Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Homework over Spring Break

Umm, sorry CAMom, but that sounds like a lot of work to me.


Val

Val- it is a lot of work. I try hard to steer the teachers away from it! But it's less work than what they used to do- which was give the same work they'd give at school to do at home over break.

Where I'm from in elementary schools the only work given has homework during the school week was 10 spellings and multiplication tables for tests on Fridays (up to age 11). I do remember getting some Spring Break type projects though - as we didn't have other homework the rest of the time it seemed o.k and kind of fun. I'm pretty certain extra time was given if someone went on vacation, and I'm certain they didn't have a grade assigned. Different times, different places. Maybe it's the school week homework that is ridiculous.

One problem I have with homework over any vacation is for the children who have visitation schedules that must be followed. I know too many non-custodial parents who will not help their child with homework during visits.
The second problem is extracurricular activities are scheduled during longer breaks. Band competitions, sport competitions, are a couple school related things, then the scouts schedule events, 4H, etc.
The third problem I have with it, is unless it's open ended, it's just more drudgery for the child that is advanced.

I can only imagine. I know parents who feel this way and I don't agree, but that's an entirely different discussion . Surely, teachers must know that this is unpopular with (at least) some parents and I'd guess all students, so I wonder what the deciding factors are for assigning it. In our case, I'm thinking that it has to do with the shortened school year and the need to meet certain criteria/objectives with less class time to do so.

LOL, there's another thread about kids spending more time complaining about the work rather than just doing it, which means (for us) that two hours worth of work could take days.

I wonder what happens if a student chooses level 0, meaning not interested in doing it. Given any kind of choice, DS chooses the path of least work, least effort, etc. His teacher has mentioned it to me before. If she assigns 1-2/week of an activity, DS does 1. He's met her requirement, but she'd like to see more. Not really sure what to tell her...

Having been in three schools in three different states, we've observed that there are stark differences in the education systems. And I hate homework of any sort - school week or vacation, , mostly because it's more busywork than a challenge or reinforcement for DS.

So true.