keep you up all night. Teachers had a lot of input into this policy. They said they didn’t like assigning busy work, that gratuitous homework consisting of worksheets of stuff your kid already knows so that they could get a check in the gradebook. So, we specifically prohibited busy work. Instead, for the elementary grades, we suggested that children be encouraged to finish work that they had already started in class. The amount of time spent on homework shouldn’t amount to much each evening. The goal was lite practice and finishing what you started. Middle and high schoolers were expected to do more as the level of difficulty increased but even there, we didn’t want anyone to be spending hours doing their work. If an elementary school kid can’t get it all done in less than an hour, it’s too much.
Well, I left the school board in 1997. Since that time, bad things have happened, George Bush was elected president and a new, more authoritarian mindset has taken over the local school district. My youngest daughter is an exceptionally gifted middle schooler who has never been on the honor roll. Getting on the honor roll appears to be directly correlated to turning in every piece of tedious homework assigned. In seventh grade, she was still expected to do shoebox dioramas for school. Reading projects must be accompanied by detailed summaries of every chapter. The kid might as well be rewriting the book. Her most recent project for English will be to pick a book, like Twelfth Night or Dracula, and create either a board game, TV commercial or interview of the major character. Please accompaby with detailed summary of each chapter and a character web and overview sheet with narrator voice, plot summary, blah, blah, blah. The last time she had to do this exercise at the beginning of 8th grade, she ditched it for her Halloween costume project, a recreation of the house from the movie Up. She constructed the whole thing ouf of FedEx boxes and balsa wood and sculpted little character figurines. Her teachers were amazed but the English project was late and she ended up with a C for the first quarter. She claims she isn’t learning anything new and these stupid time sucking projects are not adding anything except drudgery and tedium.
Her geometry class? Different story. The teacher gives her light homework, a couple of proofs a night, just to reinforce and push the envelope. She got an A.
So, there is a role for homework. But it has to be relevant to the subject at hand, meaningful to the student and the goal is to reinforce what is learned. Lightly. So your kid can go outside and play. Or practice the piano. Or construct a Halloween costume.

Lara, I don’t care if I get on your nerves. You made a point, I answered it.

As for being too stupid, whatever. You’re entitled to your opinion. You made a point that many mothers don’t value science and math as highly as language arts. I merely shed some light on the subject.

I am sure you are going to vomit when parents talk about “gifted’ children. Go ahead. Vomit. We’re used to it. We aren’t saying gifted kids are the baseline. I referenced it with regard to homeschooling, that it’s one way for parents to meet those needs.

You missed my point about anecdotal evidence. And I backed it up with solid research. The point being, school is one thing. We all understand teachers have many other students. But we parents can tailor our afternoons, weekends and holidays. We are simply asking for that right.

Lara, I understand parents of gifted kids. If you don’t have a gifted kid, you wouldn’t know how hard it is to raise them and what a struggle it is to convince them on a daily basis that school is worth the trouble and that if they only hold out to middle school/high school/College, it will get better and more interesting. Eventually, you just come off as a big frickin’ liar.
Teachers aren’t interested in you.
School boards are constantly looking to cut your programs.
Other parents have no sympathy for your plight or that of your parents. They tell you to STFU all of the time. This is particularly sad when you see your kid who really is two years ahead of everyone else lean her head against the car door as you drop her off at school and says with tears in her eyes, “I don’t think I can do this anymore”, “This” referring to spending hours each day in a heterogenous classroom, waiting for the herd to catch up with you and without the encouragement of any adults who simply feel that you will turn out ok in the end even if you are ignored for the entirety of your school days.
Please don’t tell us to shut up. We pay taxes too so that your average learning kids get the benefit of the district’s attention and resources.

Riverdaughter, I agree with everything you said except one thing. I don’t believe that the average learners get the best resources in school. It certainly isn’t the gifted kids either. Everything is so dumbed down that most of the kids aren’t having their needs met. Will they be fine and succeed in life? Yes. But what if…

As for homeschooling being an extreme, I don’t see it. I am a homeschooling mom that takes math and science very seriously. History also. I think people often forget how important it is for our kids to know where we came from and how we got here to be able to lead us in the future. My 4th grader is about to finish 6th grade math. We are doing a year of forensic science. (Pull up your toilet bowl here) it was written by a teacher for gifted students. It is very challenging, very hands-on, and incorporates many different sciences and a ton of critical thinking and observation skills. Most homeschoolers take all school subjects seriously we just do it differently than the schools do.

