Homework

[How Much]

How much homework are is your 10 year old doing per night/ week end? Our son is being bombarded and I'm driven insane with it.  How much is too much?  Teacher is very unhelpful and keeps the children in if they haven't finished or done it. Three hours yesterday and three hours today all for tomorrow - seems a lot for this age to me? Week nights tends to be around 2hours. This is the norm.

[GGirl not logged in]

Hi, sorry to hear that.

My son in local school is 10 yrs also and in P4.  He is getting on average 7 hours per week including spelling tests.  He's being llucky in having a great, very motivating teacher this year and his grades have slowly progressed from high 50s to hitting all low 80s this year, so his theory of not too much homework is working on him.  he wants to set work during classtime so he can spot who's struggling.

[older kids.]

Mine are in secondary and they get less homework than that.  They've each had about an hour this weekend - some weekends it is more but probably not more than 3 hours in total.

You need to bring this up with the school rather than the teacher as an individual - parents have done that at our school and the younger kids now get less homework (ages 11-13).  Go and see the head teacher/principal and see what they say about it.  

[h/w]

It's subjective. Some parents like it (beats seeing kids idle and always on some kind electronic device, if not involved in some sports or activites), some don't.

How effective the h/w is to learning and getting anything through is also subjective though.

My child was once given lists of 75 random words to memorise each night, all in the name of enrichment vocab (not Singapore school) - this was the teacher's answer to some parents, about kids not being given h/w at all, for months.

[Different opinion]

Please don't be offended - but I have seen this before (my child!)

Is he actually being given 20 minutes homework that is taking him 3 hours to do?

Is he just bored ridged with the homework and cannot be bothered; is he constantly distracted by other things; are there other siblings running in and out playing and he would rather be with them.  Does he find it too hard and therefore cannot do it in the allotted time.  Is he in the computer playing games and you think he is doing homework.  Is the TV on.

I would be extremely surprised if any teacher would give this much homework at this age.  If they do, then they are, to me, trying to make up for work not done in the classroom.  16 hours a week is about what my kids got at IB.  Either your child can't cope/does not want to do it and therefore taking too long or there is something wrong at school.  As you have had no joy from the teacher, take it higher before you turn the poor child off learning altogether.

[different opinion]

Also meant to add... Do you know any of the parents in your child's class whose kids always seem to cope (there is always at least 1) why don't you ask them how long it takes for their child to do their homework? 

[How Much]

Thanks All

All homework is at the dining table to save distractions or it would take longer  and I tend to sit with my lap top doing something so to chivvy him along or it would break him I think to have to do alone.  I'm not offended, honestly,  as originally he was doing homework in his room and I did think this was the case as it was taking so long, now I realise not so. 

The teacher isn't very approachable and we have spoken to her once and she came accross very defensive.  Our son would rather us just not say anything again because he's afraid of her.  He cracks on with no moaning or worries, it's just we think it's far too much - and it's always "by tomorrow!"!

[Too much too]

My eldest is nine and I think she's getting too much homework too. She is involved in sports after school twice and week and has other after activities on two more days. There is no homework on the weekends at our school, and mostly homework has to be completed by Friday.

I have spoken with other mums, some children do seem to struggle with the amount especially if they are on the sports squads because they are home after 5 on sport days, other children seem to breeze through it without spending so much time. I agree with some other posters that it could be done faster but have to say these kids are so young. My daughter wants to do her very best and does take too long on some projects; the end results can be great but the time invested ....

I think I will need to have a word with the teacher too ...

[A teacher]

When a student is not able to catch up with the average learning pace, he/she has more catching up to do.

I have seen a trend: complaining about normal HW is norm/culture from the parents of one (or two at most) nationalities! These two nationalities have been constant according to my observation for the past five years.

If yours is a genuine case, then discuss this with the school and sort out. But if you belong to one of the two nationalities, then I guess the teacher (if he/she is experienced enough) knows the behavior (behaviour!) of these nationalities and is trying not to waste her/his time. OR the teacher could be new and is still getting used to the teaching/learning process.

But, please do some introspection/reflection on this issue before making education a legal issue as I have seen some nationalities tend to enjoy a legal kind of approach to education.

Cheers

[inthebox]

I had the same problem one year with a teacher. She quit at the end of the year and I really think she just couldn't be bothered trying.
Not every single child in the class is going to learn at the exact same pace as every one else. Why some teachers think it's ok to torture kids with excessive homework is beyond me. What does this achieve?  The idea is for learning to occur not X amount of pages to be turned out.
Why can't they send homework home that is achievable for the student and useful for learning.
What happened to differentiation? and learners interests?

I would tell the teacher that my child will be doing 20 minutes homework and that i will oversea it. Tell him/her that it needs to be interesting and achievable for the child to do without help and that you can start from there.

[what are]

the 2 nationalities?

[kate smith]

find out the underlying reason behind it. Is the homework set taking your child longer to finish? Is it due to not understanding or slowness, or difficulty in concentrating? Would it help if you appointed a tutor? Cut off distractions at home, in a quiet place not in a common area so the child can focus on homework alone. Stress the importance of homework to the child and how it is meant to be revision & understanding of the days work. At 10 years the child has to spend more time on homework etc...

[Here]

From experience, one of the nationalities has got to be Japanese because they are used to homework.  From other sources, the Indians, because they come from very competitive environments.  The parents are also very vocal and demanding.  Don't have much experience with other nationalities.

[IB?]

How much homework are is your 10 year old doing per night/ week end? Our son is being bombarded and I'm driven insane with it.  How much is too much?  Teacher is very unhelpful and keeps the children in if they haven't finished or done it. Three hours yesterday and three hours today all for tomorrow - seems a lot for this age to me? Week nights tends to be around 2hours. This is the norm.

Is this an IB school? I would complain to the IBO. I really don't know how some of the schools here keep their accreditation.

[A Teacher]

Those who complain about homework, fight with teachers, make it a big issue: US, UK, but mostly the US parents. There were some very supportive parents from these two nationalities though, and they from academic background. Usually nationalities that like homework: Asians.

My work is usually optional. I am talking about middle school and above. For Asians, I guide them where to find extra work and how to approach.  For those who fight and do not perform, I bring it to their notice that their kid is very interested in learning, but internalizing requires little more effort.

Learning is a collaborative effort. If parents think that their kid should stop after 20 minutes, that's their choice. I have stopped worrying about it. But many many parents have been requesting me for extra work and these parents are not just Asians but almost from all other places.