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The issue with that is they don’t put us in contact with other parents so I only have a handful of numbers. Heck I couldn’t even get email addresses to start a class list serve for volunteers - it all has to go through the teachers. I wish I was making this up but they’ve taken privacy a bit too far...
Different strokes. I am, personally, totally down with my info not being given out to every parent.
We are about to start a new school year (year round public school, 4th grade) and our teacher is expecting my son to do at least an hour to hour and a half of homework a night. Does anyone else think this is excessive and if so do you have any recommendations for how to broach this with the teacher? We both work full time and honestly by the time we get home after sports practices or rehearsals it’s less than an hour before my son’s Bedtime. If he stays up later he’s a wreck the next day and he does need to eat dinner, take a bath and have a few mins to read/relax. If anyone has suggestions on how to convince the teacher that it’s excessive or how to say no without having him penalized for it I would love to hear them.
Yes, that is too much homework. Sometimes it is the teacher's policy, and sometimes it is the school's policy, so it's best to find that out first before taking any action.
When I taught fourth grade I assigned homework by the week, rather than by the day, so that it could be fit into each family's schedule. Also, I assigned and collected homework on Wednesdays so the kids had a full week. I was not the only fourth grade teacher, and we were supposed to do things about the same, so there was some compromise involved. This is what we did:
1. Math practice. I gave three sheets of math practice. It was always something the kids already knew how to do, and was only to maintain skills and gain fluency. YES, it was valuable, and if I went back to teaching, I would still do this. Fourth grade math homework was never new material, never discovery, never word problems, never complicated, and never required parental assistance.
2. Spelling. Wednesday was the day for the spelling test and starting the new list. The spelling homework was to choose one activity (from a list) to help learn the words. Students were excused from this homework if they had scored 90% or better on three of the past four tests. That way no one's time was wasted. About half the students regularly got the passes. A couple students each year needed modified lists, and they did not get passes. The rest of the students got B's and occasional C's. My spelling lists were long and advanced for fourth grade, so I think this method worked fine.
3. Reading. Students were supposed to read a certain amount and record the reading on a reading log. I did not like this assignment and only gave it to be consistent with the other fourth grade teacher. Reading logs take the joy out of reading for some kids, and puts pressure on others to fake it. Sometimes parents lie about it, too - and I hate putting kids in a position to see that. I preferred to give the students a generous reading time in class, instead.
4. Book Reports, four/year. Again, a bad idea, done only as compromise with the other teacher, and one I would have done away with.
5. Preparation for tests. The assignment sheet would mention upcoming tests, but there was no actual homework required or expected.
I did succeed in getting rid of the traditional state report, which had been a big project with way too much parental involvement.
If I had not been required to work with another teacher, I would only have assigned the math and the spelling.
Now that I am retired, and working as a tutor, I see that some schools have gone completely away from homework. This, too, is a mistake, as their math skills suffer because they don't get any practice.
We are about to start a new school year (year round public school, 4th grade) and our teacher is expecting my son to do at least an hour to hour and a half of homework a night. Does anyone else think this is excessive and if so do you have any recommendations for how to broach this with the teacher? We both work full time and honestly by the time we get home after sports practices or rehearsals it’s less than an hour before my son’s Bedtime. If he stays up later he’s a wreck the next day and he does need to eat dinner, take a bath and have a few mins to read/relax. If anyone has suggestions on how to convince the teacher that it’s excessive or how to say no without having him penalized for it I would love to hear them.
I have taught grades 2-4. My wife teaches 6th grade in an elementary school. To me the amount of hw you described is excessive. For the most part we don’t assign hw up through grade 6, but if we do we aren’t supposed to count it towards an academic grade.
In Sydney, many parents demand homework so it is a difficult balance for teachers. Asian parents, of which we have very many, especially push their children academically. This results in our selective high schools being overwhelming composed of Asian students and they are perform very highly in the end of high school exams.
Where I was teaching the school policy was for a weekly assignment of homework which would take less than an hour.
We are about to start a new school year (year round public school, 4th grade) and our teacher is expecting my son to do at least an hour to hour and a half of homework a night. Does anyone else think this is excessive and if so do you have any recommendations for how to broach this with the teacher? We both work full time and honestly by the time we get home after sports practices or rehearsals it’s less than an hour before my son’s Bedtime. If he stays up later he’s a wreck the next day and he does need to eat dinner, take a bath and have a few mins to read/relax. If anyone has suggestions on how to convince the teacher that it’s excessive or how to say no without having him penalized for it I would love to hear them.