Lara, read my comment on my years on the school board. Even teachers agree that worksheets are busy work and don’t think they add any value to your kid’s learning experience. Chapter summaries are a complete waste of time and the epitome of busy work. Give them a damn quiz if you want to be sure they read the chapter. There are times when homework is appropriate and necessary, especially in the subject of math because knowledge builds upon previously mastered skills. But it is just a nuisance otherwise. For elementary school kids, do the 2-3 math problems, finish the science lab report, read the book with your kid before they go to sleep and call it a night. They don’t really need full on studying until 7th grade and even then, they need to be eased into it.
It’s parents who demand the crazy levels of homework. And why not? When your kid’s grade is tied to mind-numbing but not terribly difficult busy work, well, that’s a good thing, right? Everyone gets an A except for those snooty gifted kids who can’t be bothered.
I was a gifted kid too though my talents pale in comparison to my daughter’s. For gifted kids, the danger is that the work will not be challenging enough to meet their needs and they will coast until their study skills are shot. But even the most gifted only need a little bit of work. They just need it at their level, not the level of the rest of the class. The problem with gifted kids is that teachers do not differentiate instruction for them to meet their needs. So, the busy work for them is even more annoying and they have a legitimate complaint about not doing it.
Take a chill pill.

Race to Nowhere: The Dark Side of America’s Achievement Culture:

http://www.racetonowhere.com/trailer

Why did this turn into a discussion about gifted kids?

We all agree on reducing busy work in favor of more appropriate skill level learning, don’t we?

Why this hatred? Parents should support each other and value different points of view not criticize other opinions and cast out those that think differently?Where is tolerance and acceptance?

J., really this is what you experience? That sounds awful. Luckily, I am dealing with nicer teachers and circumstances and people here in our school district.

Sarah asks: “J., really this is what you experience? That sounds awful. Luckily, I am dealing with nicer teachers and circumstances and people here in our school district.”

Sarah, not so much now, not in this high school. Specifically I was referring to reaction on this blog, to this post and the homework one previous.

I did encounter this attitude in the public elementary school we switched to. Not in private. I really felt they heard my concerns. They didn’t do enough but at least they did listen and they were respectful. My tone to them was respectful in kind. Remember, the way we comment here is not how we talk to teachers. Furthermore, many of us started out respectful and patient. But years in the system just wears you down.

One final note. I didn’t really start the gifted discussion. I merely referenced it in the homeschool response as one reason among many why people choose it. Lara called homeschooling extreme, and I wanted to set the record straight.

Having homeschooled, I feel it’s important to dispel myths. Then, sadly, Lara went off the handle, calling me names and attacking my parenting style. Even if to say, disapargingly, how good I am at it :).

To add to my previous post, by way of advice. And again, this is all about homework. Yes, I am on task!

I recently proposed the above plan to a friend with a younger child, an 8th grader. She is PG/ADD. They are very worried that high school homework will crush her. But the girl is well, never mind…can’t say it here. Isn’t this ridiculous? That we can’t be open and honest without being vilified?

I suggested local college. By that I mean, you take it slow. For gifted ADD kids, they can handle the challenge. It’s not a cognitive deficit, it’s the sheer aggragate of the workload that’s crushing. You start college so you have the intensity and challenge but you take it slow. You don’t do a full high school load. After four years, your child is still academically ahead.

This idea is really taking on steam now. Another parent I know put her ADHD/EG kid in regular high school classes. They are way too easy, she is bored silly and the repetitive dull tedious assignments are anathema. As if any child should be subjected to such a soul crushing experience that sucks the joy out of learning.

She is really being cheated out of FAPE and no one is paying any attention. She is quiet and well behaved and her entire education is a waste. The history teacher took pity on her and let her spend most of his periods in the library last year. Lara, for kids like this, life is a struggle. We don’t care if you don’t get it. We’re not going to go away and shut up. There is such little support for taglets as it is.

I’ve heard that an entire school in Ontario has also banned homework! I’m all for the movement when it comes to elementary school. I think studying for tests and practicing instruments is fine, but I definately remember my mom having some late nights colouring my projects for me in elementary school.

