Jenny in Florida Posted December 8, 2014 Share Posted December 8, 2014 I've been reading Elisabet1's thread about the gingerbread man project sent home from her son's preschool. I don't want to derail that thread by continuing to ask questions, but I'm absolutely fascinated by this idea and would really love to hear about more experiences. Let me clarify the question: I am familiar with projects that teachers expect kids to do at home but that, in reality, require parental involvement in order to be completed well. I've heard the term "parent homework" applied to those kinds of things. But Elisabet1 and others in that thread seem to be talking about something different. What they seem to be describing is projects or assignments sent home with the specific, explicit expectation that those projects will be completed by the parents, not the child with adult help, but actually done by the parents. With that distinction in mind, I'd be fascinated to hear stories of the kinds of such projects you've been assigned and, if anyone can enlighten me, what the point of such assignments could be? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wilma Posted December 8, 2014 Share Posted December 8, 2014 Heavens no! I would be horrified. The closest thing I've seen is teachers asking parents for a letter about their kid before school begins. But as that's not shared with the class, I think it's a totally different (non-competitive) animal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kristi26 Posted December 8, 2014 Share Posted December 8, 2014 The only thing I can think of that might fit your description was the letters that I had to read/complete/sign for each of my ninth graders' teachers this year. They were all due back by a certain date (the end of the week I think maybe). And here's the weirdest/best part: I completed those letters, but my son got the "credit" for them on Power School. :confused1: They showed up graded even though he didn't do anything with them. I did! :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reefgazer Posted December 8, 2014 Share Posted December 8, 2014 What I saw when my kids were in public school were student projects that had obviously been done by a parent (or had mostly been done by a parent). In fact, most projects had been obviously done by the parent, since the finished product was far above what the average 2nd-3rd grader was capable of, especially since I knew these kids. And every single parent denied to the moon that they had done the project. I sorta felt bad for my kid - he did his own work, it looked like it, and was kind of pathetic in comparison to the parent projects. I was disgusted with the school that my kid's project was compared to parents' work, but it never seemed to hurt their grade, as teachers seemed to see right through the parents' denials. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted December 8, 2014 Share Posted December 8, 2014 When my older boy was in PS for kindergarten, a parent was to do a cooking demo once a year. I was assigned pineapple upside down cake which wasn't a problem so I didn't swap with other moms. So that's the only parent homework that I can think of. For kindergarten parent help was expected but nothing is graded since parents help. My older went to preschool for a semester and no homework at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joker Posted December 8, 2014 Share Posted December 8, 2014 Both of mine went to public kindergarten and the only parent homework I ever had was to write a letter to the teacher about my dds. Mine also never really had art projects to complete at home either. That was all done at school. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MBM Posted December 8, 2014 Share Posted December 8, 2014 My kids have attended quite a few schools and none of them wanted parents to do assignments. Some parents chose to do the assignments, especially dioramas, but that was their choice and not what the school wanted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cinder Posted December 8, 2014 Share Posted December 8, 2014 The only thing I can think of that might fit your description was the letters that I had to read/complete/sign for each of my ninth graders' teachers this year. They were all due back by a certain date (the end of the week I think maybe). And here's the weirdest/best part: I completed those letters, but my son got the "credit" for them on Power School. :confused1: They showed up graded even though he didn't do anything with them. I did! :lol: Same here. Ds has a couple of classes for which I've had to read and sign papers. Classes like Drama--be sure your child can commit to all rehearsals--or Chemistry--we will be doing experiments with chemicals, please help emphasize safety, etc. Parents sign off that we understand. Student's get a completion grade for them and the usual points off for not getting it done. But this is for high school. None of my dc have attended school in the younger grades where (I'm guessing) parent homework might be more of an issue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanaqui Posted December 8, 2014 Share Posted December 8, 2014 Ah, yes, the hundred day of school shirt. "You and your child may decorate a shirt with 100 items." "Hey, kid, you want to do this?" "No" "All righty then!" The day after: Your child was very disappointed that you hadn't done this for her. Yeah, lady, I'm not destroying a shirt for lulz. The project claimed to be optional, so we took the option. