Last year my dd had homework in her 4yr old preschool class. It was 1 worksheet a week and if she didn't feel like doing it I didn't care. She just started kindergarten and I am freaking out about how much she has now. 20 minutes of reading (by her or us), 2 worksheets and whatever she didn't finish in school. Each night!!! She's in full day kindy so I'm good with there being nothing else on a daily basis. It makes me sad for all the kids, it's ridiculous.
Last year my dd had homework in her 4yr old preschool class. It was 1 worksheet a week and if she didn't feel like doing it I didn't care. She just started kindergarten and I am freaking out about how much she has now. 20 minutes of reading (by her or us), 2 worksheets and whatever she didn't finish in school. Each night!!! She's in full day kindy so I'm good with there being nothing else on a daily basis. It makes me sad for all the kids, it's ridiculous.
That's ridiculous. IMO the advantage of full day is extra time for enrichment. FFS, they are FIVE (sometimes 6, redshirters - lol). I have no issue with the reading because it's a good habit (that you can skip once in a while if necessary) and we do that now with our 2YO but worksheets and stuff is just busy work. No.
Post by jeaniebueller on Sept 3, 2015 8:56:29 GMT -5
We had zero homework in preschool or kindergarten (with the exception of bringing a show and tell item and doing optional reading). I feel fortunate that I have a reasonable school district.
I would flat out refuse to make my preschooler do worksheets for homework. That is not a good way for kids that age to learn.
We did have homework in pre-K, though (the year before K). Every week she had to go through magazines to find a picture of something that started with the letter of the week. Then she had to cut it out, paste it on a sheet the teacher sent home, then write what the object was. Then the kids would take turns standing up in front of the class and explaining their picture. I was fine with that homework because it was reinforcing fine motor skills as well as academic learning, plus it was interactive and sort of fun. Not just rote memorization or busy work.
We actually didn't even really have homework in K. She had a (different) short little book that would come home each night that she was supposed to read to us.
PreK was supposed to be able to write what something was?
They don't even really do worksheet style stuff in his classroom, let alone give it to us to do at home.
Although I did buy a giant worksheet activity book of K-level activities for him at Costco, lol. He actually likes practicing his letters and stuff sometimes.
His school expects little more of us than getting him there 4 days a week.
I would flat out refuse to make my preschooler do worksheets for homework. That is not a good way for kids that age to learn.
We did have homework in pre-K, though (the year before K). Every week she had to go through magazines to find a picture of something that started with the letter of the week. Then she had to cut it out, paste it on a sheet the teacher sent home, then write what the object was. Then the kids would take turns standing up in front of the class and explaining their picture. I was fine with that homework because it was reinforcing fine motor skills as well as academic learning, plus it was interactive and sort of fun. Not just rote memorization or busy work.
We actually didn't even really have homework in K. She had a (different) short little book that would come home each night that she was supposed to read to us.
PreK was supposed to be able to write what something was?
DS can write words if I spell them for him. I wouldn't be too annoyed with having to spell out one word.
honestly though I think there are parents that WANT their preschoolers to have homework. It's a way for them to quantitatively measure their child's progress. It's messed up but some parents honestly don't know better and don't understand the concept of learning through play. They want to "see" the learning.
I have noticed this desire too among the parents I know. Our preschool (which I chose based on its location) is staunchly play based and it made me think it was very old fashioned for a while before people started posting articles about early ed trends on here. The school just celebrated it's 50th bday and all of the teachers have worked there for decades. I guess it's one of those "what's old is new again" things? I go back and forth on it because it can be hard to tell what exactly your kid learning without that kind of proof. You kind of have to take it on faith for a while.
I would flat out refuse to make my preschooler do worksheets for homework. That is not a good way for kids that age to learn.
We did have homework in pre-K, though (the year before K). Every week she had to go through magazines to find a picture of something that started with the letter of the week. Then she had to cut it out, paste it on a sheet the teacher sent home, then write what the object was. Then the kids would take turns standing up in front of the class and explaining their picture. I was fine with that homework because it was reinforcing fine motor skills as well as academic learning, plus it was interactive and sort of fun. Not just rote memorization or busy work.
We actually didn't even really have homework in K. She had a (different) short little book that would come home each night that she was supposed to read to us.
PreK was supposed to be able to write what something was?
Not really -- she just had to be able to write the letters as I spelled the word for her. Or copy what I wrote on a separate sheet if she claimed to forget how to write a letter.
Question: My kid hates coloring and doesn't really enjoy worksheets. I've found that skills that I know she has don't really transfer well into worksheet form.
For example: different and same-she knows what this means because she has noticed in the neighborhood which houses look like ours, who has a shirt like hers, etc. But when she sees 3 pictures on a sheet of paper she can't really tell me which two are the same and which one is different.
She hates coloring but likes to draw. She drew a picture of Olaf the other day that blew my mind. She put a carrot nose on him, his twig hair, and his weird shaped teeth. But if I gave her a picture of Olaf or Elsa to color, she wouldn't want anything to do with it.
Part of this concerns me as it relates to school because I know on tests of aptitude, they would give her worksheet type stuff to do. What should I do about this? Nothing? She turned 4 in June.
Well I assume she will start K next year, right? For now she is learning and is going to change so much in the next year, I wouldn't worry.
One thing kids need to learn in school is following directions. I would wonder if that same different/same scenario would transfer into other areas that would make it difficult to assess aptitude. So depending on what type of curriculum your school focuses on, especially with respect to assessments, I would talk to the teacher about differentiation. But honestly this really isn't a big deal for several more years, especially if your kid goes to a school that differentiates instruction.
ours is apparently starting it soon-i posted about this a couple weeks ago when we got the notice.
i'm 99% certain that on 2 of the 3 days he goes, we won't be completing the "homework". we won't have time. i'm not about to make time either-we get home, he gets a snack while i get changed, he comes with me to my PT job, we get home, eat dinner, he goes to bed. it's being marketed as reinforcing things that they do in school (counting, tracing letters, etc) but i'm pretty against it.
i know he needs to learn to write his letters, but he does enough of this at school right now. he'll be 4 soon and i don't even know when he's supposed to know how to write his letters/numbers by-but i'm not concerned about it at the moment. he hates coloring and drawing, doesn't show much interest in writing (i had him trace letters in DH's birthday card last week and he really didn't care for it).
honestly, i'm hoping we get into one of the area charter schools when he goes to K. one of the big things for me there is that they don't have homework-they build time into the school days and push the ability to do activities and have time together as a family in the evenings.