There is also a difference between long term projects that are in need of extra time at home and the type of homework that is routinely assigned. There is no reason for a teacher to wrap up his/her class 10 minutes before the end of the day and say…”oh, by the way, do this and that… by tomorrow”.

It’s good to teach children about time management, but more important to teach them to enjoy their youth. It really does come only once and though adults continually say to enjoy it, we still all rush it because we want to be grown ups.

In previous posts there has been mention of having more time at home to cook and create and I believe this to be so important. I really do know my fractions because I cooked with my mom, and not from what I learned in school! It’s time for parents to be involved with their kids at home, and not busy completing assignments for them!

Helen, I loved your comment. Every word of it. It’s what I’ve been trying to say. Whether your kid is gifted or not. ALL children deserve a childhood of wonder, imagination and discovery. So many of us can do it so much better on our own. I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again. You teach, I parent. Deal?

Bottom line: we don’t want our afternoons, evenings, weekends, holidays and summers dictated anymore. So many of us are more than capable of finding marvelous things for our kids to do (and giving them the freedom of finding it themselves). We simply don’t need the schools micro-managing every spare second of our children’s lives. Let’s put parent back into parenting.

Oh, one more, since I see you asked some questions. Not taking offense at all. I’ve already covered the, why is she at this school, question. And yes, college in lieu of high school is no longer an option for us but I do recommend it as a plan for others. She’ll go to college after high school, at this point.

All your suggestions have been considered, mulled over, discussed at home. They’re not news to me!

I have heard these horror stories of homework. I have yet to WITNESS them occurring to any child who has managed his time well. That does not mean they do not exist; I just have yet to witness them personally. Maybe I will see it happening to my own children in a few years, and I will become a believer, a convert to the horrors of homework. Right now, however, I think a “no homework” position is extreme. You certainly will not solve the deeply-rooted problems of mass public education merely by eliminating the homework. If kids really are teaching themselves at home instead of learning in school, they will not suddenly begin to learn at school when you eliminate homework; they will simply cease to learn. The elimination of homework is being taken as some kind of panacea for problems of which increased homework is merely a symptom. Nor is NCLB the sole culprit of modern educational ills. The “progressive” educators have wreaked their share of havoc, which is what left the vacuum that made it possible for a monstrosity of federal intervention such as NCLB to enter in the first place.

Sky: You said:”I have heard these horror stories of homework. I have yet to WITNESS them occurring to any child who has managed his time well.”
Maybe we’re talking at cross purposes here I (and from my reading, a lot of other parents here) would like to see homework be optional mainly because I resent my family’s schedule being dictated for no significant benefit. My kids getting homework means we have to find somewhere and sometime to do it. This can interrupt the plans we have, for something that research has shown is not beneficial for most children.

And then “If kids really are teaching themselves at home instead of learning in school, they will not suddenly begin to learn at school when you eliminate homework; they will simply cease to learn.” I agree it won’t start making them learn at school. But at elementary school age they aren’t learning from their homework either, at least not significantly. They learn most by playing and being mentored. If they don’t have to do homework they have more time at home to really learn (by playing!).

As I mentioned in a previous comment I’m not against homework being available, in fact I support well thought out homework for those who want or need it. But I’d rather have the time free for my children to learn – through play. So why not some flexibility?

I don’t really see why optional couldn’t work. I’m mainly talking about the parents having the option, not the kids.

“How would you define “need” and “want”?”

What I meant by “need” was along the lines of agreed by parents and teacher that the child is behind and will only get up to an acceptable level by doing extra work outside of school time (as I recall from the research, this was the only group that appeared to gain significantly from homework at elementary school).

By “want” I was thinking parents (or children) ask for assignments for home, or parents use homework suggestions as a jumping off point for being involved with their kids education.

On the how can it interfere with family life if it’s just 1 hr a week? It depends on what it is really. For example: If it’s reading a particular book that my kid hated it might well get in the way of instilling a love of reading. If it’s go to the park and pick leaves for class tomorrow – when our plan was to go straight to grandma’s and leave them overnight – then it could be a hassle and annoying and possibly result in us being unable to meet a commitment. Also, there’s the additional disruption to serendipity – if we’re doing something that’s become particularly fascinating/enjoyable or whatever and we have to stop to do some worksheet that has no benefit…

“We are all paying the price for misjudged limits on how many cost cuts and reductions schools can handle and how eager everybody is to get kids into ivy league schools” Well, yes. But, given the research, this could be an ideal place to cut teachers’ workloads in a way that is educationally sound.