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kristi26 Posted December 8, 2014 Share Posted December 8, 2014 Ah, yes, the hundred day of school shirt. "You and your child may decorate a shirt with 100 items." "Hey, kid, you want to do this?" "No" "All righty then!" The day after: Your child was very disappointed that you hadn't done this for her. Yeah, lady, I'm not destroying a shirt for lulz. The project claimed to be optional, so we took the option. OMGosh. I forgot about this one. When DS14 was in public school for the younger grades, he had to make a 100th day of school hat similar to the above. It wasn't optional though. It had to be done. But I think DS14 was 6 or 7? We ended up gluing buttons to a hat and I had to help with a LOT of that because really, how was he going to MAKE a HAT with 100 items on it?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happi duck Posted December 8, 2014 Share Posted December 8, 2014 When dd was in PS, k-2nd, there were little home projects meant for the kid to do but sometimes with the vibe of 'fun family time' thrown in. When I taught k I had a certain structure for show and tell and encouraged parents to help their child practice and be ready for sharing. The parents did not come to class or anything. Other than that I never expected parents to do projects. When I taught at a hs co-op though parents wrongly took on their kids' assignments. When you meet monthly kids need to prep as everything can't happen in class. Parents chose to see this as homework for them no matter what I said...sigh... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoundAbout Posted December 8, 2014 Share Posted December 8, 2014 My DS is in public school for the first time this year. No parent homework or projects so far. Homework is daily handwriting practice at home and a math worksheet 3x/week. Totally manageable and stuff I would be afterschooling anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SamanthaCarter Posted December 8, 2014 Share Posted December 8, 2014 No, every project that my kids were sent home with the child could do with help from the parent, none independently though. Yes, some of the assignments looked like the parent did the whole thing. It never really bothered my DS, he could see right through it and didn't care. The one exception was the curious George journal that was sent home every weekend with a different child along with the stuffed curious George. You were supposed to take pictures of your child going about their weekend with George. And then write several pages in the journal about George's weekend at the child's house, complete with the photos. This happened twice per year. It stressed me out because it appeared to be a competitive thing. DH did it for me - it didn't bother him that our DD had a mundane weekend. :) They're all usually silly busy work, and adds to Mom's workload regardless. That and the fundraisers, teacher appreciation, charity drives, assigned supplies for special occasions, fundraisers, valentines, book drives, requests for items for themed stations, did I mention fundraisers, lunches for staff meetings - it drives me batty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miss Mousie Posted December 8, 2014 Share Posted December 8, 2014 I don't really count signing letters or classroom policy packets as "parent homework," though we did have quite a few of those. For us, the only "assignment" I can think of was in 4th grade - a room decoration before Thanksgiving. We were to color/decorate a cornucopia and list things about our child that we were thankful for. DH and I actually had a blast and (IMO) did a great job with it, and I'm sure DS found/finds it very affirming. We still have it on the wall by the back door so we all see it frequently. Other projects like "make a clay pueblo" - things that are clearly not projects a young student could do entirely independently - drive me batty. But I'm just grateful we never had to do some ridiculous 100th Day project! That would have driven me over the edge! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elegantlion Posted December 8, 2014 Share Posted December 8, 2014 Never heard of it until now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Newcastle Posted December 8, 2014 Share Posted December 8, 2014 I do parent homework every day. I grade and lesson plan and . . . . but I guess that's because I'm the teacher as well! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ErinE Posted December 8, 2014 Share Posted December 8, 2014 What I saw when my kids were in public school were student projects that had obviously been done by a parent (or had mostly been done by a parent). In fact, most projects had been obviously done by the parent, since the finished product was far above what the average 2nd-3rd grader was capable of, especially since I knew these kids. And every single parent denied to the moon that they had done the project. I sorta felt bad for my kid - he did his own work, it looked like it, and was kind of pathetic in comparison to the parent projects. I was disgusted with the school that my kid's project was compared to parents' work, but it never seemed to hurt their grade, as teachers seemed to see right through the parents' denials. Yes, this happened often to DS12 when he was in school. His work was always his own; other children's work was obviously not. Once, when we were looking at displayed projects, he said his looked horrible. I was upset for his sake. He'd worked so hard on his project and as I told him, it was an accurate reflection of his interests and effort. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
