Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy 1st Grade Homework

I am hoping others here could share some words of wisdom about reasonable homework for a first grader and best path to go down to address the situation. DD5 was skipped to first at the winter break. I had expected the amount of homework to go up in first, but I am having a hard time with the amount of increase. DD has homework from her regular classroom teacher and from her daily GT pullout teacher. I'll address regular teacher first with expected time to complete. Regular teacher assigns the following weekly

Writing Composition -20 min
Reading Comprehension (1st and 2nd enrichment) 7 min and 10 min
Math Enrichment (is not reinforcing what is taught in class) - 20 min
Spelling (1st and enrichment) 10 min and 15 min
Reading 15 min every day

GT teacher assigns 4 nights of homework each week.
Two printouts supporting classroom activities - 15 min ea.
IXL (DD's choice) 15-20 min
Math game (seems to compliment class activity) 15 min.

Of the above the optional activities are enrichment reading comp and spelling and regular teacher assigned math. All other activities are mandatory. DD is the sort of child who rises to expectations beautifully, so telling her she doesn't have to do some activities is not ideal. Plus all the enrichment pieces, except the reading comp, are some of the best and most appropriate. Even if DD doesn't do all enrichment her load is still quite significant.

This load just seems excessive for a first grader to me, but DD is my first so I don't have any recent experience. I asked another mom who has a girl in the same situation and she was dismissive of the load saying something like "it would take my daughter like 5 min to complete everything if I could get her to focus. And you know we do give our girls more work on top of the assigned classroom homework." Needless to say I am feeling a bit alone in addressing this issue. However DD stopped reading or asking to learn anything new after school. New library books used to be the absolute highlight of her day, and now the reaction is more bleh. This is the beginning of a pattern I have seen before which leads to increased anxiety and I'd rather be proactive rather then reactive.

DD is the first child to be skipped prior to 3rd grade in my very large district. Our efforts have started a slew of activity in the district. This fact has, I believe, contributed to the hostility I am experiencing from the classroom teacher. However the principal is squarely on my side, and seems to understand many of the challenges we are facing. In a very casual conversation with the principal he said homework should take no more than 30 min a night.

I feel that the real issue here seems to be the excessive math homework from the GT teacher, but I feel asking for a change this late in the year is asking for a whole policy change and I am skeptical of success. DDs regular classroom teacher made it abundantly clear ALL required homework must be completed to assure there are no holes. So far the only hole I have been made aware of was DD was not holding her scissors correctly, but was able to correct her position once the failure was pointed out - sorry, I am so tired of the holes argument.

I am having a hard time picking my battles. I am already meeting with the regular teacher about the LA curriculum and book selection / physical access issues. I will soon have to start advocating for subject level acceleration in math to 3rd next year.

I know the proper path is to start with the teacher and then go up the food chain, but I am having a hard time getting return e-mails from the teacher. Last time I had to mention to the principal that she was not returning my e-mails and, surprise surprise, I got a response that day. Speaking to the principal seems to work, but I only want to take things to him that he should be involved in, like policy change etc. So, I'd love to know your experiences with hard teachers and homework.

Sorry this is so long. As always your wisdom is greatly appreciated.

I think aeh posted some research on a recent thread about homework volumes citing 10 minutes total per year of grade as a rule of thumb

http://giftedissues.davidsongifted...._much_homework_should_my.html#Post211260

The volume of homework your DD is being given is outlandish. I didn't have 2 hours of work until senior year of high school.

Please tell me that is not daily. Even weekly, it's too much.

My older child is about to graduate from an elementary that gave way too much HW (generally speaking, math every day, spelling 2-3 days a week, science or social studies 2-3 days a week, nightly reading 20-30 min plus sometimes summarizing or other reading-related tasks). The emotional toll on our household has been huge. I recommend talking to more parents. You do have a disadvatnage in that having a skipped child might make it seem like you are complaining due to the skip.

My first grader has about 10 minutes of HW a day. (Note: he is at the same school but currently in a different program.)

I had forgotten about aeh's link. I'll print it out now. Thank you! I feel like I should work on the homework situation for DD and for all those other kids too so they can have more time to play. BUT there is so little time left in the year, and the school moves like molasses. I am wondering if it is even worth the effort. I know the principal is my best route to change, but I will need him for 3rd grade math acceleration, so I hate to use up any good will I have with him.

Ultra - that is the weekly load. I didn't even mention the additional special projects that come home. If the load is done on the assigned night, our worst night is 2 hours (assigned time) not actual time which can be longer - but I'm not going down that road.

The disadvantage of being skipped is HUGE! I have only met one parent (the one mentioned above) who happens to be the homeroom mom. Otherwise, I don't know any others.

If we do only required homework the average per night is 39.25 min. Nooo...I haven't done a spreadsheet

Neither of my kiddos had anywhere near that much homework in 1st and it does sound excessive to me. Still, our school doesn't have G&T until 3rd/4th. When DD started G&T, she had a marked increase in homework...but by then, she was is 3rd.

I do understand what you are saying about picking your battles and I would agree that this is a good strategy. I guess I would take a look at how long the homework is actually taking your DD to complete (I would hope it is not REALLY long as the above figures suggest). DS6 (1st) does a math worksheet every night that probably takes him less than 30 seconds (I suspect that it takes many classmates longer, as DS is very strong in math)...this leaves him time to CHOOSE to do more challenging math that he enjoys/is at a better level. It also leaves him time to read and ENJOY learning...and I think that at this age this is important. My fear for your DD is that this seemingly developmentally inappropriate amount of homework could sour her enjoyment of learning.

*OK, I read that as NIGHTLY...weekly, it is less awful, but still, possibly, too much.

So for my DD some things do take the required amount of time or more. The writing composition can take up to half an hour but this is an area she needs to work on. The teacher assigned math often takes WAY longer because it is not things that are taught in the normal classroom. For example, a few weeks ago one question was "How many 9s can be taken away from 36?" Well, for some kids that may be an easy question, but for my DD that necessitated teaching her to count by 9's "because that was a way more efficient way to solve the problem" LOL. Another problem talked about tax on a few purchases. The math was not hard, but we had to have a 30 min discussion on taxation. Reading comp is usually quick when the questions are not poorly written. Spelling takes about the recommended time - possibly more if she is doing "rainbow letters" However, math homework is taking the about the required time. The math website is a timed activity, the IXL is a recommended amount of time spent and the two sheets are often word problems that require writing. Writing is an area of relative weakness.

Also, my son attends G and T pull-out for 4 hrs/week (I think) but does not have HW from that. I don't really think G&T pullout should have HW unless it replaces other work. Seems like punishment for being gifted to me.

Just off the top of my head, here, the developmentally appropriate amount of educational work* for a child of 5-7yo is...





um-- probably already exceeded by the amount of hours that they spend AT school. Never mind at home.

In other words, this is a trick question, isn't it?? Because the answer is a negative number to begin with.

Don't get me started!