If we avoid busy work are we missing benefits???

[Another Lynn]

I'm sort of thinking "out loud" here. I don't have a solid opinion on this. But I'm beginning to feel that maybe busy work has some benefits that we have been missing out on:

 

1)stronger hands, fine motor control

2)more "independent" work for each child

3)which would build confidence in their ability to complete school work alone

4)and free up some of my time?

5)provide opportunities to persevere through various kinds of assignments - long? difficult? tedious? sometimes even undesirable?

6)others?

 

What about possible "cons"

 

1) kill motivation/enthusiasm for school

 

Any other thoughts? comments?

 

Thanks!

[Mandy in TN]

My only thought is that independent written work is not necessarily synonymous with busy work.

Mandy

[Dawn E]

Great thoughts. I've wondered about this myself, particularly because my dd is so young. Some of the "extras" that are not academic are fun for them to do and meet the benefits you list. My thinking is the skill is in the balance so as not to "kill motivation/enthusiasm for school." I look forward to following this thread and seeing what others have to offer. Thanks for asking the question.

[Colleen in NS]

I'm sort of thinking "out loud" here. I don't have a solid opinion on this. But I'm beginning to feel that maybe busy work has some benefits that we have been missing out on:

 

My answers are based on the assumption that you mean assigned school busywork, not free time activities that kids keep busy with for fun.

 

1)stronger hands, fine motor control

 

can be developed by purposeful work such as Legos or drawing or colouring or practicing writing letters

 

2)more "independent" work for each child

3)which would build confidence in their ability to complete school work alone

4)and free up some of my time?

5)provide opportunities to persevere through various kinds of assignments - long? difficult? tedious? sometimes even undesirable?

 

lumping 2-5 together - I don't think busywork accomplishes these things - I think it hinders - ultimately you are going to have to teach skills, and when these skills are mastered and useful, *then* the child can work independently, freeing up your time. I also think that opportunities to persevere will be easier to persevere through if people are equipped with the mastered skills. Opportunities like that come up in real life all the time, they don't need to be made up.

6)others?

 

What about possible "cons"

 

1) kill motivation/enthusiasm for school

 

I get rid of as much busywork as possible, whenever I recognize it as such. It kills MY motivation for anything! :)

 

Any other thoughts? comments?

 

Thanks!

.

Edited November 26, 2008 by Colleen in NS

[sagira]

Yeah, what is busywork exactly? I can see people having widely differing opinions. That said, I try to avoid it as I see it as wasting my time and ds'. He should be either a) working at something worthwhile to learn something worthwhile or b) having fun (and 99% of the time learning something worthwhile as well). If it's neither, forget it.

[Dawn E]

Yeah...I'm not quite sure what busywork is exactly either. Maybe I'm thinking wrongly. It sounds as though most people define it as meaningless work simply for the sake of keeping busy. I thought the OP was referring to work that might not be purely academic in nature, but had hidden benefits. A lot of Montessori activities could be seen as meaningless, but develop a habit of attention and perseverance, along with hidden benefits of working on the pincer grip and strengthening hand/eye coordination. I guess I need to figure out exactly what constitutes "busywork."

[Matryoshka]

I hate busywork - which I would define as work just "because" that doesn't have any intrinsic benefit - but I do assign quite a bit of work that give the benefits listed by the OP - I assign a page a week from about 13-14 books which cover topics like supplemental math skills, grammar and usage, map skills, logic and science, and they are done for the most part independently. They get to pick which and how many pages to do per day, but they have to all be done by Sunday of each week - which means if they've managed their time badly, they do a lot of work on Sunday afternoons!

 

Most of the books are from Mindware and Critical Thinking Press, and have critical thinking/logic skills embedded in with the other topics. I also think it's helped them to learn to work independently and manage their time.

[FO4UR]

I define busy work as assignments with the sole purpose of keeping hands busy (and out of teacher's way), and no I don't see any benefit in giving work that has no benefit for the child.

 

My DS5 enjoys coloring, and activity pages, but I would never force him to do those things just to stay out of my hair. Things like worksheets for math drill or phonics practice have a direct purpose and are not busywork imho.

[stripe]

As I understand it, busywork's sole purpose is to keep the child busy. Therefore the "benefit" is to keep the child out of your hair. I think you could come up with fun, worthwhile projects that both keep the child interested (and therefore "busy") while learning something. I don't think you need to seek out drudgery and suffering. :)

[rafiki]

.

[Karen in CO]

Yeah...I'm not quite sure what busywork is exactly either. Maybe I'm thinking wrongly. It sounds as though most people define it as meaningless work simply for the sake of keeping busy. I thought the OP was referring to work that might not be purely academic in nature, but had hidden benefits. A lot of Montessori activities could be seen as meaningless, but develop a habit of attention and perseverance, along with hidden benefits of working on the pincer grip and strengthening hand/eye coordination. I guess I need to figure out exactly what constitutes "busywork."

 

Yes, I think it is a matter of definition.