“This can interrupt the plans we have, for something that research has shown is not beneficial for most children. ”

Actually, the research has not shown this. People writing the anti-homework books have spun the research this way, but the research actually shows a positive correlation between homework and test scores as well as homework and grades. Even if you read anti-homework books like The Case Against Homework or The Homework Myth, this is admitted between the lines, but it is seriously downplayed. In The Homework Myth, he says, basically, yeah, okay, there IS, statistically speaking, a positive correlation between homework and grades and homework and test scores, but, well, grades and test scores don’t have anything to do with “real learning.” In the Case Against Homework, they just downplay the correlation by emphasizing that it doesn’t show a big correlation (note that not big does not mean NONE).

What the research actually shows is that there is a small (not NONE, but a small) positive correlation in elementary school and a moderate positive correlation in middle and high school between homework and test scores and grades. How the anti-homework movement spins a “small” and a “moderate” positive correlation into “no help for most students” I don’t know, but they have. It’s no help for most students if you don’t care about raising test scores and grades, which Kohn (The Homework Myth) doesn’t, because he also thinks test scores and grades should be abolished, of course.

The anti-homework argument is, as far as I can tell: Homework only helps kids a little, and it occasionally inconveniences me and/or my child, therefore we should abolish it. I simply do not find this a compelling argument for the abolition of ALL homework.

I honestly don’t understand why this is big news. No one at my (Canadian) school batted a lash when I said my daughter would not be doing homework. She’s dyslexic and the anxiety it created was making school and home life miserable (she can take 4 times longer than her peers to complete an assignment). We sat down and discussed options and the first thing out the window was homework. Now we’ve arranged to homeschool part time. She goes to school for the social learning activities in science and social studies and music and we cover math and language arts at home.

Helen – it seems to me that you’re saying the whims & plans of the family should always come first. I disagree. I think it shows a lack of respect for education and academics. For my children, schooling and academics is priority number one. You see this to a larger extreme with the Asian classmates of my son. The parents assign ADDITIONAL homework to their own children for their out of school time. Where we live, there is an intense college-prep drive and I think the competition is healthy.

Additionally, as another poster said, and as I have seen in my own family, a “gifted” child really will just breeze right through the busy work and then do their own leisure reading/research. They know that turning in homework is the name of the game. You want to go Ivy? You need the grades. You want the grades? You need to turn in the homework.

Even for younger children, a healthy respect for the authority of their teachers is important. It’s part and parcel of life that sometimes you just have to suck it up, deal with the ridiculous policy, and carry on.

My take, for what it’s worth: students do need to practice math and reading and whatnot, but there should be plenty of time IN SCHOOL for the average student to get enough practice. That is, they should be doing their homework in school. If they can’t, then maybe the school is trying to cover too much material too quickly.

For the students who need extra practice, or for the parents who want to work with their child at home on a subject (hey, maybe math is a priority to those parents the way music is to others), then there should be optional workbooks or homework provided: not part of the official grade (though maybe the teacher can give feedback), but available for those who want it.

Kids are vastly different, remember: while homework may teach one student discipline, it may teach another student despair.

Sarah – When we’re talking about younger kids, certainly for me the whims and plans of the family are more important than the *whims* of the school. It’s more about good communication and a little flexibility though. It applies just as much to being asked to come in for a non-emergency conference with little notice as it does to homework being given.

But this isn’t about not respecting education or academia as you assume. In fact I would like after school time to be unencumbered in large part because I think I can do a better job of instilling a love of learning and a grasp of more advanced concepts than homework can. As they get older they need to take a more academic approach to learning, but at a young age I’d like directed academic instruction to be limited.

Academic education is not *my* number one priority for my kids when they’re under 13 – finding out what they love and developing well rounded people are my priorities. As they get older I expect academic education to become more important. But if they show more talent for something that can earn them a living and is not covered by the traditional academic curriculum, I will probably encourage them to follow that passion while maintaining a solid educational grounding.

“Additionally, as another poster said, and as I have seen in my own family, a “gifted” child really will just breeze right through the busy work and then do their own leisure reading/research. They know that turning in homework is the name of the game. You want to go Ivy? You need the grades. You want the grades? You need to turn in the homework.”