I can only say that in my family, schoolwork would definitely have priority over sports.
The issue with that is they don’t put us in contact with other parents so I only have a handful of numbers. Heck I couldn’t even get email addresses to start a class list serve for volunteers - it all has to go through the teachers. I wish I was making this up but they’ve taken privacy a bit too far...
Oh, I see. Well, call the people whose numbers you have and just ask them what they think of the homework policy and if they would be interested in protesting against it (in the forms of asking the teacher to consider reducing it). There are studies you can cite.
That sounds excessive, but maybe his evening extracurriculars are also excessive. I would put it more on the order of 30 minutes for the 'average' student, and I'd make sure the child has unstructured play time/down time regularly as well. At that age, is fine for a child to have an extracurricular activity or two but it shouldn't be every weeknight - maybe one night a week or two at most.
I doubt talking to the teacher will help unless you could get several parents to go in with you. You might start looking for a different teacher or school that aligns more with your philosophy if it is a consistent year-to-year problem. Otherwise, it can be a good learning/growth opportunity for the student to deal with different kinds of people and expectations and you can help the child development those coping skills instead of 'handling' it for him/her.
Science and math are very, very easy.
My daughter was struggling with math at first. And while I'm not a talented teacher, but it was taking me max 5 mins to explain her a concepts and how to solve problems. Yes, I had to be creative, but thankfully, I had good examples from my own time in school. She did not become mathematician, but she went through advanced calculus with flying colors. All of this should have been done in class, but most teachers just can't explain their subject properly because most of the time they don't understand it either Well, at least not to the point to be able to explain it to others.
30 mins long term project? More like 90 minutes minimum. And the key here is this: if you have no interest in what you are doing, it will take much, much longer. Frankly, how many of you really wanted to make any school project? If I want to write a program, and instead I'm forced to write some nonsense essay for social studies, the chance of even remotely decent result is about zero. Wasted time, stress, and nothing positive learned. The only thing your learn that way is that you hate stupid and boring assignments
Any adult can try it on himself. Take whatever you do professionally, and make yourself to do something completely opposite, that you have no interest in whatsoever. Day after day, month after month, carving time from all the activities that you actually want to do instead. Then scratch all the expletives from what you'd finally say, and honestly answer a question - was it useful? Did it worth it? And yet we ask kids to do exactly that.
The only thing I can agree on is spelling. This one takes time, and no way around it. Well, with an exception. Some people have either "natural feel" for language, some others have photo-memory. They don't need to memorize spelling, as they just remember it from the first time
Your POV could apply equally to other subjects. For me spelling was a breeze, as was anything to do with reading, English or history. I was creative so all those projects and dioramas were a joy and took little time. And even though I got good grades, math, and most sciences, were things I slogged through, sometimes with tears.
When my kids were in 4th grade they had two teachers, one had three. Roughly an hour of homework each night was common and usually included some reading. Sometimes the teachers didn't coordinate closely enough and there would be more, but it didn't happen often.
My take on it was that the kids did their homework by themselves after school, after a quick snack. It was a continuation of their school day. Trying to get them to do it after dinner, or before bed, etc. was always a bit of a struggle and didn't work for us. After they finished I would check it for repeated mistakes or signs of not understanding concepts, but for the most part their homework was theirs to deal with.
Personally, I think homework in elementary school should be limited to what the child didn't finish in school, that he could be reasonably expected to finish (and most students were able to, in the time given) and the occasional extra project like a science project or very creative book report format.
Ok, we're all done with that assignment. Anyone who's not finished, put it in your backpack now and take it home and bring it in the morning, where we'll go over it.
If a child is struggling in a subject, then yes. Extra practice in that subject with a parent one on one.
OP, come back and update us as to how the conversation went!
I can't imagine a 4th grader doing 90 minutes of homework every day. What could they possibly be working on for that long, that would be worth the time spent? Are they not doing any learning at school, that they need an additional 90 minutes outside of class?
My kids will be in 3rd, 7th, and 9th grade, this coming year. They are all strong academically. None of them ever did that much on a daily basis - maybe every once in a while- not even the middle school kids.
If indeed the teacher is insisting that this is the norm, I'd probably ask the principal. If my kids didn't feel like doing it, I wouldn't force it. And I don't like that - I want to be in sync with my kids' teachers. But I also value outside play time and sleep!
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Well, at least not to the point to be able to explain it to others.