I had always shunned "busy work" as in mind-numbing drill sheets and worksheets meant to fill time. My middle child was the first one that I started homeschooling at the beginning with so I was armed with all these cool philosophies. I tried to encourage meaning activities to keep her hands busy and build coordination based on Montessori principles.

 

As she got older, her academics progressed rapidly but I began to fear that she had missed something by not having to sit through those worksheets. I was afraid that she wasn't able to work through hard things to accomplish something. I started to think that maybe I should add in some additional busy work to her day.

 

While watching my kids play, I think I realized that I was wrong. She was trying to learn to yo-yo. Her brother was showing her. She spent days learning the basics. She can now get it to go up and down and can get it to sleep - sometimes. She worked on it until her arm muscles were sore everyday and then worked some more. It is hard (I still can't do it). She wanted to learn, and she worked on it.

 

That same principle applies to her school work, I just have to see it and appreciate it for what it is. She reads long books. She struggles with hard ideas. She works on long projects. She now works carefully on her handwriting. She now tries to check her punctuation. She struggles and works through hard math problems. It didn't take worksheets or "busy work".

 

It took good quality thinking problems, challenging and interesting literature, interesting sentences to copy for copywork, meaningful projects and experiments, stories that excite and capture her imagination, and plenty of time and space to follow her own interests and play and be a part of a family. I don't think she has missed anything by skipping busy work.

[Nestof3]

I think of busywork as word searches, mazes, coloring, etc. They can be fun, but to assign a lot of it in hopes that it will help increase understanding on a subject makes it "busy" in my opinion. Recognizing its intrinsic benefit is another thing.

 

My boys do logic sheets, and I do think there is value in this. They love them (and I love the adult ones in Dell magazines). Mazes are also particularly loved by my youngest, but making a child do a word search on every topic becomes overkill in my opinion. I hope this makes sense. I like giving children options too in the way they express what they learn -- perhaps give an oral report, a written report, write a story about it, draw a picture, so forth.

 

I think children having some control over their own education is beneficial and makes the rest more tolerable.

 

A mistake I made with my oldest was having him do so much work by himself in his room. What was I thinking? It was like he was imprisoned in a dungeon or something, coming out for scraps of lunch. I've tried sitting more with the boys when they are young. Granted, I started homeschooling Aaron in the 4th, and Nathan is only in the third. But, I think the boys appreciate me being near them when they're doing math sheets and such.

 

I've taken more of the approach with my younger ones of if it's not really teaching them something, scrap it. I offer mazes, coloring, all sorts of fun stuff with different topics, but not daily, and it certainly isn't stuck in a tall pile of all sorts of other things to plow through. Right now, the boys have fun with these things, but I certainly won't be making them put vocabulary words in word searches when they're 12.

 

I think kids will do almost anything if they have the attention of the parent and if we approach it with delight. These are just things I'm learning along the way.

 

I am all for independence. Our oldest worked through high school independently. I just think when they're young, they should get more direct attention, and when they do work independently, make it count. Yesterday, the boys each did a little snake report. They each chose a snake, researched it (with my help on the internet), and then wrote information about their snake.

 

Nathan is very fond of oral reports (his entire day would be an oral report if I let it LOL), so I give him opportunity to present information when he wants to. I consider the personal interest in a subject and the reading to gain the knowledge independent work that really counts.

[Another Lynn]

Sorry - it does beg the question - what is busy work? I'm still thinking about that too. Maybe what I'm realizing is that some dc need more repetition than others. As Michele said, what is busy work to one child may be beneficial for another. Thanks for posting that!

 

Anyway, more thoughts welcome!

[LNC]

Short answer cuz I'm heading for children's tuck ins. I'm the only one who uses Christian Light in my homeschool community. Most of my homeschool friends would lean against a "workbook approach", considering it to automatically mean busywork.

 

The benefits of using CLE for LA,math, and reading/lit - many that you mentioned in the original post - have been wonderful for our family.

[PeterPan]

Well our girls are the same age (at least the 9 yo's) and we both have little babies, so I just thought I'd toss out that I'm seeing or feeling the same thing. I'm too tired to put it into words, but I'm just suggesting that what you're feeling has more to do with the age/maturation of your dd and the stage you're in. 4th grade is really a time to pick it up, and some of this stuff that has seemed like "busywork" or that we shunned as unnecessary (because of course it's more pleasant to do those things orally) is suddenly starting to look vital as a step to the next level, the big 5th grade. So then you start to wonder if you should have or could have been doing more of it all along. I'd use it as an occasion to up the ante with your oldest and not be afraid to use some with your youngers where you see fit. Busywork is only a problem if you don't know why you're doing it or have a purpose. If YOU have a purpose in them doing it, that's good enough. And if that purpose is that it gives them something to do while you teach your olders, that's good enough. I think a bit of intentional busywork might head off disorganized chaos in your situation.