Is this supposed to be an argument for homework being compulsory for all kids? You are talking about a small subset of children, a very narrow goal and an unproven belief that homework is the only way to get there. Also, I have a hard time seeing this approach as free-range even for gifted kids. I’m all for homework being available so that parents who think their kids will benefit from it can have it. I’d just like flexibility for other approaches and goals as well.

Sky – “What the research actually shows is that there is a small (not NONE, but a small) positive correlation in elementary school and a moderate positive correlation in middle and high school between homework and test scores and grades.” From what I’ve seen the research is really very mixed and much of it is fairly flawed in design. At a young age, some studies show a correlation and some don’t. Some studies show correlations for some subjects and not others. Some studies show correlations for some types of homework but not others. etc. Positive benefits generally increase as the child gets older. Dr. Susan Hallam from London University’s Institute for Education wrote a pretty good overview that’s fairly accessible to most laypeople – “Homework: the evidence”.

I want to make it very clear that I don’t want to have homework be optional because I’m lazy – I want it optional because I believe there are better ways to educate in the home environment at that age. Mainly free play (which could involve doing worksheets if that’s what they love) and having my kids help out with real tasks under appropriate supervision (what I meant by mentoring).

I’m aware that not everyone wants their kids to have this sort of childhood so what I really object to is a one size fits all approach by schools. I advocate for flexibility so you can have your way and I can have mine.

Catherine. That is such a funny answer…

I schedule meetings around people the entire day and have to organize conflicting tasks and assignments on a daily basis.

If you feel that is too much… how can you expect kids to handle the work load of studying for all that. Scheduling all that should not be an issue among 6 people. If it is you do something wrong. Sorry. No sympathy from my side.

“@J
Thanks for the racetonowhere posting. Love it!”

You’re welcome, Michele :).

“I advocate for flexibility so you can have your way and I can have mine.”

Well, I tend to think schools should just have regularly scheduled tests, and students can study for them however they choose. There is “flexibility” in how they choose to study. They can do the practice worksheets sent home by the teachers, or they can do “creative play” with mentoring, or whatever works for them, and then evidence their mastery (or lack thereof) of the subject material on the test. So I don’t really disagree with you. When we did practice problems in high school, very often the ANSWERS were in the book. We did them to practice, and we checked ourselves. It wasn’t as if the teacher checked the homework, though she did check if we had done it; but a lazy could could have just copied the answers. So i’d be okay with making that optional – whether it is helpful or not will be revealed on the test when the kid doesn’t do the work.

Sky, we’re not missing the point at all. The point being, a little understanding of what our kids face goes a long way. And yes, the teachers should coordinate. As hard as it is. It’s part of the job.

Thing is, J, it’s not that hard. It seems hard if you think “OMG CONFLICTING SCHEDULES!”, but in most high schools every student takes the same variety of courses, don’t they? If you have to take so many years of math, so many years of history, so many years of this and that, you don’t take them all in one lump, you take one of each required course every term. Dividing them up by subject (and following the system my high schools used there’s one major subject for every day of the workweek, very convenient) is pretty efficient. It doesn’t matter what English class you teach, you test on Monday. It doesn’t matter what math class you teach, you test on Tuesday. And since kids are unlikely to have more than one English or Math class at a time, it mostly works.

“We have testing in 3rd grade 6th grade and then in high school. THAT’S IT FOR STANDARDIZED TESTS.”

Ummm, mudmama, hate to burst your superior Canadian bubble there, but that’s when most schools have standardized tests in the U.S. too – 3rd grade, 6th grade, and high school. Not K, 1, 2, 4th, 5th, 7th, etc. Of course, it varies state to state, because localities set the education agenda to some extent (the federal government has been increasingly interfering with state’s rights in this arena over the past twenty years, but there is still some local deviation. NCLB was the largest federal intervention in education to date.)

“She had both a project and a test the same week in the same class?”

Yup!

J, please consider volunteering for a school improvement committee in your school/district or talking with the teachers/administrators in the gifted and talented program (if you haven’t already). Schools are very happy to have parents and community members working together. You sound like you have many ideas to offer.

After everything I have read I wish that we would all keep in mind that there are so many good teachers out there. I know schools have room for improvement, but maybe we need to keep in mind some of the good things school and teachers do. I have seen so many wonderful teachers burn out and leave the profession. Some of them are teachers that our country should not be losing.

