I don't remember having the immense amount of homework that Amy and Colt have now. Maybe it is just selective memory loss, but Colt had a 500 word essay assigned Monday in Advisory on "How Violence Has Affected Your Life". My kids are pretty well sheltered when it come to violence. They know it can happen but I'm not sure they have actually ever witnessed anything other than what is in the media and TV/Movies. It was supposed to be due today but the teacher gave them a one day extension. The paper has to be double spaced, at least 500 words but no more than 1000 words, An intro paragragh and closing paragraph and three body paragraphs to define specific points. This was assigned by the school district's superintendant to get participants in a statewide competition. It shouldn't be mandatory on top of all the other homework they have to do. It should be optional and a choice for the student to do if desired. As it stands, Colt was up til 9PM (normal bedtime is 8:30 pm) which means he actually got to bed @9:30. He was up again at 5:45 AM and working on this paper.
Amy and Colt both stayed afterschool yesterday for studying and Science Olympiad so they got home at @5:00 PM and then spent the rest of their night on homework. They eat their dinner while doing their homework. Too much!!
However, I must say thet Vernon and I are no examples of the come home and do nothing mantra. Both of us bring work home and spend time doing work even on the weekend. Especially the teacher, who has to grade papers and assemble statistics on pass/fail and modifications for students. Someday we'll find time to do nothing and that will probably be the day we die. And on that happy note, I wish you a Autumny Thursday.
2 comments:
Okay, I once made the mistake of griping to a teacher that kids (particularly young kids) shouldn't have homework because they spend 8 hours a day at school learning. The teacher ripped me a new one and sait that it is parents like me who piss her off. I don't understand why 8 hours isnt' enough. I understand that some homework is necessary and the whole concept teaches responsibility, but I think it is ridiculous that kids have so much homework that they dont' have time for extracurricular activities anymore. What does the teacher of the house think? Surely he assigns homework to his students as well.
The teacher of the house says some homework is beneficial to reinforce the concept. He gives homework then spends hours grading for the 160 students he has because he works out each problem on their paper so that when he gives it back they can see step by step the process to the correct answer. No scantrons for Mr. B!
the questions then shifts to how much better is 54 problems than 15 problems. Colt's math teacher thinks that because they are Honors they should have more homework. That is crap! If you haven't gotten it in 15 problems you aren't going to get it in another 44 problems, you just end up frustrating the kid and make them hate the subject. Amy's math teacher gives out 10 or 20 problems then only grades half at random. Amy has gotten Fs for the random grading system (daily grades not major grades), the ones that were skipped were correct so all due to the "random" nature of grading she missed out on an A or B, even if all were graded she would have gotten better than an F. It really ticks me off sometimes. When the homework becomes the focus instead of the teaching of concepts in class it is a farce to send the child to that class. OOOH you can really get me going on this one. I guess you and I are some teachers nightmare parents.
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