*Michelle* Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 Maybe they'll start a trend. http://www.myfoxdc.com/story/19477877/gaithersburg-elementary-school-abolishes-homework Gaithersburg Elementary School has abolished homework. Instead, students are being asked to read a book for about 30 minutes a night. When Stephanie Brant came aboard as principal two years ago, she and her staff conducted a review of homework assignments. "We really started evaluating the work that we sent students home with," explained Principal Brant. "We started looking, and really, it was a lot of worksheets. And the worksheets didn't match what we were doing instructionally in the classroom. It was just: we were giving students something because we felt we had to give them something." So, Brant got permission from the school district to implement a radical experiment: the only homework assigned here is reading. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amyrjoy Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 Wow! That's a great change imo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tap Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 DD's private school had a 'low homework' policy. less than 30 minutes a night (and not every night) and no weekend homework rule. Assignments for the week were given on Monday so the kids could work ahead if it worked better for them. It was very nice. It forced the teachers to pick the homework that mattered. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
somo_chickenlady Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 DS didn't have homework at all in elementary school. They stopped doing homework shortly before he started there in kindergarten. I thought it was great!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JumpyTheFrog Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 That's great! I never had homework until 5th grade. Schools have kids for 7 hours per day. That should be enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jujsky Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 Good! I wish more schools would do that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tex-mex Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 About time. I used to complain all of the time as a K-5 schoolteacher that it was "busy work" to create M-TH homework packets to send home. I would prefer that they read for 30 minutes a night. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Kate Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 My kids just started going to a small Christian school. Ds is in third grade and their policy is very little homework. If he doesn't finish something in class, he must bring it home (hasn't happened yet and teacher says it rarely happens). He is also required to write out his spelling words three nights per week and work on memorizing a Bible verse that he recites to his teacher on Friday. That is it...easy peasy! I just got a text from a friend who's 5th grade daughter had been working on a special assignment that was only assigned today for 2 hours!!! Ridiculous! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Beachy Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 When my youngest was in K, she would come home with more homework than my oldest who was in 2nd grade. Finally, I we just stopped doing it. I never said a word to the teacher, and she never mentioned it to me. I knew there was no way she was looking at all those worksheets that got sent home. :) Beachy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justamouse Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 good for them! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dory Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 My dd was coming home last year with 30min worth of homework. By the time she'd get home at 4pm, spend 30 min on homework, 20 min on piano, and 1hr for supper, it was almost time to start winding down for the evening. If we skipped homework, she would get chewed out by her teacher and come home crying and stressed out. It was ridiculous and I know that we had it easy. My friends dd who was in the same class didn't get home on the bus until 5pm. The kids never got a chance to just be kids during the week at all. About the time that she got chewed out over dolche word flashcards and wouldn't stop sobbing after and they had to call me. I went up one side of the teacher and down the other and told her the homework load had to lighten up that my dd was almost about to have a nervous breakdown over it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Classical Country Mama Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 Our local high schools have a standing policy that says English teachers should assume students will not do any reading outside of class, so they are not to assign any. Instead teachers should set aside reading time during class. (This means students only study a couple of novels per year.) I wonder what these Gaithersburg kids will be like when they reach high school. I hope all that reading (if they actually do it) at the younger ages helps them buck the embarrassing non-reading trend at the older ages. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KungFuPanda Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 That's just nuts! Next they'll be going back to having recess AND PE back in elementary schools! I think that's kind of awesome for the K-5 set. An exception for special projects might be nice, but I really think its fine if little kids ONLY do school for 6 hours a day. My daughter entered high school half way through ninth grade. This district is fairly demanding. She spends several hours most nights doing her assignments and she's an efficient, competent student. She didn't need 10 years of gearing up for this. She had very little homework of any kind until high school. With her high school workload, she's actually reading a LOT less than she ever has! I don't think kids need to gear up for years to get used to homework. I think they just need to DO the work when it IS time to do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hilltop Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 :hurray: I wish more schools would adopt this policy. The elementary aged children in my neighborhood get on the school bus at 7:55am and get home at 4:05pm. I think the remainder of the day should be spent enjoying childhood, playing outside, reading with their parents, eating dinner as a family, etc., instead of doing homework. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riverland Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 My dd had a 3rd grade teacher who assigned busy work homework "just so the kids can get used to doing homework." Ugh. If kids didn't complete it, (even if they had been sick, and came back the next day w/o the homework done that they never received in the first place because they HAD BEEN SICK the day before), then they had to stay inside for recess. I complained loudly to the teacher & principal. The principal agreed with me, but the teacher kept doing it anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peaceful Isle Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 When I taught at school, some years ago, I was one of the teachers that hated giving the kiddos homework. I had to because it was the rules, but I never saw the sense in it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eloquacious Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 cool! More time for afterschooling. :tongue_smilie: I never had homework, but that's because I did it at my seat after finishing the classwork early. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eloquacious Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 When I taught at school, some years ago, I was one of the teachers that hated giving the kiddos homework. I had to because it was the rules, but I never saw the sense in it! I also hated assigning it, because a) no one ever did it, and it just meant more failing grades, and b) I didn't particularly feel like grading MORE work. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peaceful Isle Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 I also hated assigning it, because a) no one ever did it, and it just meant more failing grades, and b) I didn't particularly feel like grading MORE work. ;) Yup! The big pile of never ending homework that needed to be graded! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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