Sky, I didn’t have time to read your entire comment, just began. You remind me of one of my closest and dearest friends in this regard. She and I are on opposite ends of the political aisle but have great respect for each other. On education, we tend to see eye to eye. I’m mainly proud I was able to change much of her outlook on NCLB :).

She’s always talking about school choice. I happen to love Susan Ohanian, one of the nation’s foremost critics of NCLB. I support their causes but they are very against privatization of public school.

I’m starting to see it differently. I’m starting to think school choice, as you outline it, is the way to go. I’d have to study it carefully, though. Educational policy has become a passion of mine.

I’m sorry. I don’t have time to read all your points because my gentle husband is becoming increasingly irate that I’m still on the computer at the moment! I’ll take a closer look and respond after Thanksgiving.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving here, everyone, no matter where you stand on the issue. We all have much to be grateful for in our great land of democracy.

As a parting shot, though, I still completely support a homework opt-out clause. It allows families to tailor their free time to the educational needs of their children. As parents, we are asking that we be allowed to do so. We know that a teacher, faced with a classroom full of children with varying needs, cannot really differentiate. But we can. Okay, math homework to practice but that’s it. Please trust that so many of us will use our free time wisely and well.

To all those parents who are not in a position to homeschool, please allow us to after school our children in a way that meets our families’ needs. Please trust that we know our children better than anyone. An opt out clause allows you the homework if that’s what works best for you. It does not tell you not to do the homework. It merely requests that we have the freedom to spend our time otherwise.

Oh, dar, get off of it. I don’t usually insult strangers I interact with on blogs, but your inferences just strike me as shallow, ill informed and narrow minded.

To begin with, you identify homework as unpleasant. You take that as a given and your raisen d’etre, it appears, is to then make your kids do this onerous task in order to, what? Build character, morals, etc.

I’m all for raising self reliant responsible ethical children. But your approach strikes me as a redemption through suffering model. That has its roots in religion, the denial of pleasure, which then brings you closer to God. I’m not attacking your religious tenets, but that construct has no place in a public school classroom. Yet unconsciously, so many teachers employ it.

The best teachers my daughter ever had, the ones she not only remembers fondly, but actually remembers what they taught her, are teachers who inspired, led by example, who ignited a spark. The worst ones were the joyless grim ones, who assigned endless useless tedium under the guise of building responsibility and character.

Dar, do understand that an opt out policy does not take away homework from YOUR kids. You can still get homework. This policy allows families to craft and shape their afternoons and evenings as they see fit. I’m not knocking your desire to get homework overload. I respect that you feel it works for your family. Go for it! Just don’t tell me or my family how to spend *our* free time. And don’t worry so much how my own child will turn out. Just worry about yours.

Dar, I’m using you as a springboard but this message is directed to the wider audience, not you. I’m terribly busy today so don’t have time flesh it out, but here are some nuggets with regard to homework stress.

1. To quote Russell Barkley, “never sacrifice your entire family on the alter of homework.” Never. It ain’t worth it. Tell yourself you are a responsible parent and never let any educator bully you into believing you are a slacker because you dare to question homework policy. When your child has done what you deem to be a reasonable amount of homework, it is okay to stop. Harris Cooper of Duke University, the nation’s homework expert, will back you up vigorously on this. I’ll send his comments on that at a later time.

2. You know your kid. If you have a unique child, one that would be so much more enriched by self directed pursuits, go for it. And don’t let people like Dar tell you you are a slacker and your kid will wind up digging ditches.

If your child is writing a novel all afternoon, reading books, building leggos (that’s your future engineer), go for it. There are parents who have been pioneers and created safe havens for their children after school and that child grew up to be successful and famous. You know your child. If your child has unbridled talent, is an outside the box thinker, go with your gut. Public school often tries to make everyone average. Don’t kill your child’s creative spirit. They are in school all day. Hold the school’s feet to the fire and make sure those hours in school are productive and that time there is used well.

3. Don’t spend your afternoons and evenings battling over homework. When it reaches that point of negativity, when it’s taken over your life, STOP.

4. Even Harris Cooper, the one who created the ten minutes per grade rule, now concedes homework is NOT necessary in elementary. Particularly, if you have a child who is an avid reader and writer, they will benefit so much more from that than all the useless worksheets combined. Don’t fall for the status quo. You know your child, trust your instincts.

