When does school end and homework begin?

[jhallworth]

We are having a tough time with my 10 year old in distinguishing between school ending and when to start homework. She was in ps until this year, so she is used to that physical disruption (aka taking the bus home) which triggered her to start her homework as soon as she got off the bus.

 

Is it as simple as setting a time to start homework or are there more creative ideas out there that work for others? She's a pretty good self-starter, so I don't worry about her completing the work once she starts, it's just finding that trigger for her to say "start your homework"

 

Any suggestions?

[Ellie]

We are having a tough time with my 10 year old in distinguishing between school ending and when to start homework. She was in ps until this year, so she is used to that physical disruption (aka taking the bus home) which triggered her to start her homework as soon as she got off the bus.

 

Is it as simple as setting a time to start homework or are there more creative ideas out there that work for others? She's a pretty good self-starter, so I don't worry about her completing the work once she starts, it's just finding that trigger for her to say "start your homework"

 

Any suggestions?

It doesn't. I don't know why there would be a need to diferentiate between them. Mostly, in school homework is the stuff that the teacher didn't get to finish in class; that isn't an issue at home. She does her assignments when you finish teaching/instruction/directing/whatnot. She works until she finished.

[TxMama]

No real suggestions but a question.

 

Why doesn't she just do all her work when you do your schooltime?

 

The only times my kids had anything resembling homework was when they would procrastinate enough and not get everything done during our schooltime.

[5LittleMonkeys]

I don't know about others but we complete the majority of our work during school time. We don't really have "homework" in the ps sense. All of our work is "done at home". My dc do have some work that they do independently but they are allowed to do it whenever they choose as long as it is completed by the due date. I allow my dc to manage their own time. (The older ones, 5th and 6th)

 

Maybe you could let her choose a time that she thinks would be good for her. Have her take other things into consideration like, picking a time that will be quiet, when she's not too tired but has had some time to relax, think about how long it will take and make sure it won't run into supper time or bedtime or other activities that might come up. Let her take ownership.:001_smile:

[TechWife]

It doesn't. I don't know why there would be a need to diferentiate between them. Mostly, in school homework is the stuff that the teacher didn't get to finish in class; that isn't an issue at home. She does her assignments when you finish teaching/instruction/directing/whatnot. She works until she finished.

 

This is our approach as well. There is not homework. We have a daily morning meeting that varies in length between 1 1/2 to 3 hours, depending on what is assigned that day (2 1/2 hours is typical), then ds completes his assignments on his own. We have a 20 min. am break, which usually falls about 1/2 way through our morning meeting, then a 45 min. lunch break which usually falls after meeting time is complete (unless the morning meeting is unusually long for some reason). After the morning meeting, he works through his assignments independently, asking me questions if he needs to do so. He takes 1 or 2 afternoon breaks (20 min. each). The time he takes to finish his assignments varies, but we usually start around 9:00 am and he finishes somewhere between 2:30-4:00pm. The more he dawdles, the longer he takes, but it is up to him to get his schoolwork done.

 

You can set a schedule for her and require her to stick by it, but really at her age, she should be able to finish her school assignments in the early afternoon, if not sooner (provided you are home for that time, and that there are no disruptions to the schedule :lol:). If it takes longer than that, you may want to consider some adjustments.

-

Edited November 5, 2009 by TechWife

[Angel]

We homeschool. There is no need for homework. All our work is done at home. One of the biggest benefits to homeschooling is that you can get work done in less time than public school ... well that's MHO :D

 

We get up and work till we are done. For my 9yo that's about noon. She has free time after that to pursue her interests.

[Harriet Vane]

Echoing the others--there is virtually never homework. My dd is in 7th grade. For most subjects we either chat first for 10-15 minutes, followed by her doing the assignment OR she works first and we chat afterward for 10-15 minutes about what she did.

 

For example, for math we watch the MUS video together and possibly work a problem or two to make sure she knows what's what. Then she goes and does her math work right away.

 

OR

 

For history, she will read and do some of the assignments I have listed. After about 40 minutes or so of that, she and I talk about what she did and what she read.

 

Some subjects never get discussed with me (like Latin, because she has a once-a-week co-op class that covers it). Or some subjects only get discussed with me once a week, like literature--for that she works steadily on the reading and the week's assignment on her own, checking in with me if she needs help on something, and then we chat once a week about the assigned reading.