73349 Posted December 8, 2014 Share Posted December 8, 2014 DS went to nursery school for two years. In the 2s class, we were told to bring in Valentines for everyone, with their names on them. Two-year-olds can neither read nor write, obviously. I was dumbfounded. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elisabet1 Posted December 8, 2014 Share Posted December 8, 2014 I forgot about the journals. We do the journals too. This is where the child is 3 or 4 yrs old. And you need to take pictures, print them off, put them in the book and write a narrative. This often involves a stuffed animal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MistyMountain Posted December 8, 2014 Share Posted December 8, 2014 My kids have gotten assignments they need help to complete especially in kindergarten but there never has been an assignment where they are not expected to help. I have felt like certain assignments are parent homework because there is a lot of work required on the parent's part to get it completed. I am not all good at artsy stuff so my kid's don't look as nice as other kids and I feel like I am being given an assignment myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KatieJ Posted December 8, 2014 Share Posted December 8, 2014 I can't think of any! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SKL Posted December 8, 2014 Share Posted December 8, 2014 I guess it depends on how you define "parent homework." Below are some examples of what the school / teacher assigns for me to do. My kids are in 3rd grade, so there may or may not be more coming down the pike. Fill out a questionnaire about each kid's strengths and weaknesses (beginning of 3rd grade) Read and sign off on assignment book every day (3rd grade) Sign off on math facts every day (3rd grade) Read the weekly newsletter from the teacher, and other papers (1st-3rd grades) Provide certain school supplies Provide costumes or parts of costumes for school plays / skits (KG, 1st grade) Sign and return certain papers, send money for certain stuff Either participate in fundraisers or tell the school not to send the crap home Donate for their charity drives Provide items for specific show-and-tell type stuff (e.g., family photos) - 1st grade Sign off on discipline notes Provide internet access for certain assignments Assist them as necessary in doing projects that are beyond the abilities of their age group (1st & 2nd grade so far) I'm not thrilled with some of it, but I kind of see the point of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bolt. Posted December 8, 2014 Share Posted December 8, 2014 We have had some "introduce me to your child" type of assignments at public school, at the beginning of each new year/teacher. We had one preschool Graduation Project that was pretty much a scrap-book, which was beyond kids at that age, but intended to be something that was done together, not *just* by the parent. The kids have Home Reading, for the younger grades the parent is supposed to do the readings with the child, and there is a list that you tally what was read, how many times, comments, etc. Older kids are just expected to read. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SKL Posted December 8, 2014 Share Posted December 8, 2014 So far I've never been asked to log how much my kids are reading. I guess AR is considered enough by my kids' school. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SparklyUnicorn Posted December 8, 2014 Share Posted December 8, 2014 I had a friend some years ago who was given assignments to do at home with her child. Some were craft projects. Some involved reading certain books. Some involved gathering something to bring for presentations. It was pretty elaborate. It really did go beyond an assignment intended for the kid that wasn't doable by the kid. That's my only "experience" with it. My kids have never been to school. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wheres Toto Posted December 8, 2014 Share Posted December 8, 2014 My oldest went to daycare, preschool, Catholic School and public school. Ds went to Early Intervention preschool at our public school from 3-4. I never had an assignment sent home that I had to do, other than things like sending in a picture or other supplies for a project that was being done in school, signing a form that a certain amount of reading had been done, or signing tests to show I saw them. There were occasional projects that at least some parental help was needed but my dd was usually the kid that did as much as possible herself. I worked full time and had no desire to do more than drive to the store to pick up the supplies needed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wonderchica Posted December 9, 2014 Share Posted December 9, 2014 When I taught special education preschool I would tell my parents, "Ok, here's your homework!". It was the never checked, never graded type- read your child a book this week, when you hear animal sounds point them out and try to get them to imitate, etc. Although we did ask the parents to put together a poster with pictures of their child's family to hang in the classroom. That was optional. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmmetler Posted December 9, 2014 Share Posted December 9, 2014 We were sent home books to read with a log to sign and sight words to work on in PS K (which, for DD, I was able to get substituted with a book at her level and math fact practice). There were also occasional projects-things like the poster for when your DC was "student of the week". I made color photocopies of a bunch of photos, gave DD the posterboard, the pictures, a glue stick, and markers, and let her do what she wanted with it-after all, it was HER poster. We also had the 100 day of school thing, but were supposed to send in 100 things to count at school. I sent in a bag of foam dinosaurs from the craft store, unopened. I figured there had to be at least 100 in the thing, and there was no reason for me to count 100 and then for DD to count 100. I lead an NME club/class, and the kids present on a different topic each month. There is always one parent each year who pretty obviously takes over and does the research and work for their child, and then prompts their child through the actual presentation. With one exception (a sweet 5 yr old I have this year, who dictates to her mom and her mom writes it down, and then mom reads it to the child and the child repeats, because she can't read yet-she won't be taking the NME :) ), the kids aren't able to participate in the discussion later and usually end up dropping out by about December/January before I actually have to order the tests. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeachyDoodle Posted December 9, 2014 Share Posted December 9, 2014 I have. Many do-it-with-your-child assignments as others have mentioned (craft projects, "about me" or "about my family" type things), mostly in preschool when developmentally the child needs more assistance. I'm cool with those. Beginning in public kindergarten we were supposed to listen to dd read for 20 minutes a day. Since she was reading fluently at the age of 5 (and way more than 20 minutes a day) I just let her do her thing most days. One day when she was in second grade, she announced when I picked her up, "You have math homework today!" I thought she was confused, but sure enough, she produced a math worksheet from her backpack, with a letter attaching saying *I* was to complete it. It was supposed to familiarize parents with some of the newer methods the school was introducing in math instruction. I wrote at the top, "I have already passed the second grade," and returned it, blank. I would have welcomed some kind of clarification about what they were teaching (because I sure as heck couldn't figure it out -- and yes, I'm college-educated, summa cum laude, as a matter of fact), but this just stuck in my craw. Looking back, I should have been more diplomatic, but I was so over that school by then. We started homeschooling in third grade. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SparklyUnicorn Posted December 9, 2014 Share Posted December 9, 2014 I have. Many do-it-with-your-child assignments as others have mentioned (craft projects, "about me" or "about my family" type things), mostly in preschool when developmentally the child needs more assistance. I'm cool with those. Beginning in public kindergarten we were supposed to listen to dd read for 20 minutes a day. Since she was reading fluently at the age of 5 (and way more than 20 minutes a day) I just let her do her thing most days. One day when she was in second grade, she announced when I picked her up, "You have math homework today!" I thought she was confused, but sure enough, she produced a math worksheet from her backpack, with a letter attaching saying *I* was to complete it. It was supposed to familiarize parents with some of the newer methods the school was introducing in math instruction. I wrote at the top, "I have already passed the second grade," and returned it, blank. I would have welcomed some kind of clarification about what they were teaching (because I sure as heck couldn't figure it out -- and yes, I'm college-educated, summa cum laude, as a matter of fact), but this just stuck in my craw. Looking back, I should have been more diplomatic, but I was so over that school by then. We started homeschooling in third grade. :D bite me that's what I would have said... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenny in Florida Posted December 9, 2014 Author Share Posted December 9, 2014 I guess it depends on how you define "parent homework." Below are some examples of what the school / teacher assigns for me to do. My kids are in 3rd grade, so there may or may not be more coming down the pike. Fill out a questionnaire about each kid's strengths and weaknesses (beginning of 3rd grade) Read and sign off on assignment book every day (3rd grade) Sign off on math facts every day (3rd grade) Read the weekly newsletter from the teacher, and other papers (1st-3rd grades) Provide certain school supplies Provide costumes or parts of costumes for school plays / skits (KG, 1st grade) Sign and return certain papers, send money for certain stuff Either participate in fundraisers or tell the school not to send the crap home Donate for their charity drives Provide items for specific show-and-tell type stuff (e.g., family photos) - 1st grade Sign off on discipline notes Provide internet access for certain assignments Assist them as necessary in doing projects that are beyond the abilities of their age group (1st & 2nd grade so far) I'm not thrilled with some of it, but I kind of see the point of it. I don't think any of these "count" as defined in my first post. I would consider all of these typical support roles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justified Posted December 9, 2014 Share Posted December 9, 2014 Yes, last year my step Dd11 came home with these weird papers that were just for the parent to answer and then discuss with the child. I recall them being questions about what would you do in this type of situation or how do you feel about this kind of situation. They felt peculiar and they were meant for the parent to answer. I felt like the school wanted to create an assignment to force parents to have certain conversations. I don't know why It just felt like they were over stepping. I always do the homework with my stepDD and i finally just felt so uncomfortable about that I just told step DD to ask her mom do those worksheets. I just wish I remembered what they were called...something to do with behavior or character. I haven't had anything like that this year thankfully. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KungFuPanda Posted December 9, 2014 Share Posted December 9, 2014 Never, except for sending snacks and when I volunteered to make play dough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommymonster Posted December 9, 2014 Share Posted December 9, 2014 Oh yeah. I loved my kids' preschool, but we were stuck with two research "projects" each year -- there was the infamous squirrel project, a penguin project, an owl, and a couple of other ones. It basically involved online research, writing a folder report, building a diorama and doing a research report. For a preschooler. Who couldn't read, write, or spell. For the love. We tried to keep the reports in the boys' words, and use their ideas for the diorama. I do believe one of the animal projects included a spaceship, and maybe ninja swords. For DS9's first grade, each student was supposed to do a tri-fold "presentation" of family traditions. DS9 did his own thing, but did ask for help printing out pictures, spelling and whatnot. We were shocked when we went to the "festival" where all the presentations were on display. There were three or four other presentations that kids did. All of the other ones were slick -- blinking lights, professional-looking graphics, handouts. It was a bit crazy. And moms were standing there, talking about how they didn't let their kids "help" do the presentations because they wanted it to look just so. It was really disconcerting. We talked with DS about why it was important that he do his work and that we were proud of him for working so hard on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gil Posted December 9, 2014 Share Posted December 9, 2014 I don't even get involved with PS busy-work-for-parents type foolishness. I have the boys do their homework and whatever they do (or don't do) is what gets done. I sign their folders. I spoke to Buddies 1st-grade teacher already and informed her that I don't believe in doing homework--so not to send any assignments home that would require me to do any more than stock pencil and paper within the kids reach. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrsBasil Posted December 9, 2014 Share Posted December 9, 2014 Not really, DS was assigned to make a Valentine's Day box which he would have needed significant help with if I wanted to look nice. DS is not into crafts. As it was he helped me cover a shoe box with construction paper and I handed over stickers. He stuck 5 on and walked away. He had trouble writing at the time, so I ended up signing his name to the 20 or so Valentines we bought to hand out. We had to decorate a paper turkey feather and he wanted it glittery, so I pulled out the glitter and glue and let him go. It was covered in glitter! The teacher talked to me about taking a more active role and I told her that I thought the process of creating was more important than the outcome and that DS had a blast and was proud of his creation. I probably said it in a tone suggesting she could cram her active role suggestions sideways. It seemed like the school expected that these would be more of a parent project or more parent directed so they looked a certain way, but that's dumb so I just ignored their expectations. I was not a good preschool mom. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IsabelC Posted December 9, 2014 Share Posted December 9, 2014 One word: costumes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaBearTeacher Posted December 9, 2014 Share Posted December 9, 2014 Two grade 1 assignments that involved building a moving machine and making a presentation. By the time DH and I figured out how to d the project to fit all the requirements there was not much time for him to practice the presentation. Have these parent projects increased in the last decade? What about requirements for parents to provide snacks for the whole class on holidays? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EndOfOrdinary Posted December 9, 2014 Share Posted December 9, 2014 When I was in middle school the "character discussion" paperwork went home where my parents were supposed to fill out and interview about their puberty experiences and then discuss them with me. Both parents. I was supposed to discuss my answers to the questions with them. Gracious! Can you saw Awkward! It was beyond horrible. I have never been close to my parents let alone wanting to have round table puberty discussions with them as a graded assignment. We were supposed to come back to class and write about it or share with everyone what we gained. We had to do similar stuff in high school about college experiences, preparing for careers, and life expectations. Equally painful - my parents were very unhappy with their marriage and life choices. My mother had gone back to school, funded by my father, and then divorced him when she got her degree and a stable job. My father sold out his dreams to marry my mother and as he put it "wound up with an Autistic kid (my brother), a weirdo (me), and 27 years he would never get back." Forced family bonding great idea public