Dar, I did some of this but I regret not fully. We’re almost done with K-12, we’ve got one foot out the door. Dar, cut the smugness. We’re not in a race with you. For what it’s worth, my child is two years ahead in math and is applying to selective colleges. Stop with the dire predictions about what a loser she’ll be. I don’t think so.

But I will say this. We sacrificed plenty for homework. Even if I could look back and say she became a better person because of it, I’m still not sure it was worth what she gave up. And I cannot even say that much. At least in private school, her homework was meaningful. Not so much in public.

I will tell you, as I survey the long landscape of the homework territory, that just about all the homework in 5th and 7th was a huge of waste of time. I can’t get those years back. They’re gone. My parting message to someone out there who can take something from my experience is this: DON’T make the same mistake we did. Go with your convictions. Your child will be more than fine. I know kids who were unschooled and are now in top universities. Their freedom did not hamper them. Quite the contrary. They come to college enthused, energetic and self reliant. Don’t burn your kid out in high school. Once again, it just ain’t worth it.

I have my own work to do, but let me jot a response:

1) Heaven forbid we take into consideration the opinion of someone who has gone to school and trained on the topic. I don’t get bullied, I agree with them, only stupid lazy children are created through overindulgence such as you advocate.

2) Since you like quotes so much, “Skill without imagination is craftsmanship and gives us many useful objects such as wickerwork picnic baskets. Imagination without skill gives us modern art.” – Tom Stoppard. Without training, without learning how to write — and do to the efforts of people such as yourself, they are not learning these things — your child’s “novel” is, bluntly, crap. Your paragon of all things excellent only looks so to your eyes & when you aren’t able to support them, they will find the harsh reality waiting. Soup kitchens around the world are filled with “special” people. Hopefully you are capable of extrapolating.

3) What battle? You are the parent, they are the child. They do it or they lose privileges. I suppose it depends on who is in charge at your house, the parent or the child.

4) Do a Google search for “logical fallacy.” Why should I care what some guy says now when I didn’t care what he said before? I’ve never heard about nor cared about “10 min” rule since each child will take a different amount of time to master the material.

I know plenty of unschooled children who shoot heroin on the streets (well, I did, I moved on & they are dead now). Which end of the spectrum is more likely? I fully expect your child to blow up in college — unless you continue to hover and succeed in blocking their instructors from forcing them to do something.

I also love how you’ve turned self-indulgence and laziness into some blow for personal freedom. Things sure have gotten a lot easier since the summer of love.

Really? When did I do heroin? You seem desperate to discount what I say even to the point of semi-histrionics, grandstanding & ad hominem. That is all fine and dandy, but one does have to wonder, if the shoe does not fit, why are you putting it on?

Btw, your own description makes your child out to be overly delicate and easily damaged. Are you sure that you are right to cater to this?

Sorry, but I am also Nexist418. My apologies for the confusion. I use Nexist for most of my social networks & the browser must have become confused. So, I repeat, where is it mentioned that I did heroin?

The second interpretation is correct — i.e., I used to know people who shot up heroin.

Normally you don’t have to unsubscribe, they are active for a bit and then stop.

Wow! Just read through all of the comments and felt prompted to respond to Dar’s comment: “you own description makes your (gifted) child out to be overly delicate and easily damaged. Are you sure that you are right to cater to this?”

Gifted children are special needs students. Their development is asynchronous, they are often bored, they fall behind their age peers academically if they are not appropriately challenged and most of all, they are more intense and sensitive than other children. A well-informed parent will, in fact, “cater” to this tendency. It is not something that can be disciplined out of them.

I do feel that the needs of gifted students is important to address within the no-homework discussion. Handing out remedial busy work and endless worksheets to gifted students crowds out the time they have available for their own learning and pursuits. Many gifted children and adults are autodidacts; the free time that some view as indulgence is necessary in order for these individuals to thrive, and to truly learn. Einstein’s parents allowed him a lot of free time and practiced what we would term “unschooling.”

I feel it crucial to allow leniency for a child who loves learning by not overloading them with busy work, gifted or not. Exceptionally gifted and profoundly gifted children are truly rare, perhaps this is why most people do not personally understand the issues surrounding their unique needs. Having to complete repetitive homework assignments is torturous to them and often leaves them cynical about the purpose of school.

