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Very funny socialization statement, the irony!


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We have friends in the neighborhood with children around my children's ages. Last year, the older child's homework wasn't that bad, maybe 20 or 30 minutes a day.

 

This year, her homework load is ridiculous (4th grade, same school.) I commented that my daughter hardly ever got to play with their daughter anymore and that it was too bad how much homework she had this year.

 

Dad replied, "Yes, your kids are so much more socialized, the kids in school hardly have time to play and be kids anymore." :lol::lol::lol:

 

He said that his 4th grade daughter is working on homework until 8:00 PM most nights.

 

And, no, they're not just using homework as an excuse to avoid us! They play with my children the same amount on the weekends, and we were just at a birthday party for one of the children within the last week.

Edited by ElizabethB
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We're finding the same thing here. We have a neighbor boy who is a 4th grader. He goes to after school care as both parents work, but it used to be that when they got home at 5:00 or 5:30, DS and the neighbor boy would play outside, weather permitting. Now when they get home, they're rushing inside to get dinner and do a ton of homework. And that's not counting the four days per week (!) he has commitments for his soccer team. Needless to say, we rarely see him anymore.

 

Meanwhile, my DS got together with kids several times this week, and was able to socialize and visit with his friends, and we snuck some learning in too. Ironic indeed...

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We're finding the same thing. I find the amount of homework in elementary ridiculous. It appears the school is sending home the important stuff like math problems, reading assignments, and writing reports. It makes me wonder what they're doing at the schools.

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My kids are 5 and they get homework 4 nights per week. I require them to do it (on their own) at after-school care. Their teacher thinks there's something wrong with this as they should learn "responsibility" by doing it at home. ?? I told her at KG orientation that I take my kids out to do stuff most evenings so we wouldn't give up our evenings to homework. The other parents in the room acted horrified at my nerve.

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After battles from August to Janurary, we expelled my son from homeschooling and he had to go to ps. He is also in 4th grade. The amount of busy work/crap homework is ridiculous! He starts between 3:30 and 4 and often doesn't finish till 7-8pm. It is crazy.

 

I commented to my husband how people often ask "What about socialization?" with hs'ing. I told him if they ever ask about it again, once he comes home next year, I'd be sure to say "I know! His time for socialization was close to zero in school! I'm so glad he's home now to be able to finally get some socialization!"

 

The homework, the boring in school work and the stupid rules (you have to write with an erasable pen till you get your "pen license" then you can use any pen you want. But the erasable pens are horrible!) have all made him realize how much better he had it at home. Last week on the way to school he told me "Mom, I've learned my lesson. Really I have. Can I please come home now?"

 

Sorry buddy, actions have concequences and these are your consequences. Hopefully you really have learned your lesson.

 

Between missing out on events, opportunities, friends, trips and just an easier life in general, plus all the ridiculous homework he really has learned a lesson. It's been a hard lesson, but he's learning it.

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We're finding the same thing. I find the amount of homework in elementary ridiculous. It appears the school is sending home the important stuff like math problems, reading assignments, and writing reports. It makes me wonder what they're doing at the schools.

 

If it's anything like DS's old school, it was a lot of extras... they talked about minor holidays, had assemblies, and waited in line for recess quite frequently... the more major things, not so much!!

 

My son got in trouble for socializing in kindergarten at the private school.

 

Yeah... one thing we used to hear was how DS could socialize a bit less. Go figure.

 

 

P.S. - I figured out how to multiquote... yay, me!! ;)

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aww, that actually makes me feel bad that a poor 9/10 yr old kids is doing homework till 8:00 pm!! That's when my kids get ready for bed!

 

I believe I would be telling the teacher how unimpressed I was about that. What are they doing in school for 6 hrs that they can't get this done at school?!

 

Let kids be kids!

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The amount (and type) of homework was one of the (many) reasons we pulled from public after 1st grade. I found it ridiculous that my child would have busy work sent home in addition to practicing handwriting, guided reading, practicing sight words and spelling words EVERY night. It would sometimes take hours simply b/c she was so exhausted from school already. She'd get off the bus exhausted and have all of this work facing her. I decided if I was going to have to do that much, I might as well do it all and have control over what, when & how.

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We're finding the same thing. I find the amount of homework in elementary ridiculous. It appears the school is sending home the important stuff like math problems, reading assignments, and writing reports. It makes me wonder what they're doing at the schools.

 

There are 32 kids in my daughters 5th grade class. She has a very strong teacher so they do get quite a bit done, but last year her teacher was too laid back and no one learned anything. It was chaos. We pulled her out in April last year to finish the year at home it was so bad. Friends with kids in that class thought I was crazy, but now they get it- none of their kids are passing math.

