how much homework do your kids come home with?

[RCT]

How much homework do your kids come home with? does it seem like way more that we had as children?


ds (2n grade) has a folder that he brings home on Mondays...it has his spelling words for the week, and all the homeword with instructions....its really working great for us...he has about three pages to do a night...(but they are simple enough) on Friday I sign the sheet and send his entire folder with completed homework back to school....he has tests on friday so it all works out...

dd (kindergarden) also has a folder they send home on Mondays....her homework is quite different, than ds's :lol: but this has been working good for her too...the only thing I was wondering about is...HOMEWORK for kindergardeners? ds never had homework when he was in Kindergarden...but ok....its easy enough and helps her learn...they ask you as the parent to help them tie thier shoes...yikes..DS JUST learned to tie his shoes last month.....we have been reading each night for 15 minutes as requested and now we are making flash cards because of the required "sight" words....

can someone give me some insight on HOMEWORK for a Kindergardener? TIA

not worried...just curious....

[AnnW]

Love your school's system Renee!!! We get the spelling words on Monday and a list of the homework for the week, but not the actual stuff till that day. I t hink it's pretty age appropriate and not just busy work. I am not big on mandatory flash cards, but that's just me. I think 15 minutes of reading (I am assuming it's you reading to her too) isn't any big deal.

[MaryL]

I typically don't give homework for my Kindergartners...but many Kdg. teachers do. It sounds like a reasonable amount. I do ask that my families read to their Kdg. child nightly...and help them memorize their required high frequency words. I often suggest posting a list on the fridge, and reading them before each meal with your child. I also think it's fun to find high frequency (sight words) words in practical print...such as a newspaper/magazine headline. We used to combine words in siimple sentences for our dks, and make up a mystery sentence for them to read before bedtime.

My Kdg. kids BEG for homework...kids think that is sooo cool! (Well, at least until 2nd/3rd grade!) LOL

When teaching someone to tie shoes, I always encourage parents to talk out each step as they tie the child's shoe. Teach it in steps...and have the child do as much of it as they can (even if it's just the "criss cross" part). It takes time...don't feel that she has to learn it overnight!

[RCT]

Originally posted by MaryL

My Kdg. kids BEG for homework...kids think that is sooo cool! (Well, at least until 2nd/3rd grade!) LOL

When teaching someone to tie shoes, I always encourage parents to talk out each step as they tie the child's shoe. Teach it in steps...and have the child do as much of it as they can (even if it's just the "criss cross" part). It takes time...don't feel that she has to learn it overnight!

LOL about the kids begging for it...they do think its cool, because they feel grown up ;)

thanks for the shoe tieing advice...took ds a long time before he could catch on...frustrated us....hope dd does better....not pushing it though...:)

[Lynda-WA]

DS was given a calender in K for each month. Each day had a small item on it. Things like find 10 square items in your house. Each week the teacher sent home a homework page on Friday due the next Friday. The children could choice any 4 items for the week from the calender. You could do them all at once or spread them out. The were also given take home books. Really easy little books that I saved for DD. They were things like I like (picture of ice cream). I like (picture of apples). The point was to practice the sight words. Usually the homework sheet would include something about the child reading x number of these books to someone older (included older siblings). And usually it had something with the letter of the week. Like color a picture of something that begins with *W*. At the end of the week the parent signed the paper and it was turned in. It was really easy to do. Probably didn't take 30 minutes a week excluding the traditional 20 minutes of reading each night. This was the teacher that I've raved about.

DS went to an all-year school. During the breaks they were also given some homework. The regular stuff plus maybe one special larger assignment. One was to make a 100's picture. An example given was 100 toothpicks glued to a sheet.

His K teacher said they gave homework to teach the children responsibility and time management but on a very small scale.

Same format for his first school in first grade. One of his *vacation* homework assignments was to create a dinosaur diorama (sp). He put together a triceratops skeleton. We had a kit similar to those human skeleton ones you see. Then he used construction paper for the scenery and sticks and stones from outside to finish it off. He did a great job!