[Matryoshka]

I'm just suggesting that what you're feeling has more to do with the age/maturation of your dd and the stage you're in. 4th grade is really a time to pick it up

 

That's a very interesting point. I didn't do any worksheet-type stuff with my olders till they were somewhere in 3rd grade, and then I did start seeing a need for the supplementary stuff (I don't mean I saw a need for busywork, but that I saw a need for more subjects/practice/reinforcement that could be met through more independent work, and I chose materials that I thought met those needs).

 

My youngest was in 1st at the time, and demanded worksheets so she wouldn't feel left out, lol. She got less sheets and many more of them would probably be considered "busywork" because I didn't so much see a need, I was just trying to mollify her.

 

Now that they're all older (5th and 3rd), it really helps to have independent work that they can just get down to so I can work with one or two of them on other more teacher-intensive subjects without losing the others to run off and play (and once that happens, the day is over).

[Nan in Mass]

If it is to give them a break (an important function of busywork at school, I think), then mine would rather just get a break. I get the busy-work benefits, like making writing easier by shear volume, sticking to doing something rather boring or tedious, and learning to learn out of a textbook by doing Latin. We get the other benefits like learning to answer textbook-type questions with all their unwritten assumptions (when they say sponge, do they mean a wet one or a dry one, etc.), when they need to do textbooks later, in high school. I don't grade, so I don't need to worry about being up to speed on that sort of thing right away.

-Nan

[Another Lynn]

Well our girls are the same age (at least the 9 yo's) and we both have little babies, so I just thought I'd toss out that I'm seeing or feeling the same thing. I'm too tired to put it into words, but I'm just suggesting that what you're feeling has more to do with the age/maturation of your dd and the stage you're in. 4th grade is really a time to pick it up, and some of this stuff that has seemed like "busywork" or that we shunned as unnecessary (because of course it's more pleasant to do those things orally) is suddenly starting to look vital as a step to the next level, the big 5th grade. So then you start to wonder if you should have or could have been doing more of it all along. I'd use it as an occasion to up the ante with your oldest and not be afraid to use some with your youngers where you see fit. Busywork is only a problem if you don't know why you're doing it or have a purpose. If YOU have a purpose in them doing it, that's good enough. And if that purpose is that it gives them something to do while you teach your olders, that's good enough. I think a bit of intentional busywork might head off disorganized chaos in your situation.

 

Yes! (My oldest is a ds), but yes - upping the ante, doing more on paper that we used to do orally. Yes, I think this is more of what I have in mind! Thank you for chiming in with your usual insight and common sense.

[Annabel Lee]

Busywork is an interesting topic, as it is subjective in meaning. In our homeschool, I try to strike a good balance between getting enough practice to master things without overkill. If my older ds gets all of his math problems in the top row correct then I excuse half the bottom row - as long as it is review of a function I know he has already mastered. If it is a fairly new concept and I think he does need to practice it, he has to finish all the problems. On the other hand, we are using FLL and much of it is done orally. Sometimes I make up worksheets (I keep them short and to the point), with just pen and paper, to solidify what he's learning and to check that he "gets it". It's really helped with parts of speech and types of sentences.

 

So not all worksheets are bad, as long as they serve a purpose. I do have to bounce back and forth between my boys to teach them both, so they each have some time each day working or playing on their own. I often give my ds5 specific activities to choose from if I'm working w/ ds7 until I can get him going on his own and go work w/ ds5. Choices sometimes include reading his BOB books, look at other books, playing w/ his ABC magnet board, shape/color tiles, magnetic mosaic, Legos, etc. They all have some degree of educational value, and I do this to keep him in a "learning" mind-frame during "school time" so it's not so hard to reel him back in from free play when it's "his turn to do school w/ mommy". Hmmm, I just realized I am using it for my own benefit! :tongue_smilie::D

[Colleen in NS]

Maybe what I'm realizing is that some dc need more repetition than others.

 

doing more on paper that we used to do orally.

 

Ah, this is different than I thought you meant. I thought you were talking about just giving them a bunch of worksheets of whatever just to help them learn those benefits you listed.

 

But if you think he needs more practice with something, then give him more practice in it. I consider that practice, not busywork, and yes, those benefits will come through practicing those skills.

[rafiki]

.

[angela in ohio]

If by busywork, you mean reinforcing a topic you have taught them by having them work on it repeatedly on paper, I think most children miss out by not doing it.

 

I think most homeschoolers underestimate the amount of repetition most children need to *truly* learn something.

Edited November 28, 2008 by angela in ohio

[Julie in MN]

What about possible "cons"

 

1) kill motivation/enthusiasm for school

 

 

For me, #2 for con would be "in one ear & out the other" syndrome. Kids can fill in an entire worksheet about a topic & not know what the topic was. I guess all methods probably need to come at learning from more than one approach or they risk this syndrome.

[Peela]

If there is a fair bit of benefit from something, its not busywork. Busywork is an inefficient use of time, for me, and since I like to keep our hours pretty short, what is busywork to me may not be busywork to someone else.