Edited by MHowell
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The irony of home schooled children having rich social lives is not lost on me. My older dd became the most popular child in the neighborhood and church after being pulled out of school.

 

We had the same problem with homework. There was so much of it and it was spoiling our home relationships with my step dd and there was nothing that could be done. I volunteered in her classroom to see what they actually were doing, and they were having a ball in school. Doing projects, making soap and butter, studying the Oregon Trail, lots of playing, but all core subjects were coming home as homework.:001_huh:

 

I never took the people who tried to tell me that I need a professional to teach my children, because the professionals never taught my oldest any core subjects, they trusted me to do that.

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Wow!

 

 

Around here they get an hour or so of homework in kindnergarten! Since I spend only a little more than that teaching my son K, what in the world are they doing in school? But I guess it's like someone said, they are playing and doing projects. My son's little friend says he loves school. Told his mom the other day he'd rather go to school than shopping with her. Must be because they play so much. She put him in school because when she tried HSing he wouldn't do the work. Well, he has to do the work at home now anyway!

 

crazy...

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When DD was in PS, I finally just told her teachers point blank "I do not believe in homework. She is in school 6.5 hours per day, she gets to be a kid and part of our family for the other 4 between school and bed time." It was not worth the battle. She was always miserable, exhausted, and starved when she got home, so needed down time, then it was supper time, then it was bed time routine time. There really was no time for homework, so I didn't force her to do it.

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I have noticed this with our neighbour's dd. She seems to have very little down time and her parents seem to only be able to let give her about 1 hr once a week to play out with the other kids in the street. This little girl is 8, a few months older than my dd and is in year 3 here in the UK. Her school is pretty full on, they have after school groups every day so she gets home fairly late and can't play. They've been known to cram their students for tests too. I know she was called in at about 2pm yesterday pm to do her homework. Just seems a shame to have so little free time when they are so young.

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When it comes to hw is it that kids aren't getting what is being taught so need to have hw to get up to speed? Is it repeat of the day? Did the kid not pay attention and did not complete assignments? Is it to help the child get a better understanding?

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We have friends in the neighborhood with children around my children's ages. Last year, the older child's homework wasn't that bad, maybe 20 or 30 minutes a day.

 

This year, her homework load is ridiculous (4th grade, same school.) I commented that my daughter hardly ever got to play with their daughter anymore and that it was too bad how much homework she had this year.

 

Dad replied, "Yes, your kids are so much more socialized, the kids in school hardly have time to play and be kids anymore." :lol::lol::lol:

 

He said that his 4th grade daughter is working on homework until 8:00 PM most nights.

 

And, no, they're not just using homework as an excuse to avoid us! They play with my children the same amount on the weekends, and we were just at a birthday party for one of the children within the last week.

 

This is one reason I liked the provate school the girls went to early on. They tried very hard not to send any work home. It was the studying that came home - spelling words, Latin. But I hardly saw any homewrok through 5th grade.

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We're finding the same thing. I find the amount of homework in elementary ridiculous. It appears the school is sending home the important stuff like math problems, reading assignments, and writing reports. It makes me wonder what they're doing at the schools.

 

:iagree: I hear this from my friends with kids in school. One kid had 19 pages of homework to do over Christmas break! What? :eek: My SIL said the same thing about my niece. It's crazy.

 

I noticed when my older son was in 1st grade at ps, he never seemed to know how to do the math they sent home. I asked him if the teacher went over it in class, and he always said no. I thought he might just not be paying attention at first, but after a year of it, I think I was homeschooling him in math instead of him learning it at school.

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When it comes to hw is it that kids aren't getting what is being taught so need to have hw to get up to speed? Is it repeat of the day? Did the kid not pay attention and did not complete assignments? Is it to help the child get a better understanding?

 

In first and second grade, my ds had daily homework. These were assignments sent home to be completed at home. It was a worksheet (both sides) for math, a spelling assignment, and reading. At least once a month, he also received a writing assignment that took several days. I found it frustrating that my son would get up at 6:20 am to get on the bus at 6:40, be in school from 7:30 to 2:00, get home at 2:30 and still be expected to complete an hour's worth of daily homework. They schooled my child for 6.5 hours and, door to door, had him for almost 8 hours. I don't think a 6-7 year old should be expected to put in, at minimum, a 7.5 hour school day.