The second school in first grade sent home a package each week with math sheets and spelling words. Everything was basic. Ten minimum words but up to 20 for the children that were more advanced. Part of the packet included outlining the spelling words with colored pencils to review them. The packet was signed and returned a week later. Handed out on Friday. Pre test for spelling on Monday. All of the children had the first 10 words. You kept going until you had 20 or 3 wrong. That way at most you had 3 words you didn't get correctly on the pretest. The post test was usually on Friday. Occasionally on Thursday. She also sent home reading packets. The kids would read all of the books in their school program and the parent would sign off on it. Along with this she had some reading incentive programs that were optional. Read x number of books and you were given a prize.

DS also spent part of his day in a 1st/2nd grade classroom when he was at his second school for 1st grade. There he had an additional spelling list. Again - how many words you were given depended on the pre-test. Some of the words were 5th grade level. It scared me when *I* had to verify one of his spelling words by looking it up!

He spent a fair amount of time doing homework at that school Mainly because they had him do everything the kids had done (reading wise) prior to our moving there. I didn't understand the logic of that since his previous school was using the very same program but was farther along and they knew it. Plus he could outread every single kid in the class and they said as much. I think it was to fill in squares on their records. And he was doing the homework assigned in two different classrooms.

DS was at his 3rd school for 2nd grade. No homework at all. This was the grade I was so upset with. He was doing word searches photocopied out of a grocery store word find on a daily basis in class while the teacher worked with other children. He didn't even read to the teacher one on one until Christmas time. It was a wasted year academically.

In third grade he had homework but wasn't bringing it home or turning it in. I found this out at the parent teacher confrence. The teacher didn't really care since he knew everything they were covering. I still wanted him doing it just to teach responsibility. I didn't care if it was much and didn't care that it was review. In class she would tailor the questions to his level. For example, if reading a class story she'd ask the lower children a fact question and ask DS a question that required analysis.

In 4th grade his first teacher only had them take home papers they didn't finish in class. DS rarely did.

His second 4th grade teacher sent home packages on Thursday that were due on Tuesday with parent signature. Really great stuff. Two math sheets. One with spelling words. One with grammar. And one that was a challange question. It was a word math problem were you would show your line of thinking in the same format as the state test for that year. He would go over the problem on the board and explain why.


DD started getting a homework sheet each week for K after Spring break. Again, simple things. Like take 5 manipulatives, the parent holds x of them in one hand and y in another. Then show the child the first hand and says 5 = x(2) plus *child answers y*. Then show them. After doing that a couple of times the child holds the manipulatives and does it to the parent. Or she'd send home simple games like sight word cards and suggested ways to play games.

[Jeff]

dd in K had reading book due twice a week where she had about 20-30 words and 3-4 sentences using those words that she had to sound out, practice, and read to the teacher. Flash cards working on addition and subtraction were to be reviewed on a nightly basis. They went through 7 by the end of the year. (7+0, 6+1, etc.) They also had sight words that they needed to learn as well as some other things like telling time, tying shoes, counting money, counting by increments, etc. Each task may have taken 5-10 minutes at most.

[JAK]

My dd had homework in K (we lived in NC at the time) and it was pretty simple stuff. It was in a folder like you described Renee. In the beginning it was things like just learnig to print your name and coloring things that started with the letter "A" things like that. Towards the end of the year it had more to do with sight words, reading and math.

Ds was in K this past year and really didn't have homework. They had a sharing bag each week and had to bring in something on Friday that started with the letter they were working on for the week. Towards the end of the year they brought in odd #'s of things and even #'s of things to share- things that started with different blend sounds, "th", "bl", things like that. Also, after CHristmas vacation the teacher started a reading program with a few children (my ds being one of them) where they brought one book home a night to read. It was not a requirement and they teacher only sent them home if the child (and their parent) argeed to it. I can't believe how well my ds reads now.