ps Teachers allow you to substitute homework?

[Writerdaddy]

I was wondering what your experiences with this are? Have you asked? What do you say? Any anecdotes? I don't want to be a snob or insult the teacher. Has it ever backfired for you?

 

I was also thinking of doing my kids homework for them, and substituting our own just between ourselves-- but it's not worth it for me because of the bad example it shows.

[Uff Da!]

nm

[Harriet Vane]

I have never tried to work with a public school teacher on something like this. However, over the years I have taught many group classes.

 

I HATE it when a parent substitutes "better" homework for what I assigned. Often my homework is intended to address a specific skill that the parent may not understand, or along the same lines, I may have a specific goal with the homework that the parent is not aware of.

 

I also HATE it when a parent attempts constant negotiations about the class structure or homework. I have had someone like this in almost every group I have taught, and in one group I had one parent who attempted to micromanage my class for years. It is disrespectful of the amount of work I put in to make a good class.

 

That said, I have been known to negotiate when there is a clear need to do so. Generally that happens when a child is either really gifted (not just bright) or learning disabled. Just this past year I had an extremely gifted student who was allowed to skip the more humdrum aspects of the homework because he just didn't need the practice with that skill, and I also had a learning disabled student for whom I made significant changes to what and how much he was expected to write, as well as a lot of flexibility on deadlines. I have made these accommodations in the past under similar circumstances as well.

 

The key to the accommodations is that I agreed to them in advance, and only after I had some clear evidence that such accommodations were needed/appropriate. Each and every time I have extended such accommodations it was only after I personally evaluated the student's work and spoke with both student and parent extensively. (I spoke with the parent about the student and accommodations; I interviewed the student in a more general way to discover both aptitude and work style.)

 

If you want to do this with a teacher, you should have clear reasons why, and those reasons need to be quantifiable. You should also be careful to approach the teacher with respect for the job the teacher is doing.

 

Granted, there ARE certainly teachers who will not recognize a genuine need, or who are small-minded. In cases like that you may need to advocate for your child up the chain of command. If you do so, though, make sure that the evidence you present is both clear and quantifiable and respectfully submitted.

[EmilyK]

I did it some when my oldest was little and in public school. i don't think I ever substituted, but would add things and send that back along with the homework. I had another friend who did more of a substitution.

 

I think in part you have to assess the situation. I did a lot of classroom volunteering, and would get to know the teacher's personality etc. Although these were wonderful teachers, I wouldn't say homework was that important to any of them in elementary, maybe only in 5th grade. In my discussions with them, parent-teacher meetings, etc, the objectives of homework were really related to 1) having the parent involved with a learning activity with the child 2) learning the routine of homework 3) learning to manage time and deadlines. Most of the homework was disconnected to class -- it was usually at grade level, but wasn't building on concepts learned. One year homework was done as more of an open ended menu.

 

This was also a school with a huge range of levels in any room -- it was an incredibly diverse school (income level, class, immigration status, race, language, all kinds of families, you name it) and perhaps as a result kids were all over the map in terms of grade level they were at for math and reading. The teachers were pretty flexible as a result, and honestly as long as you weren't a time waster they were happy to let the involved parents do their thing and focus on the kids who were struggling or came from really troubled homes.

[EmilyK]

What age?

 

Spelling for ex., the kid would challenge himself to write a story with the spelling words, rather than just the typical 4-6 word sentence for each word.

 

 

 

We did that too, and it worked well.

[Writerdaddy]

Thanks, getting to hear what you have to say gives me some feel for it. My kids are both 8, going into 3rd grade which I hear has a lot of homework. They were in PS for 1st grade and the homework was way too easy even though I hadn't taught them anything in HS at that point. Now they are definitely way ahead in math, at least.

 

I have one kid who benefits from math drills and one that shuts down (or rather, turns on in another direction-- her completely wild imagination and quirky behavior) and definitely its not good for her. They both would personally appreciate easy reading homework and easy math homework rather than challenging.

 

This is not really about the boredom aspect but just about the fact that homework time is a time we have to intervene and do HS, and why waste that time with PS stuff when they've already spent the whole day in there?

 

I have to admit I have done their homework before, but now that they are getting older I worry about the example it sets. But that's now, thinking about it. In the heat of the battle, I always do what I have to do.

 

thanks for your insights,

 

Alan

 

ps I won't have internet access for a few days so I'll probably disappear from this thread before it dies down. But I will check back and read it when its long gone, and thanks again.

[laf919]

as others have said, is that it depends on the teacher. Last school year, my dd's teacher was happy to let me do alternate homework with her several days a week (we did pages from MEP instead of the Saxon sheet that was a repeat of what was done in class 2 of the 3 days they had math homework). My dd is highly gifted and it was obvious to the teacher that dd did not need the review of the homework sheets, so she just asked that we send in something written so she had a grade to record. I am hoping we can work out something similar with her teacher this coming year using Beast Academy - but this is with a very gifted student who is totally bored with grade-level math.

[kb44]

I spoke with the teacher when my child was struggling and we worked out substitions. I would never just substitute without talking with the teacher. Maybe just add on what you think is appropriate if you don't want to have the discussion. And, I agree with your statement that they just spent the whole day there. Gah...I hated homework! Good luck!

Edited August 10, 2012 by kb44

[Roadrunner]

They won't let us substitute homework, but our teachers (at least until this year) customized homework themselves, so my older kid got different spelling words and different math. We have just started this year, so I don't know if it will be the same.

I would never offer to send "my" homework unless the teacher suggested it. I think it can be taken very offensively.

[umsami]

I've had teachers that have customized homework for my kids based on level...so different spelling lists, math homework, etc. Last year, however, the teacher thought my son knew more multiplication than he did, which caused him to feel frustrated at the homework ( he was in 2nd grade). So, I asked her if I could work with him on the Math Mammoth multiplication and then come back to it--which she was fine with. He was kind of in between. The regular math homework was too easy, but he didn't have all of his multiplication math facts down like some of the kids doing the advanced math homework.

 

I guess what I'm saying is for me it worked best to wait until I saw an unmeet need/opportunity, rather than going in from day one. Give the teacher a chance to realize the need first.

[Writerdaddy]

Thanks! Yeah, I think from seeing a few different scenarios described it is helpful for me to have asked about this. I think my vague feeling that I should be careful about offending the teacher has been reinforced.