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My kids are 5 and they get homework 4 nights per week. I require them to do it (on their own) at after-school care. Their teacher thinks there's something wrong with this as they should learn "responsibility" by doing it at home. ?? I told her at KG orientation that I take my kids out to do stuff most evenings so we wouldn't give up our evenings to homework. The other parents in the room acted horrified at my nerve.

 

:iagree: DS had homework every night for the 9 weeks he was in PS. The teacher said it was to get them used to the idea of homework every night. It was ridiculous things like write your numbers 1-5 six times. He also had to keep a reading log every day. I suppose I get the logic behind that, but I'm not writing down the 15 books he read every night.

 

My 6th grader at the same school has homework maybe once a week. Ridiculous!

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When it comes to hw is it that kids aren't getting what is being taught so need to have hw to get up to speed? Is it repeat of the day? Did the kid not pay attention and did not complete assignments? Is it to help the child get a better understanding?

 

The KG teacher says it's to develop their fine motor stuff. To some extent that is true. It usually is only 1 paper.

 

However, lately my kids have occasionally brought home stuff they didn't finish in class. First time it was because dd5 was in the restroom (she takes forever for #2). Next time it was because my kids were at Stretch'n'Grow, an optional extra that takes place during school hours. The teacher told us at orientation that she would never have instruction during the extras, to avoid this problem. (The other kids would play at the "centers," etc.) I guess she changed her mind or something. Since my kids have 6 extras per week, I hope this does not become a trend.

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My dd was in PS for KG and 1st, and at both orientations, they said that homework should take only 10 minutes per grade level. She didn't have any for KG, if I recall, and the teacher tried to keep 1st at around 10 minutes worth of work.

 

In theory, 2nd grade should only take 20 min, 3rd - 30 and so on, but that's not the trend I see with my friends' children.

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My dd was in PS for KG and 1st, and at both orientations, they said that homework should take only 10 minutes per grade level. She didn't have any for KG, if I recall, and the teacher tried to keep 1st at around 10 minutes worth of work.

 

In theory, 2nd grade should only take 20 min, 3rd - 30 and so on, but that's not the trend I see with my friends' children.

 

I agree - KG teacher said "a few minutes," but my eldest was taking way longer than that, like over 30 minutes, when I was letting her do it at home. Most of that time was spent coloring the pictures on the page (which they are required to do).

 

Now that she does it at after-school care, I don't know how long it takes her.

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I am not surprised they are doing homework so late at such young ages. When my kids were in ps K was given 30 minutes homework nightly and it increased from there. My ds was in grade 2 his last year in ps, and he would have btw 45-60 minutes of homework a night. My dd in grade 1 often had upwards of 4 hours. The teacher could not get her to do any work at school so they would bag up all undone work for the day and send it home. I spent 4 or more hours every night teaching her the things she should have done in school that day and send it back the next day. The school of course had events in the evenings at times or dd was just too exhausted to do the homework so the homework would not be done for the next am, the teacher would call me in for a meeting for not doing my job as a parent. Umm maybe try doing your job as a teacher and my 6 year old would not have 4 hours of homework a night. I was working and in college when she was in grade 1. THat meant the kid went to afterschool care. So by the time we STARTED the homework it was almost 7pm. So at 6 years old she was expected to stay up until 11 pm doing the work the teacher failed to teacher her during the day, and of course get up at 6 am to get ready for school (and daycare before school) so I could get to work. Time for socializing and friends was nonexistant, her only playtime was at daycare. I am very happy we homeschool now.

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I know that not all schools are that way but it also doesn't surprise me. One of the schools around here had KGers doing 30+ minutes of homework per evening, including things like coloring pictures and writing compositions. :001_huh: The instructions for the writing assignment would be something like, "Write three to five sentences about your favorite animal." One of my friends would spend thirty minutes per night on the writing assignment alone, ending up with her ds in tears every. single. night. She would make up the sentences for him, dictate them (spelling each word along the way) or write them down and have him copy them. If any words were misspelled the teacher would write a note to her telling her to watch her ds's spelling.

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aww, that actually makes me feel bad that a poor 9/10 yr old kids is doing homework till 8:00 pm!! That's when my kids get ready for bed!

 

I believe I would be telling the teacher how unimpressed I was about that. What are they doing in school for 6 hrs that they can't get this done at school?!

 

Let kids be kids!

 

Yes, I feel bad for them, too. The amount of homework varies from district to district and even between teachers at schools. We have lived in plenty of places where the homework load was reasonable, but we have also lived near several schools where it was too much.

 

In the schools here, the homework is review for things like math and spelling and they also send home handwriting practice. The subjects are reasonable, the amount is not.

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