 

Dd's evenings are free.

[katilac]

4th and 6th grades; no homework.

[nukeswife]

I agree with the others, why would their be homework at all?

 

I have a 10 year old and each morning he get's a list with his daily work binder. He works through the stuff on the check list he can do on his own, such as penmanship, math (it's Teaching Textbooks so unless he doesn't understand their explanation he does it independently), geography, and science. I work with him by giving him his spelling quiz and doing history with him and his younger sister. I'm always around somewhere if he needs me. I used to sit with him during grammar but he seems to have hit his stride with it so that is another independent subject unless he's stuck and needs further explanation. No homework is necessary, he's given ample time to finish his work because he's in charge of his pace. When he finishes one thing completely then he moves on to the next.

[melmichigan]

I don't have homework but I have individual work, and since my DD10 has been in PS she thinks of this as "homework". Basically I go through everything that we are working on and teach what I need to teach. This is done by a certain time each day, I need an end to that part of my day. Then there might be a few things for her to still complete independently, a few minutes of math, a history worksheet, sometimes something interactive on the computer. I am always available for help but this is work she needs to complete. This she considers "homework" and does on her time, usually as soon as I'm finished teaching so we can wrap up our day. Once in a while she will wait and do it a little later and that's ok as long as it gets done. This is a part of getting her to take some responsibility for learning. :)

[Leila]

I don't give homework either. Everything is done during school time. And whatever is not done we do it the next day. I try to stay away from giving assignments because he does a fair amount of writing already during school hours. The only assignment I can think of is his own reading time, an hour every day. But I don't think he considers that an assignment cause he actually looks forward to his reading time.

[LadyAberlin]

I would say don't stop doing school til it is finished. I was homeschooled and there wasn't a difference between school work and homework. If you finish teaching by lunch then after lunch could be a trigger. Maybe she could exercise or have a snack after you finish teaching if it is later in the day and she can know to finish up the homework when she finishes one of those things?

[cheryl h]

It sounds like you are blessed with a diligent worker, so I bet you could just work until she's done and still finish your day at a reasonable time. We are also new this year to hs'ing and I can tell you what has/hasn't worked for us as a family still in transitional mode. I had these dreams of finishing early in the day(like before noon or 1) and having a wonderful afternoon filled with fun projects , laughter and relaxation before evening practices or games or whatever. Well we had tried to do the 'work until your finished' method with mixed results. Sometimes we would get done in a reasonable time but not often. Other days I would have to say we didn't finish until dinner. That's not fun, because usually if that was happening it was because the older two were not feeling ambitious that day, and it's tiring to crack the whip all afternoon. We also tried the 'we are done with school at (whatever time), and that's that, if you didn't finish, it's homework' method and this made it very difficult for me to keep up on anything else pertaining to life out side of schooling, if school goes on all day and night for me too. So what I have landed on is if we are not done by a certain time, then what isn't finished will have to wait till tomorrow. I hope that we can become that family that is done with our work in a diligent, early in the day sort of way, but being still in transition, I am learning to choose sanity over perfection:) Good Luck.

[KAR120C]

I do assign homework. (I should clarify: I don't assign it to be contrary -- I'm piping up to be contrary... LOL) He currently does about 30 minutes of independent practice-type work (math review, etc.) every evening, plus music practice and sometimes extra reading if a deadline is approaching, and occasionally (rarely) he has something leftover from the day.

 

The distinction for us, right now, is that I get to schedule the schoolwork, and he gets to schedule the homework. There's no TV until my list is done (no TV even during breaks), but once he's down to just homework he can take a TV break.

 

For the scheduling, even though he's responsible for it I'll remind him that, for instance, my best estimation of what he'll need to finish __ is an hour, and that it's two hours till bedtime... so he needs to be thinking about it now.

[Chris in VA]

For K-2 grades, we just worked during the day. Then dd went to ps for 3rd grade--homework about killed us.

This year, I teach her Saxon 6/5 lesson, and then let her do about half of the problems right then. We go on to the next thing, and she gets the rest of her math done before dinner, on her own time.

Except today--she asked if she could do all her math now, so I said yes, of course! We are flexible around here.

