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So, just curious as to people's opinions here: Is an hour of math homework per night, each night, in 4th grade too much?

How many problems does he normally need to do? I have never seen an actual fourth or fifth grade math curriculum, but sometimes DD's little friend on our street who is in fourth grade brings over his math so DD can help him with it. The little I have seen is generally a worksheet with a front and back side. DS went straight from 2nd grade math to 5th/6th grade math and DD went from 3rd to 6th so I don't know what is "normal" for that grade. But even the 6th grade homework is just one sheet front and back (the Envision curriculum).

So the answer is, an hour is probably too much but does it take everyone that long, or is the child unfocused?

Depends on the nature of the homework, the interest of the child, whether this is typical for kids in the same classroom or whether it's this long because the kid is unfocused or struggling. Or is this additional homework from parents?

I let my DD10 (5th grade) do an hour of effective math a day, this includes the online math that she does at school. So if she uses the math time at school efficiently, she doesn't need to do any math after school. For her level of interest in math (somewhat interested, very strong math student, but definitely has other stronger interests), I think this is enough.

Unless the homework is taking an hour because the child is wasting time and generally avoiding it, yes. One hour is too long for a 4th grader to be spending every night on homework for a single subject. If the assignment is designed to take an hour, there needs to be a new design.

In general, yes, but also with a few exceptions. I think that more important than the actual amount of homework is to first understand - what are the teacher's expectations re how much time the homework should take, and is it taking your child a lot longer than anticipated? If it is, then dig into the "why".

Since I know your ds a bit, I'm guessing he might be spending longer on his homework than other students due to 2e challenges (that aren't related to math). Writing out math homework takes our ds a really long time, so he typically will spend 2-3 times (or more) longer per assignment than other students in his class. This isn't related at all to his understanding of how to solve the problems, it's all related to his disability. When he was in elementary he didn't have much math homework, and what he did was easy (except explaining word problems lol), so we let him just skip whatever he wanted to skip. In middle school, a lot of the homework problems were repetitive, and he had an accommodation to skip as many as he needed to to save time, as long as he worked and understood at least one of each type of problem. Also during 6th grade he started using the computer to write out his math work. He dropped using the computer when he got to geometry just because he decided he'd rather use handwriting than mess with the computer - partly because he was using an iPad at school and he didn't want to carry about both his iPad and laptop. He's still using handwriting as he goes through his upper-level math courses, and his homework takes him at least 2-3 times as long as his classmates - but he is ok with that and made his own choice to continue that way for now. He is planning to reconsider using his laptop at some point in time.. but he hasn't had enough time to review the updates to efofex... possibly because math homework eats up so much of his time!

Sorry for the long ramble... I would not want my 4th grader spending an hour on math homework, unless they were really really excited about it.

Best wishes,

polarbear

Thanks all. Let me explain a bit about what is going on.

Well, in terms of un-focus, he used to be fine with homework. Back in the previous 3 years when it was just the practice envision sheets. He would usually get assigned the enrichment worksheet for homework each night. On certain days, he would get special homework that was from his enrichment pull-out, which, according to my husband, was usually poorly laid out or had poor directions but once figured out was also fine. He usually did the homework in one sitting in about 15 minutes - sometimes less. He would do mathnasium for enrichment about once a week as well and he would do math games on the internet.

Then, hit this year with this crazy, lazy teacher. She pulls off these very repetitive, very long worksheets off the internet (or from Target) and gives them for homework. It's usually 2 or 3 sheets of 30 problems or so. Suddenly, DS is very unfocused with homework - he keeps walking away, has to be told repeatedly to sit down and do the homework, etc. We scribe and have been encouraging him to use panther math paper (it is a lot of writing) but he still insists it's too much - too cumbersome (the math apps designed to make things easier for dysgraphics are too cumbersome, too complicated, too many steps - I have to say I do agree and I have several times now thrown the iPad in frustration with panther math paper.. not kidding). He has a few time now just put down any answers, literally - just fills in random numbers to be done and puts it away thinking I won't look at it, which I do and discover the ruse.

Recently, this week, he has taken to hiding the sheets and then telling me he lost them, etc. His special-ed teacher has a few times now indicated to me that she thinks the homework is too much. She is the one who noticed him hiding the sheets this week and called me more insistent about us doing something to lessen the load. When she talked to him about it, he got very emotional and complained that he feels overwhelmed by the homework and wants to quit accelerated math (little does he know I heard the teacher below is giving a bunch of homework as well but he thinks they are only getting the usual one sheet). So, spec-ed teacher called me and really wants to either use his accommodation of reduced homework and/or she wants to carve out some time in the day for him to come to her classroom and do some of it so that he is not overwhelmed by having to do it all in one sitting. He is not having trouble with the concepts at all. He is doing well on the quizzes and the tests. Everyone agrees that he is not struggling at all with the concepts.

I am/was a little resistant. I mean, he has time for minecraft and you-tube and refuses to miss soccer practice, etc. he still loves mathnasium (as long as he does not have to do his actual homework or school work there). But his babysitter said to me yesterday that his homework is very repetitive and is taking him an hour and that he is very unfocused on it but clearly knows it. This just after the spec-ed teacher told me she thinks we need to do something because she feels the homework is destroying his love for the subject.

On top of all this the teacher is just a very poor teacher. I can tell spec-ed teacher does not like her. I have also found out parents have been complaining about this teacher for years and she is teaching accelerated because it is where she can do the least amount of damage

Polarbear, sounds like you guys are encountering what we are, i.e, the apps and computer programs designed to lessen math handwriting are so cumbersome and so much work and take so much time they are not worth it! It's really annoying! I was hoping that would not be the case with Efofex too! >(

Incidentally, it seems like the teacher is covering approximately an envision lesson a day (and they are doing the 5th grade book and curriculum, doing a lesson per day). If she would just give the corresponding homework sheets per day - either the regular or the enrichment, DS would be fine. They are in 4th but doing the 5th grade book and curriculum and going at a fast pace, no? So they are "accelerated" just fine... I think? I am not sure why she pulls random worksheets with 20 - 30 problems on them for homework... It is so odd. And they do not seem to be teaching or covering anything more or different.

In that case I would use the accommodation and have him do the even-numbered problems (or something).

Irena, Efofex has come a long way since ds first tried it, plus we were using it on a Mac before it was ported to the MAC, so ds was having to run it in Windows (on the Mac), then export his work and cut/paste etc in some very cumbersome ways. He actually used MSWord quite a bit to type problems when he was in Algebra, and graphed by hand. Most of it runs on the MAC now, and when ds looked at it (very briefly) this summer, he was interested in possibly giving it a try again. The challenge with ds now is that he's so busy with everything else in life that comes with high school etc, he doesn't want to have to learn how to do something new on the computer, especially if it means he needs to use a laptop. The iPad is just so much easier to transport to school etc.

I wouldn't hesitate for even a nanosecond to reduce the # of problems your ds is required to do each night since he is clearly understanding the concepts. And I wouldn't compare math homework to minecraft etc - if you're concerned he's spending to much time on those other things, focus him on something else, but skip the math that takes forever.

Best wishes,

polarbear

eta - also, fwiw, one of our biggest struggles (repeatedly) with ds is having *him* realize how much longer his homework is taking him than other kids. Math is just one piece of his homework (although it packs a huge time impact) - between math and writing *and* fitting in the extras ds enjoys (band, sports etc) ds has absolutely no free time - and that does, truly, get to him now and then. Plus detracts from available sleep time!