How much homework is a "normal" amount for a 1st grader?
DD has 12 spelling words to learn each week, she has to do a spelling activity each night, (depending on which one she picks it can take up to 15-20 minutes), read for 20 minutes, work on a math website for 10 minutes & complete a small language worksheet each night. These things easily take up an hour if she's cooperating! Is this amount of homework the norm?
She has about 20 minutes of downtime before homework time, then dinner time, then 20 more minutes of down time & then get ready for bed. It's kicking my butt & hers. She loves school but I'm afraid this is going to burn her out quickly. Am I being crazy?
Post by dizzycooks on Sept 30, 2015 14:15:55 GMT -5
That's a lot. I do think most of it's routine practice, but I'd maybe mention that the spelling is taking that long. Can you count bedtime stories that you read to her as part of her reading or is it reading she needs to actually do for fluency practice? I'd not be happy about the worksheet personally, but the other activities seem normal. I would expect not more than 30 minutes total.
That seems like a lot. DS2 has one spelling assignment every night and a math sheet about every other day. It takes him about 15 minutes on a bad day to go over his spelling words and finish his homework.
Post by mamaalysson on Sept 30, 2015 14:18:05 GMT -5
That seems crazy. I don't have a first grader, so I have no idea if that is the norm, but that sounds so stressful. My kindergartener has a weekly worksheet that comes home Monday with a very short activity to complete each night through Thursday, and then it is turned in on Friday. The step from that to what you described seems huge! I am sorry, and I would be burning out as well.
We can count bedtime stories as part of the reading. The teacher said we can count what we read to her & what she reads from her weekly take home reader. DD is a great reader for her age & loves this part of the homework but MAN the spelling assignment is the one she dislikes the most! We have 12 "choices" for her spelling assignments & we have to pick 4 for the week. Homework goes out on Monday & is returned on Friday. I have looked all 12 over & pick the ones that seem like they will take the least amount of time. I can honestly say at this stage of 1st grade I'm not picking the "write a story using all of your spelling words" The words are also so random, last week she had four & five as spelling words. This week she has "too". To me that is confusing!
At back to school night when the teacher said she also has a 1st grader I thought it was a great thing. I wonder if her 1st grader is getting this much work?
I would love no homework too! I was never a fan of it when I was in school ;-)
Is she in private? I can't remember if we're in the same ISD. C had spelling words and one homework assignment for Mon-Thur in 1st grade, in addition to nightly reading. The school advised that homework should be taking 15 minutes max including spelling.
I would also like no homework, or very minimal! That is definitely way too much. DD is in first grade. So far, she gets a very short math worksheet every other day or so. We are supposed to read about 10 minutes/day (300 minutes on her book log over the course of the month). Some of that reading is in the form of a reader provided by the school, which we read at home and can count as part of the book log. They send home a list of spelling words to practice, but there are no required activities associated with that list. So far, DD has known all of the words so we haven't had to worry about it.
That seems like a lot to me. I would never expect my students to do that much. Our school's homework rule is 10 minutes per grade so 1st grade can only have 10 minutes per night ans if we are sending home a reading log asking them to read 15-20 minutes a night we can't send home more homework. I do send home th list of spelling words and ask that parents review them each night but there is no activity and it is not required. I would not be okay with my own kids having that much homework in 1st grade and would never send that much home with my students. .
My first grader had less than that in her weekly packet & I think it's overkill! I was actually going to post about it, but now I'm Thinking hers is fine.
Any homework in 1st grade is too much. Refuse to do it.
Yes. I wish our district would get on board with this. Do you have any research handy?
Our teacher did say at bts night that we were not to sweat finishing homework. So I'm not going to. My primary focus is that she plays after school and reads.
Any homework in 1st grade is too much. Refuse to do it.
I adore our no homework school, shockingly our test scores are as high or higher than the schools that are the same SES as ours who do give out homework.
Post by lattelady5 on Sept 30, 2015 17:45:57 GMT -5
I would refuse it too. Why is she sending it home? Do they not have enough time to complete work during school hours? It sounds like a lot of busy work. And IMO l, the only homework for young kids should be reading. There is no reason young children shoukd be spending their mon school hours doing more school work.
Any homework in 1st grade is too much. Refuse to do it.
Yes. I wish our district would get on board with this. Do you have any research handy?
Our teacher did say at bts night that we were not to sweat finishing homework. So I'm not going to. My primary focus is that she plays after school and reads.
Add to that common sense. Homework is inequitable. My kids are gold because they not only have willing parents at home, they have a lawyer and a teacher. My next-door neighbor's kids have a pot-smoking grandpa and a low-educated mother. Which kids are going to do better in school?
Refuse to do the homework and by association stick up for the kids without support at home.
Thank you so much everyone for your feedback. I really do appreciate it. Sometimes I know I need a reality check so I wanted to make sure it wasn't one of those cases where I was totally off base.
She is in private school & I understand that they can be a bit more challenging but this is CRAZY! What got me thinking about it is one of the other 1st grade mom's also has a child in a 3rd grade at the same school & she said the 1st grade teacher gives out the most homework out of all the teachers at that school.
Yes. I wish our district would get on board with this. Do you have any research handy?
Our teacher did say at bts night that we were not to sweat finishing homework. So I'm not going to. My primary focus is that she plays after school and reads.
Add to that common sense. Homework is inequitable. My kids are gold because they not only have willing parents at home, they have a lawyer and a teacher. My next-door neighbor's kids have a pot-smoking grandpa and a low-educated mother. Which kids are going to do better in school?
Refuse to do the homework and by association stick up for the kids without support at home.
I agree that it's common sense. That's just harder to sell, you know? I need to figure out how to go about getting serious about this. I agree that I can just stop doing it, but that's a hard thing to sell to a 7 year old who wants to do what she is supposed to do.
Post by L From The D on Sept 30, 2015 21:06:33 GMT -5
Elementary homework sucks.
Last year, in first, a typical week would be: - a vocab list w/ 6-12 words - vocab cutting assignment once a week - math workbook (get it Fri, due Wed) - writing book once a week - reading 10 minutes every night + whatever wasn't finished in class
Set the timer for 20 minutes. When the timer goes on, she's done regardless if she is done with homework or not. There is no need to complain. You set the rules for homework, it's your family.
Post by iheartthe80s on Oct 1, 2015 10:38:26 GMT -5
DD has two pages of math worksheets, and a spelling sheet relating to that week's words. They have spelling test each Friday. They also might have some corrections on other worksheets. I'd say we spend 30 minutes.
People that get daily homework for the younger grades, how are you even getting it done?
We start as soon as DS gets home. When DS is motivated, it only takes a half hour; but some days it takes us all the way to dinner time. We do reading as part of bedtime.
People that get daily homework for the younger grades, how are you even getting it done?
We get homework daily (including Friday which I'm bitter about).
I have a tutor who comes Mondays and she can actually get 2 days of work done. DD also does some or all of her work at after-school most days. That leaves reading and maybe 10-20 mins of homework here and there. It still feels like a lot to be honest and if the homework doesn't out on Monday because of some logical issue when we get off track.