school! At the charter we belonged to each week we had three questions which Ds was supposed to answer. My job was to scribe (type) out his answers, but explicitly write only his words. The questions were worded like the pedagogy classes I took in my GTEP graduate teaching classes. "In what ways did you integrate your learning this week to better facilitate a global perspective?" He is in Kindergarten. It was so obviously parent paperwork to provide accountability. It was not labeled that way, but there was no way it was for the kid. In first grade Ds rocked the "provide a timeline for the rest of the year showing both breadth of knowledge and the scope of acquisition." He pulled out state standards and grade level expectations down to the subset without any help from me, of course. Since, you know, the average 7 year old is highly focused on the rest of their academic year and scope of acquisition around winter break. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muttichen Posted December 9, 2014 Share Posted December 9, 2014 What I saw when my kids were in public school were student projects that had obviously been done by a parent (or had mostly been done by a parent). In fact, most projects had been obviously done by the parent, since the finished product was far above what the average 2nd-3rd grader was capable of, especially since I knew these kids. And every single parent denied to the moon that they had done the project. I sorta felt bad for my kid - he did his own work, it looked like it, and was kind of pathetic in comparison to the parent projects. I was disgusted with the school that my kid's project was compared to parents' work, but it never seemed to hurt their grade, as teachers seemed to see right through the parents' denials. I remember thinking this when my oldest dd was in a first grade magnet class. I know it was true in some cases, because the kids even said their parents had drawn the pictures, etc. Then, when my ds was in the same first grade class, I overheard parents talking about HIS project, saying it had obviously been done by an adult. Well, it hadn't; he had done it all himself. It just happens that he was doing work far above what the average kid was capable of. After that, I stopped making assumptions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EndOfOrdinary Posted December 9, 2014 Share Posted December 9, 2014 I remember thinking this when my oldest dd was in a first grade magnet class. I know it was true in some cases, because the kids even said their parents had drawn the pictures, etc. Then, when my ds was in the same first grade class, I overheard parents talking about HIS project, saying it had obviously been done by an adult. Well, it hadn't; he had done it all himself. It just happens that he was doing work far above what the average kid was capable of. After that, I stopped making assumptions. My father was an architect who worked out of one wing in our house. I had an assignment for one of my math classes to draw a scale model of a room in your house. My project looked significantly fancier than other kids because of my household background. A scaling ruler can do wonders. Architectural stencils exist, but average households do not have them. Drafting tables with horizontal and vertical rulers are not standard fare in most kid's lives. It was my work. In fact, I worked my butt off so my dad would like it. The teacher made a snotty comment about "daddy's help" and I remember shutting down in class after that. If my father had actually helped, it would have been significantly better! It was not average, but it wasn't the work of a professional adult. It makes me wonder if she had any idea what blueprints even looked like. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmmetler Posted December 9, 2014 Share Posted December 9, 2014 My father was an architect who worked out of one wing in our house. I had an assignment for one of my math classes to draw a scale model of a room in your house. My project looked significantly fancier than other kids because of my household background. A scaling ruler can do wonders. Architectural stencils exist, but average households do not have them. Drafting tables with horizontal and vertical rulers are not standard fare in most kid's lives. It was my work. In fact, I worked my butt off so my dad would like it. The teacher made a snotty comment about "daddy's help" and I remember shutting down in class after that. If my father had actually helped, it would have been significantly better! It was not average, but it wasn't the work of a professional adult. It makes me wonder if she had any idea what blueprints even looked like. I had the opposite experience. In high school physics, we had to build a catapult, with supplies provided. I ended up going to the teacher a few days later and asking if I could possibly get more supplies and build mine at school-because my physics/chem professor father wouldn't leave it alone! She not only let me do so, but invited him to bring his when we tested them. I'd say at least half the kids managed to create something that beat the physicist. I love my dad, and he's a whiz in a chem lab, but a mechanical engineer he isn't (and a good part of my high school class ended up in engineering of one form or another). