Mini Me came home telling me she had homework. I did not help her with it. My four-year old does not need homework.
My kids are in school about seven hours a day. If their teachers can't get it together and teach them what they need in that length of time, they should be fired. Think about it. When you are at work all day long, do you want to bring home an hour or more of work? My kids are...children. They need to be children. The job of a child is to play. Children learn through play.
Here is something else to think about. If your child starts doing an hour or two of homework every night in second grade, where do they go from there? When does it end? When does your child get to love school and love learning?
If in elementary school your child busts their butts with homework, are up until 1:00 am in high school doing homework, with more of the same in college, by the time your kid hits the work world, he/she is burned out! And they missed their childhood.
I love the way the kindergarten teacher at Mini Me's school next year does homework. First, reading 20 minutes/day to your child is the most important "homework". A homework sheet is sent home about once every 3-4 weeks. On it, there are about 18-20 items, of which the students are asked to do about 15-18 of those in a 3-4 week period. Things like: "Count to 100 by 10's", "Count how many socks are in your sock drawer", "Draw a picture of the third building past your home".
These are practical activities the children can do on their own without the help of a parent. Activities that take into account what they are learning in class. They do not take an hour. I don't think parents should have to do their kids' homework. We already did this stuff.
My kids are in school about seven hours a day. If their teachers can't get it together and teach them what they need in that length of time, they should be fired. Think about it. When you are at work all day long, do you want to bring home an hour or more of work? My kids are...children. They need to be children. The job of a child is to play. Children learn through play.
Here is something else to think about. If your child starts doing an hour or two of homework every night in second grade, where do they go from there? When does it end? When does your child get to love school and love learning?
If in elementary school your child busts their butts with homework, are up until 1:00 am in high school doing homework, with more of the same in college, by the time your kid hits the work world, he/she is burned out! And they missed their childhood.
I love the way the kindergarten teacher at Mini Me's school next year does homework. First, reading 20 minutes/day to your child is the most important "homework". A homework sheet is sent home about once every 3-4 weeks. On it, there are about 18-20 items, of which the students are asked to do about 15-18 of those in a 3-4 week period. Things like: "Count to 100 by 10's", "Count how many socks are in your sock drawer", "Draw a picture of the third building past your home".
These are practical activities the children can do on their own without the help of a parent. Activities that take into account what they are learning in class. They do not take an hour. I don't think parents should have to do their kids' homework. We already did this stuff.