 

Now, sometimes I have to give her assignments to do while I'm spending the day at work (she doesn't come with me if someone is home to watch her). This week, for example, she did spelling, phonics, math facts, timeline, history (2 lessons in Story of the USA, which we are using to supplement), and 2 chores all on her own. She also watched a Nat'l Geo video on gorillas to supplement our African studies.

[shehmeth]

Hi,

 

1st Grader Here...

We do all of our work during School time... The only time she has anything that could be called homework is when she goes to her Dad's office and I assign a few pages on a (1) workbook that covers both Math & Language arts and (2) a workbook that covers Spanish Language Arts, she must make sure that by the time she comes back she has finished it - she spends the whole day at the office, and like homework, she can do it at her own pace.......

 

Now, with that said - I do understand the importance of fostering independence and accountability of working on her own, so she does have some independent work activities to do - like penmanship - but she does that during school work - is just that I'm not guiding her or sitting next to her giving her instructions, she does this while I'm with my toddle doing things with him... She also has Independent Reading - which the idea was for her to do in the afternoon or any time "After School time" (My School time is in the morning before Lunch - Lunch is usually our "signal" that school time is done - except when we have experiments - which we do after lunch (when the Tot is usually napping).... But back to the Independent Reading - she does it right after the last thing we do "school" that day... Her Logic: This is to be done after "School time", as soon as Mom says we're done for the day - "School time" is done so I can do the Independent Reading... She loves reading so this is her Reward for the day's work... LOL

 

Like a Mom mentioned above, We do have a few breaks (a few minutes sometimes longer), but we do not have any TV during does breaks... There's no TV during School time (UNLESS is an Educational Video that I've put on for one of the lessons... which I put during the "Break Time" - just to not cut on time for the rest of the lesson)...

 

Hope this helps...

 

Kate..

[johnandtinagilbert]

We absolutely have homework. Every child is allotted a reasonable amount of time to complete their work. Since they rely on others to instruct them, or to share resources, they must finish in a timely fashion too, so I say, "You have 30 min. to finish your math." At the end of the 30 min. they must put away their math and we move on in our day so I can function as a teacher to everyone and to keep my sanity so I'm not schooling until 5 or 6 at night b/c someone didn't want to finish their math. Our day ends at 3pm. We take a break to clean up the common areas, then any school that remains is considered homework that they must complete in their bedrooms, at their desk. This cuts back on lolly gagging, lazy attitudes, and improves my general well being. I don't function well if my entire day is consumed by school. I really do have other things to do and I appreciate an orderly home. When they have homework time, if they've worked well and are finished with their work, they are free until dinner time; which I begin preparing for by 4, after my 3 o'clock clean up and personal time.

 

The creation of homework makes my house function nicely :)

[Narrow Gate Academy]

We absolutely have homework. Every child is allotted a reasonable amount of time to complete their work. Since they rely on others to instruct them, or to share resources, they must finish in a timely fashion too, so I say, "You have 30 min. to finish your math." At the end of the 30 min. they must put away their math and we move on in our day so I can function as a teacher to everyone and to keep my sanity so I'm not schooling until 5 or 6 at night b/c someone didn't want to finish their math. Our day ends at 3pm. We take a break to clean up the common areas, then any school that remains is considered homework that they must complete in their bedrooms, at their desk. This cuts back on lolly gagging, lazy attitudes, and improves my general well being. I don't function well if my entire day is consumed by school. I really do have other things to do and I appreciate an orderly home. When they have homework time, if they've worked well and are finished with their work, they are free until dinner time; which I begin preparing for by 4, after my 3 o'clock clean up and personal time.

 

The creation of homework makes my house function nicely :)

 

:iagree:

 

Any schoolwork here that is not completed in the appropriate scheduled time must be done in the afternoon in lieu of free time. It makes a great consequence without me spending the entire morning telling them over and over to stay on task.

[Osaubi]

If my ds has homework he has to do it after a short break (no electronics) and a snack.

 

Would a snack be a physical enough trigger to start homework?

 

I remember when I went to PS when I came home had a snack before I started my homework.

 

HTH

[NoRJDont]

I love the 'homework' question and am amused at what a hot button the word itself can be. In our house we use it interchangeably with independent work, but have homeschool friends who would rather cut their tongues out than call assigned on-your-own work to be completed later 'homework'. Smartalec remark aside, I think the question is one of when does one-on-one instruction stop for the day and independent work begin and how do you transition.