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorthwestMom Posted December 9, 2014 Share Posted December 9, 2014 The one exception was the curious George journal that was sent home every weekend with a different child along with the stuffed curious George. You were supposed to take pictures of your child going about their weekend with George. And then write several pages in the journal about George's weekend at the child's house, complete with the photos. This happened twice per year. It stressed me out because it appeared to be a competitive thing. DH did it for me - it didn't bother him that our DD had a mundane weekend. :) Oh, I am just dying remembering this. Many years ago we had a similar thing for our oldest's preschool class. The extravagant entries some parents made for the stuffed animal were hilarious, but not intentionally so. Scruffy the Dog went to all the chic restaurants, he met local celebrities, he sat in box seats at the ball game - meanwhile, the child he was attached to that weekend probably hated all of that! Scruffy was living like a yuppie 35yo. :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bolt. Posted December 9, 2014 Share Posted December 9, 2014 I am *so* out if touch with the world of comparing and competing. I kinda already know that some families have more extravagant weekends than others. When did honesty about diversity become showing off? Am I really supposed to pay attention to these cues? The brands of shoe boxes? Seriously going over my head. (And am I guilty of showing off accidentally when I talk normally about my life??? Do people think I'm trying to top them when I'm only trying to share and chit-chat? Gah! I hate it when I find new territory for my social cluelessness!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SKL Posted December 9, 2014 Share Posted December 9, 2014 Oh yeah, I forgot about having the class panda home over the weekend and keeping a journal of his comings and goings. I have two kids in the same grade, and I admit that I did the panda's first weekend a lot more enthusiastically than his second. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom2scouts Posted December 9, 2014 Share Posted December 9, 2014 As a former PS mom, not having to do parent homework projects is very high on my list of homeschooling benefits. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom2scouts Posted December 9, 2014 Share Posted December 9, 2014 My father was an architect who worked out of one wing in our house. I had an assignment for one of my math classes to draw a scale model of a room in your house. My project looked significantly fancier than other kids because of my household background. A scaling ruler can do wonders. Architectural stencils exist, but average households do not have them. Drafting tables with horizontal and vertical rulers are not standard fare in most kid's lives. It was my work. In fact, I worked my butt off so my dad would like it. The teacher made a snotty comment about "daddy's help" and I remember shutting down in class after that. If my father had actually helped, it would have been significantly better! It was not average, but it wasn't the work of a professional adult. It makes me wonder if she had any idea what blueprints even looked like. DH and I have architectural backgrounds. When our sons were in fifth grade, they had to build a model of a house. We showed them some model techniques, gave them the supplies and let them work. They couldn't cut a straight line and it looked like the project would look kid-made, but we were surprised to find their poor cutting resulted in very realistic looking siding. Their models looked amazing. The other parents made snide comments about how we probably built the models and I was angry because all we did was show them some techniques before they began. They did all the work themselves! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LaughingCat Posted December 11, 2014 Share Posted December 11, 2014 As far as project help - my issue was always that DD's ideas were far too big for her capabilities. So then I would end up spending a lot of time showing her 'techniques' on how to do whatever. Which would have been fine if it was just something she was interested in and I could do it on my own schedule - but instead was on the school's schedule, which usually meant at the worst possible due date and time limit. Also a lot of other parents I talked to seemed to spend a lot of money buying things for the 'diorama' type projects - I'd consider that parental homework (I have way too much in terms of craft supplies to have to worry about that). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwik Posted December 12, 2014 Share Posted December 12, 2014 The first couple of years the kids have a class teddy they bring home. The write something like 'Bear went to the supermarket with us' and draw a picture. This week I did most of the work because we forgot. I also did the typing for a report this year for ds7. He was 6 at the time and had no idea how to research and make a poster. We have ignored a lot of homework this year though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rivka Posted December 12, 2014 Share Posted December 12, 2014 Oh yeah. I loved my kids' preschool, but we were stuck with two research "projects" each year -- there was the infamous squirrel project, a penguin project, an owl, and a couple of other ones. It basically involved online research, writing a folder report, building a diorama and doing a research report. For a preschooler. Who couldn't read, write, or spell. For the love. We tried to keep the reports in the boys' words, and use their ideas for the diorama. I do believe one of the animal projects included a spaceship, and maybe ninja swords. Good. Freaking. Gravy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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