Embassy Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 What do you consider busy work in your homeschool? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolphin Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 Busy work is what ds did when he went to school. That is one of the reasons that we homeschool, no busy work:D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelly1730 Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 Um, do you mean like these lame fire safety worksheets I have the kids fill out to meet our state requirement? I call that busywork. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharilynn29 Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 I'd like to hear more on this topic since I'm not sure if my kiddos have any busy work. Where does the learning end and the busy work begin?:bigear: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 I think busy work has gotten a bad name, it doesn't deserve, because it has been abused. Here is a cute vintage book on busy work. I thought there were more, but...I can't seem to find them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscopup Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 I consider "busy work" to be work given that the child doesn't actually NEED to do in order to learn the material. For example, if a child has their math facts down pat inside and out and has for 3 years, giving them a math fact sheet just to keep them out of your hair for a few minutes is busy work. Now if they actually still need to work on math facts and don't have them down pat inside and out, then that worksheet is not busy work. In schools, teachers often need busy work to keep children busy while helping students that need individual attention. In a homeschool, sometimes busy work is used for the same reason! I have a friend whose rising K'er loves doing school (and doesn't consider it school unless it's a worksheet), and my friend is having to find busy work for this child just to keep her appeased next year while working with her older child. Yes, it's busy work, but it's not bad either - the child enjoys it. :) I can't really give my older son busy work. He gets bored, and it just doesn't serve a useful purpose for him. He also doesn't typically need to practice things ad nauseum. So if I need to "keep him busy", I send him off with a good book instead. ;) If I give him work involving writing, it's for a purpose (which may be just to practice writing, or it may be to learn something AND practice writing). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 I agree with everything boscopup said, and would add that busywork is anything kids can do without engaging their brains. Fill in the blanks, matching, grammar with formulaic sentences, stuff like that. Things a kid can do by pattern-matching without actually learning, absorbing, thinking about. We started with a few things that fell into this category, but purged them relatively quickly. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LittleIzumi Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 Yep--something that doesn't require their brains. No thinking=busywork. Its only real purpose seems to be to give them something to do that keeps them away from the teacher. IMO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 Busy work is what ds did when he went to school. That is one of the reasons that we homeschool, no busy work:D :iagree: Examples? Rewriting lists of spelling words - all of which my kids were spelling perfectly fine working pages and pages of identical math problems - even though the kids had completely mastered the concept and- this took the cake in 6th grade: drawing colored pictures for 40 vocabulary words in geography That one I helped with. We withdrew them from school shortly after this pointless assignment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosie_0801 Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 Jigsaw puzzles are busywork for dd at the moment. She's not interested in them any more so won't work at advancing her skill. She won't listen to me read unless she is working on something at her desk, so giving her a puzzle that's way below her capabilities will keep her busy without complaining, long enough for me to read a chapter or two. It's a compromise :) Rosie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kathryn Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 I consider "busy work" to be work given that the child doesn't actually NEED to do in order to learn the material. For example, if a child has their math facts down pat inside and out and has for 3 years, giving them a math fact sheet just to keep them out of your hair for a few minutes is busy work. Now if they actually still need to work on math facts and don't have them down pat inside and out, then that worksheet is not busy work. In schools, teachers often need busy work to keep children busy while helping students that need individual attention. In a homeschool, sometimes busy work is used for the same reason! I have a friend whose rising K'er loves doing school (and doesn't consider it school unless it's a worksheet), and my friend is having to find busy work for this child just to keep her appeased next year while working with her older child. Yes, it's busy work, but it's not bad either - the child enjoys it. :) I can't really give my older son busy work. He gets bored, and it just doesn't serve a useful purpose for him. He also doesn't typically need to practice things ad nauseum. So if I need to "keep him busy", I send him off with a good book instead. ;) If I give him work involving writing, it's for a purpose (which may be just to practice writing, or it may be to learn something AND practice writing). :iagree: word for word. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kandty Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 I consider busy work anything that doesn't help a child learn the subject matter, or too much work at one sitting (like pages of math problems), or excessive work of a mastered concept. Busywork can be different for every child. I really misunderstood what busy work was from reading different how to homeschool books over the years. I was really mislead! I believed what one mom said was busywork, but it wasn't busywork for my child. My child missed out of activities they enjoyed doing to learn. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Embassy Posted May 23, 2012 Author Share Posted May 23, 2012 I believed what one mom said was busywork, but it wasn't busywork for my child. My child missed out of activities they enjoyed doing to learn. I think that I am discovering that as well. Busy work depends on the child. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laundrycrisis Posted May 23, 2012 Share Posted May 23, 2012 Busywork is work (not play, not interesting, and not enjoyed) that doesn't offer any benefit to the kid doing it. It's not useful practice or advancing skills. It is pointless and without value. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted May 23, 2012 Share Posted May 23, 2012 It seems like there's two definitions going here. 1. Work that is mindless, mostly without benefit to the student, possibly given to keep everyone busy so the teacher can address individual needs 2. Work that keeps the mind of a child busy and engaged, that helps a child practice skills or focus I think of the first definition as the primary one. However, we sometimes use the Tin Man Press books and they are the very definition of the second one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted May 23, 2012 Share Posted May 23, 2012 I consider busy work anything that doesn't help a child learn the subject matter I don't think this is the original meaning. I wish I did know it's exact original meaning. Copy work can be busy work, but it DOES help a child learn. I'm learning that there are considerable benefits to carefully chosen busy work. Never mind learning a subject skill or content, there are benefits to learning to sit still, to be precise and neat and tidy, to be obedient, hand eye coordination, and I'm sure other things too. Lately I have been reading a lot about strategies, fluency, automaticy, and assessments. A lot of the strategies make great copy work. I learned that handwriting is taught in 3 stages. From a close model, then a far model, then no model. Strategies can be made into copy work worksheets. Then displayed as posters. Then from memory. The combining of handwriting instruction and the learning of strategies, makes great busy work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happypamama Posted May 23, 2012 Share Posted May 23, 2012 Um, do you mean like these lame fire safety worksheets I have the kids fill out to meet our state requirement? I call that busywork. LOL, I was thinking exactly the same thing! Or how about the dental word search I made my DD do so I could put it in her portfolio to prove that we did health? I do consider it to be busywork, but it's for a specific purpose. (I find it completely ridiculous, but amusing, that PA does not care if you do reading or math every year, but they mandate fire safety. So absurd.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Girl Power Posted May 23, 2012 Share Posted May 23, 2012 Yep--something that doesn't require their brains. No thinking=busywork. Its only real purpose seems to be to give them something to do that keeps them away from the teacher. IMO. Yes, basically fluff to keep them busy. Fill in the blank type stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolphin Posted May 23, 2012 Share Posted May 23, 2012 It seems like there's two definitions going here. 1. Work that is mindless, mostly without benefit to the student, possibly given to keep everyone busy so the teacher can address individual needs 2. Work that keeps the mind of a child busy and engaged, that helps a child practice skills or focus I think of the first definition as the primary one. However, we sometimes use the Tin Man Press books and they are the very definition of the second one. I made my statement based on number 1. We do the second. That is the fun stuff, that teaches a skill that is not necessarily academic. Being engaged and mentally stimulated is great. As a previous poster said, logic puzzles. We also do sudoku, and mad libs. Yes, basically fluff to keep them busy. Fill in the blank type stuff. When ds was in school they had these daily journals. DS was struggling with handwriting, so creative writing was a struggle too. He could tell creative stories, but also writing them was hard. Now, I can see the place for a journal in middle and high school writing class, maybe even in 5th and 6th grade. This was 1st and 2nd! They were too young, the were ridiculous. "If I was a sandwich I would be...." The teacher never graded or looked at them. She gave them to the kids and told them it was journal time for 30 min. That to me is one great example of busywork. In second grade, ds was in tears about journal time. He started to hate writing... I went in a told the teacher that we didn't want him to do anymore journals as we felt it was detrimental to his education. She was really nice about it and ds finished the school year reading while the rest of the class did journals. I don't feel that reading is ever busy work:D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chepyl Posted May 23, 2012 Share Posted May 23, 2012 To me, busy work is worksheets or pages of identical math problems, grammar questions, rewriting words all for the sake of having a child do SOMETHING. When a child has matered basic math facts, but they are made to continually practice them so they can be doing math, that is bust work. It was what those of Is who picked thinga up fast had to do while the teacher helped the kids who struggled. We did not get to advance, just keep writing those spelling words! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscopup Posted May 23, 2012 Share Posted May 23, 2012 When ds was in school they had these daily journals. DS was struggling with handwriting, so creative writing was a struggle too. He could tell creative stories, but also writing them was hard. Now, I can see the place for a journal in middle and high school writing class, maybe even in 5th and 6th grade. This was 1st and 2nd! They were too young, the were ridiculous. "If I was a sandwich I would be...." The teacher never graded or looked at them. She gave them to the kids and told them it was journal time for 30 min. That to me is one great example of busywork. This was my son too! He would copy the journal prompt, then leave the rest blank. :tongue_smilie: Very occasionally, he'd fill something in, but mostly he didn't. He was a young 6 year old boy whose hand hurt when writing. He needed time to mature, develop, and build hand strength LONG before writing anything original. These journals were supposed to be encouraging the kids to write more, but it was doing just the opposite for my son - freaking him out. Frankly, it would freak me out too. I don't like to write my deep down thoughts on paper like a journal. I also couldn't begin to tell you about me being a sandwich. :lol: If I, as an adult (who did reasonably well in writing in high school and college), can't do the assignment without panicking, how on earth can I expect a 6 year old boy to do it?!?!? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted May 23, 2012 Share Posted May 23, 2012 Journaling was nothing but empty pages for my younger son, even though that was back in the 1990s. He told the teacher that journaling was an invasion of his privacy though, so...it didn't go over very well, with his 3rd grade teacher. Monday prompt was "what did you do over the weekend?" Always blank. Friday was "What did you like best about school this week?". He started out writing, "Recess and going home," but got punished for that. so then that too became an empty page. Sigh! But I do believe in journaling and used it successfully in out homeschool. Our most successful running journaling prompt was, "Write a one paragraph summary about something in the Bible reading, and then write one paragraph about an opinion/application you have about what is in the summary paragraph." My son mastered paragraph writing through that simple running assignment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PIE! Posted May 23, 2012 Share Posted May 23, 2012 Busy work always brings to mind my jr. high school social studies classes. I would spend an hour after school each day filling in blanks, copying definitions of words, and coloring maps in a VERY specific way. Two minutes after I was done, if someone had asked me what was the topic of the assignment I wouldn't be able to answer. I've got no idea what sort of history and geography my teacher tried to cover, but I can still tell you the format of notes, or the paragraph structure she insisted on. That's all we needed in order to get an A. All form and no content. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lcelmer Posted May 23, 2012 Share Posted May 23, 2012 "Busy work" depends on the child. My kids are be able to retain more of what they hand write out, so I would have them do copy work, lapbooks, crosswords, etc. Your kids might not retain more, and they might already have the concept down, so for them it might be busywork, but for mine, it is a tool that helps them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted May 23, 2012 Share Posted May 23, 2012 "Busy work" depends on the child. My kids are be able to retain more of what they hand write out, so I would have them do copy work, lapbooks, crosswords, etc. Your kids might not retain more, and they might already have the concept down, so for them it might be busywork, but for mine, it is a tool that helps them. Yes, I think that's a good point. There are things I do with my kids now that I know would have made me INSANE as a student at their age because it would have been pointless busy work. But for them, it's needed practice because they think and learn differently than me. That's one of my ongoing challenges - to teach as we were not taught, and to teach as the child needs to be taught, not the teacher. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lea1 Posted May 23, 2012 Share Posted May 23, 2012 busywork is anything kids can do without engaging their brains. Fill in the blanks,.... Things a kid can do by pattern-matching without actually learning, absorbing, thinking about. :iagree: I can vividly remember my high school Biology class, where our test or or maybe a weekly worksheet was fill in the blank. I was pretty good at skimming the chapter(s) and finding them quickly without reading much of anything. I learned nothing in that class. We never once did an experiment and I think we went outside one time to look at something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.