@ - amount of time for homework by grade?

[ringstrue]

I remember us talking about this before. What's the rough timeframe for homework for a first grader? DH and DD were up to 35 minutes, mostly with her crying, today, so I think it's time for a conversation with her teacher.

[shell403b]

10 min per grade level. 35 min for 1st grade? No.

[devonpow]

I think this varies so much district by district. Our school doesn't really do homework at all until 2nd grade. DS1 is in 3rd grade and he gets one math sheet each night (double sided - one side is practice and the other side "extension" problems) and is supposed to read for 20 minutes each night. That's it.

I hear that things ramp up in 4 th grade.

[devonpow]

Is there are tears I would definitely talk to the teacher. DS1s teachers stressed to all of us at the beginning of the year that homework was mostly about getting the kids into a responsible routine, and if it causes stress to stop and talk to her about it. I think that's more the point of homework in the early grades.

[imojoebunny]

DS has about 10 minutes a day, plus reading, which he can do on his own now, and likes.

Do you know if it is taking a long time because she is struggling with it? Because she is just done? Or because it is really a lot of homework?

DD took forever with homework because she wasn't learning in school, like an hour. Her teacher let me modify, and we spent the time on special tutoring instead to help her learn to read and OT to help with her sensory processing problems. She didn't need anymore work when she got home.

I hate homework in the early grades, other than reading or being read to.

[ringstrue]

See I think we averaged about 10 mins in kindergarten, so maybe that's where I got derailed. Her teacher doesn't even grade the darn things, so DH and I are having debates about her getting in trouble/failing but I'm not clear on the expectations of this damn weekly packet in the first place. Also, parent teacher conferences just passed and her report card that we just got said she was basically on pace so I don't really have any flags going up for her. I emailed her teacher about it so hopefully I will have some better info soon.

[Alyssa]

I don't know, my daughter is in Kindergarten and she can either take 10 minutes or almost an hour depending on her mood.

[eclaires]

It's varied by year, but never been that onerous. Something like an average of 10 minutes per night when he's had it, plus 20 minutes reading. I admit that it's not bad for us because he loves to read, so adding reading plus homework it is more than 10 minutes per grade level. Since he loves to read, he frequently reads more like 45 minutes plus, especially when the weather sucks and he reads when we get home.

He's currently in 3rd and has homework very randomly (most of the time he has none besides reading).

[erbear]

I think the rule of thumb is ten minutes per grade (plus reading). My first grader gets about 5 minutes of homework per week (a math sheet and a writing sheet), and she's supposed to read every night. I would not do 35 minutes of homework with her. 

[penguingrrl]

My first grader's homework is never a lot. Usually one worksheet, sometimes some spelling practice, once a week she has to do guided reading with me. The most it ever takes is 10-20 minutes once I get her to settle down and do it (some days that takes longer than actually doing it).

If it took 35 minutes I would be sending the teacher an email because that's too much in 1st grade.

My 3rd grader has close to an hour a night usually, which seems a bit excessive. But she does everything at snail pace (walks, talks, everything; she's just one of those people) so I suspect that's why hers takes as long as it does.

[earlgreyhot]

My K'er was being sent him sign a packet of 2-3 worksheets a night that were optional. We gave it a try and eventually stopped doing them b/c it was a struggle and I didn't see the value. We've double downed on reading to him and everyone is happier.

The teacher has mentioned hw being mandatory in first grade but I'm already collecting articles to push back We will continue to read to him and encourage him to read to us more as he progresses. But no random worksheet homework.

[One Girl In All The World]

We probably spend 15-30 minutes doing homework, depending on my son's mood.

He is in the advanced reading group for first grade so he has "extra" work compared to other kids not in that group, which alternates reading a chapter in a book (they are doing the "Frog and Toad" books) and the next night answering questions. The questions are a bit much - one page front and back, five questions or so and they have to rephrase the question in the answer. He can do it but it's hard from a writing perspective - they only allow so much room and he writes like a 6 year old boy.

On top of that is a math work sheet, which usually takes him maybe 5 minutes, plus one minute timed "fluency" - reading a passive and counting how many words he read in one minute.

Growing up, I feel like I always had a crap ton of homework, so it doesn't seem so bad, but sometimes we split it up and do some of it in the morning before school.

[Gato]

D1 is in 2nd grade and gets 3-4 math sheets a week. They are a practice of concepts; they take 15 minutes tops, unless DD and I start arguing about something.

She got more homework in K back when we lived in NJ.  I just let it slide if she was too tired to do it.

[tres3]

Don't get me started on homework. I told my 2d grade teacher this year that we couldn't do homework because 4th grade homework was taking up all my time. Seriously. The amount of homework my 4th grader has is insane. He has an IEP and it says there can be modifications. Most of his teachers are good about the modifications (work for 30 min and just sign where he gets to) but his math teacher is awful. I said a couple weeks ago that I wanted it reduced per his IEP and she said that all the problems were important. No all the problems were not important. He is a smart kid but literally writing out one hundred twenty seven and eighty eight hundredths 20 times was not necessary for a kid who gets pulled twice a week for OT because he can't physically write. All she cares about are her test scores not the well being of the kids.

[laurenpetro]

in the younger grades I didn't let homework drive us crazy. G has a 504, not an IEP but even with that I just couldn't justify the stress. I talked to her teachers about it and said we'll do what we can do but beyond that I'm not having homework ruin her educational experience. we've had a run of amazing teachers who agreed with me.

if it helps you at all the stress and fighting cleared up around 2nd grade. we still have battles over spelling but that was part of why she has a 504 in the first place.

[jsillyfun]

I am so glad the pendulum is swinging towards less homework. I used to have 4 hours a day of it in sixth grade and was stressed, upset etc...