I suppose there may be a difference of opinion in what the “cater” means. I definitely do not mean “dicking” around or encouraging (or not addressing) disorginization. The problem is what types of things are expected of gifted students when there is no differentiation in class or at home. By nature, gifted children are obsessed with learning and tend to choose educational activities for entertainment. Assigning excessive homework to this type of student is completely unecessary. As for all children, I think they also need to have free time to enjoy their childhood; homework seems to be overprescribed.

I think an example will clarify the problem. We have struggled with our child who is 2 to 6 “grade” levels ahead or so, In kindergarten, he had one hour of homework every night, filling out worksheets to determine beginning sounds of words, even though his teacher was aware that his reading and spelling level were at a sixth or seveth grade level. She insisted that the handwriting practice would be beneficial and that he should complete the worksheets anyway. One hour of work took twice as much time for him since the work was agonizingly boring for him. If left to his own devices, he would have practiced his handwriting anyway by researching stars or geography and writing mini-reports, as loves to do.

He attended a public charter after we pulled him out of the traditional elementary. The charter did not assign homework and we were relieved to have our family time together again, and also for our child to pursue his own interests in the evening. He had the time to study Latin and win first place in a science fair.

He is now in second grade and is enrolled in a hybrid homeschool program where there is a fair bit of homework, depending on classes that we choose. However, most of the homework is for projects, for literature classes or for preparing for class events, like a Socratic seminar. I want to reevaluate his schedule and give him more time for free play also. Homework, so far, seems to limited for a productive purpose, but I am totally against mindless repetitive work, at least for my child. If he or I refuse homework assignments, it will not be a matter of him ” not doing what is expected of him.” He does work hard, as many children do, and I hope that all children have a chance to have their childhood and their free time respected.

Believe it or not, boring repetitive work is necessary at times. Handwriting would be one of those. People do the minimum required, unless your child really enjoyed writing, he would not practice writing.

Not doing what is expected of you is, 9 times out of 10, normally referred to as criminal behavior.

Burger Flippers are not “happy, well-adjusted adults” on the whole, and how could they be if they had the potential to be Einstein but chose instead to work as a janitor in a porn store.

You do a lot of “believing” and “hoping” et al.

When you know things, then it will be significant.

Knowledge is like diet. We need more than just the foods we love to eat.

I don’t have a TV. My children are avid readers and they still have to get their homework done.

Why do you have to respect poor choices? Accept that they have screwed up, yes, but only because it has happened. Respect it, no. Respect only that which is worthy of respect.

Seriously, I hear people complaining about elementary school giving too much homework, but we teens need a chance to live too! I used to looove learning but now I hate it. I used to love astronomy but I never have time to learn. 7 hours of school is like 7 hours of homework. You adults talk about how much work you have, but we will become adults soon! SO FREAKING LET US HAVE A CHILDHOOD! I want to have a homework-stress free birthday! I argue daily with my mom about homework. I wish that weeks will end when I should be savoring my life! I feel like adults are dictators. They don’t know what’s best for us because they are not us. I have a passion for writing but, damn it, I never have time!!!! I get in trouble for not practicing piano because I don’t have time!!!! I want my life back!!!!!! It may be too late for me but if reincarnation is true (please let it be) I hope to be reincarnated into a better world. It’s not just the homework, It is the pure stress of forgetting an assignment. I WANT TO READ IN THE SUN AND HANG OUT WITH MY FRIENDS AND LEARN ABOUT SCIENCE AND WRITE NOVELS AND SKYDIVE! I want to be a kid, but They are making me into an adult. Squashing out the creativity our world needs. five years ago i would be making pop up reports and diaramas, now I staple double spaced papers, nothing creative or I will get an F. I hate my life, but I love life itself. Help me, please.

*clap* *clap* how quaint. Wrong, but quaint. You act like what you say is true.

You forget a couple of things, school is short. I realize that Western Society is afflicted with ADHD, but even if you are correct and this “horrible” scenario (westerners also have no sense of real suffering) is true, it is only for a few years. Even if we pretend that it starts in first grade, that is only 12 years.

Anti-homework is more of the bogus keep our children in arrested development bs that we criticize in other areas. Being a kid doesn’t mean being free of responsibility or incapable of accomplishment.

Whether school is worth the time is another issue, but rectification would require effort which you indicate, via your anti-work screed, is more than you can handle.