 

Up until the beginning of 7th grade we aimed to have all work done during school time. I started working nights at the end of our 6th grade year, and that required ds to do more homework/independent work when we started 7th. So for us it works like this: (simplified, of course)

 

The first part of our homeschool day begins with a complete review of the work he did on his own the day before. Once this review is complete, we go through each of our subjects, I teach, do a couple of problems with him, and/or outline what he is expected to do on his own and move on. We go through it pretty fast, and I make a list as we go through of what he will be doing on his own. All the subjects that will have a fair amount of 'homework' are done first. Then we do the stuff that requires me to teach/supervise the material start to finish, like a science experiment. We fit in a morning break and break for lunch. Sometimes I'm able to cut out after lunch, other times, we have lunch, do more work then he gets a break before he moves on to the on your own work.

 

If he's finished before lunch, after lunch we'll toss a Frisbee, play keep away with hockey sticks (he plays roller hockey), play ball with the dogs or some other physical activity before he sits down to complete the 'homework' I made a list of during the day. If we're not done before lunch, we finish our one on one stuff and for our break we do the physical something and he sits down to complete his 'homework' after.

 

So I guess for us the 'start your homework' trigger is to get up and run around for about 15-20 minutes. I could have just said that, geesh!

 

Hope that helps.

~M

[TXMary2]

We absolutely have homework. Every child is allotted a reasonable amount of time to complete their work. Since they rely on others to instruct them, or to share resources, they must finish in a timely fashion too, so I say, "You have 30 min. to finish your math." At the end of the 30 min. they must put away their math and we move on in our day so I can function as a teacher to everyone and to keep my sanity so I'm not schooling until 5 or 6 at night b/c someone didn't want to finish their math. Our day ends at 3pm. We take a break to clean up the common areas, then any school that remains is considered homework that they must complete in their bedrooms, at their desk. This cuts back on lolly gagging, lazy attitudes, and improves my general well being. I don't function well if my entire day is consumed by school. I really do have other things to do and I appreciate an orderly home. When they have homework time, if they've worked well and are finished with their work, they are free until dinner time; which I begin preparing for by 4, after my 3 o'clock clean up and personal time.

 

The creation of homework makes my house function nicely :)

 

The thought of this never occurred to me!! I am now giving this serious consideration. I have a lolly gagger and I can't stand it when I am cooking dinner and he still isn't done. I have never been a big time schedule person, but I am thinking this might be worth trying.

[Homeschooling6]

We have 'homework' what they don't finish by two is considered homework. If there are any mistakes it's homework.

[StephanieZ]

We are having a tough time with my 10 year old in distinguishing between school ending and when to start homework. She was in ps until this year, so she is used to that physical disruption (aka taking the bus home) which triggered her to start her homework as soon as she got off the bus.

 

Is it as simple as setting a time to start homework or are there more creative ideas out there that work for others? She's a pretty good self-starter, so I don't worry about her completing the work once she starts, it's just finding that trigger for her to say "start your homework"

 

Any suggestions?

 

This is the first year I've really used the concept of homework regularly. The way I use it is that there are certain exercises/subjects/etc (written schedules that the kids know well in advance) that must be done on each day/week/etc. *I* only want to be "on" schooling for some limited period each day and also 2 days per week I have a tutor/sitter with them while I at work and she leaves at 3:00. Soooo, there is generally a set time -- 3:00 (or whatever) when there is no longer a "teacher" on duty to harass the child into doing x,y,z at a particular moment. "Teacher" is off duty and chilling on the couch with the telephone, making dinner, whathaveyou.

 

Before going off duty, "teacher" helps each child make a list of homework assignments (that are due by 8:00 AM next morning) -- these are things that should have been completed during the day.

 

The kids are allowed to play/etc at that point, with the caveat that they need to allow time to do their homework. . . (i.e., I will have to say NO if they want to go to an outing from 5 PM to bed time if they neglect to get their homework done before hand. . .)

 

HTH

[Pam L in Mid Tenn]

All home school work is homework.

All homework is home school work.

Just do the assignments until they are finished.

 

Sometimes with a long assignment I'll let them do half on one day and then the second half the next day. Sometimes (rarely), I'll ask that the assignments be finished after supper.

 

Unless she is having trouble with particular math problems or spelling words, I don't see a reason to have extra work done in the afternoons or evening.