Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments Torn about homework load

DD is in second and has 20 minutes of reading (she reads before bed anyway, and I do the log for her because I want her to read for pleasure), and supposedly a math sheet and spelling work, but the routine is still rather... sputtering this year. The math sheet always takes under 5 minutes. This is the first year we'll have spelling homework. At school DD takes forever and spaces out (copying words ugh) so I'm waiting to see how she does with no distractions at home. If its an issue we'll talk to teacher bc DD always gets 100% on her tests. She loves writing stories and poems using her words. I'm not really adverse to adapting HW. We use a work-based charter; if we used a regular school I'd have no issue just saying no HW for little kids. Mostly the math sheet we've typically had has been absolutely to teach the kids the routine of work, being organized, etc. Busy work, still... But good to get the routine down I guess.

Homework is meant to reinforce the concepts learned in class and for the parents to keep an eye on their child's academic progress. But, when a child is too advanced for their grade level, then the homework becomes busywork.
We had 2 packets in K in a very strong PS. One was the regular packet of math and LA and the other packet was the "challenging and optional" packet of math, LA, critical thinking. We did both packets and we were done in 15-20 minutes per day (DS writes very fast and he hates to color. So, I colored all the Everyday Math kind of "fun" sheets for him and he finished the rest of the packet on his own). DS read any book of his choice for 20 minutes and filled out his reading log to take back to school. They sent home a weekly "book bag" to read - which was a joke because the content was very low level for my son - so he finished them in less than 15 minutes per week.
I suggest that you use your own parental discretion to decide what your child needs to do for homework. And you can either bring it up with the teacher/Director or do the "busywork" part for your child to make more time for the things that you want to do (which is what I did).
What we spent most "homework" time on was the after schooling we did after finishing all the school work. We did math, languages, science experiments, computer programming, robot building etc.

I have no problem with a limited amount of homework.

1) It teaches kids executive function, as they have a selection of tasks that they have to organize and tackle.

2) It gives parents an opportunity to catch and correct things the teacher is getting wrong. So far this year, my DD was told the prime meridian goes all the way around the globe, and that condensation is when a liquid changes into a gas.

3) It gives parents an opportunity to be a different voice and present information in a different way when the kid didn't quite understand it from the teacher. For instance, we once helped DD discard the Dog's Breakfast Method (if it's not the formal name, it should be) of division and showed her how to do long division.

In our household, we DO take issue with homework that has no value and/or takes up extraordinary amounts of time.

I'm going to wait several days and see how things develop before taking any action -- more information-gathering, I figure, to see how she's actually reacting to the homework this year.

I'm really really hoping to get her engaged in thinking up interesting and funny things to say in her spelling sentences, edge her towards real writing. We'll see how that goes.

For the reading aloud, I'm just going to write down what she reads within the limits of her stamina, and if the teacher wants to call us out for it, then we'll address it.

Fortunately, we're not in the position of the homework being soul-destroying busy-work. All of it is at an appropriate level for her.

Update - spoke to "Debra" today and had a really good conversation. First of all, she was open to the idea that there might be too much homework, and said that the new teacher was still trying to calibrate it, and that feedback was good.

But then she also said that DD is at a "wall" that all kids have to push their way through, which is becoming comfortable with writing. She said that DD is exactly at that point, and she would like to see her go ahead and push through it.

Then she gave me some tips for making it easier. She said it was okay to give DD permission to make the sentences as short as possible, and that I shouldn't fight with her about spelling out words that I *know* she knows, I should offer as much help as she wants. The point that they care about is getting the kids to experience success with writing actual sentences.

Then she called DD in and asked her to try an experiment this evening of setting the timer for 15 minutes and seeing how much she could get done. Well, we did that, and she finished almost all of the week's spelling homework in that 15 minutes.

Hooray for sane school personnel!

DD 7 in is public school 2nd grade. Some of the children in the class are likely gifted but many not and it is not a "gifted class". We get a packet of homework Monday that is due on Friday plus she is supposed to read or be read to every day-I think for 20 minutes. I've ignored that because DD reads more than enough through the course of the week.

I think her homework load is more than you are stuck with

Homework packet:
Monday: one page (2sided) math
1 of 2 spelling activities (can be on spelling city or creative things or quiz)

tuesday:
Math worksheet
reading comprehension questions (about 5) about a story they read
that must be answered with a full sentence.

Wed: family experience writing. They have to draw a picture and write a topic sentence,3-4 detail sentences and a conclusion. (this is hated)

Thurs:
Math
spelling

Oh also they have DD read aloud one page of a simple story (about 140-150 words) to see how many words they read correctly in one minute. She does this every night. Or, like today she read it 4 times in a row right before going to school to turn it in -oops. This is actually good practice I think since DD hardly ever reads out loud anymore.

For my DD the math is ridiculously easy, repetitive and tedious. They are doing the same place value worksheets since school started. But they are easy and fast and she would rather do those than the writing assignments. The physical act of writing is still difficult for my daughter so those are disliked and done rather poorly in my opinion. The spelling seems fine to me. The words seem reasonable and with a small amount of review she can get most of them right on her test.

Im not really sure how long it takes her to do it but it certainly varies by her motivation. setting a timer is not at all a bad idea.

The homework my kids get is not related to what they are doing at school. The maths is only ever basic facts plus they have 6 spelling words a week and sometimes a writing assignment and they are supposed to read every night. I just treat it as optional. I have no idea what he gets in spelling tests but am happy to help if he wants to get better. As far as I am concerned I lend them the child from 9 to 3 after that they get no say.