Elementary school HW

[noodleoo]

Trying to get an idea of what is normal.  DD1 is in 3rd grade and this is what she has had for HW.  They send it all home Monday and it is due Friday:
1) Math worksheets, usually 2 pages front and back
2) English: they are sent a magazine with stories to read, then a packet of questions to answer.  The packet is usually 2-3 pages, front and back.  
3) Reading log, 20 mins per night

This is a huge increase from 2nd grade.  I'm also curious: are kids supposed to be able to do HW themselves?  I help DD1 with it, but it seems like she has no idea what she's doing.  The math worksheet this week was confusing to me, I had no idea what they wanted her to do (they don't send home the book and the worksheet itself had terrible instructions).  I feel like I shouldn't have to help her, but she can't do it alone.  We're probably spending 30 mins a night on just math and English to get it done by Friday.  I've started picking her up from aftercare early so we have time to do it.  Does this seem reasonable/normal?

The school offers a HW club afterschool (for a fee) so I signed her up for that for next month, but I really don't think you should need that to do regular HW.  It is annoying because I'm already paying for aftercare but this is separate.

[googled]

In third grade my kid had a reading log (also 20 mins a day) and the occasional practice problems for math, but that was rare. They really wanted them to work on their multiplication skills. That amount of homework sounds kind of excessive to me. In fourth he had the reading log and then 1 math worksheet (front and back). This year he has no homework at all - just practice if he needs it before a test.

[yellow23]

Our school system doesn’t really do homework. My 3rd grader is only supposed to read every day, but they don’t have to do a log or anything. My 6th grader has a few minutes of homework once every couple weeks and it’s only if she didn’t get it done in class. My 8th grader is just starting to get some homework this year, but it’s never more than 30 minutes and most days no more than 5-10 minutes.

I believe our schools decided several years ago that homework didn’t help much. My oldest was in early elementary at the time so I don’t know how it was previously since it didn’t really affect us.

[CurlyQ284]

My kid is in 5th, and up until this year he had 1 math worksheet (front and back), 20 minutes of reading, and a list of spelling words for the week with a test on Friday.

This year no more spelling words.

[candreco]

We've had varying amounts over the years depending on teacher/administration policies. At max, I think we had weekly reading logs showing the 20-30 minutes per day with response questions plus a math worksheet M-Th. That was honestly a lot, even for my older DD who tends to be pretty independent with work like that.

For DS as a current 5th grader, the only homework he gets is unfinished classwork (for him that's part of a math worksheet 1-2x per week), test study guides that they go over in class right before the test (less than 1 per week), and occasional packets to read and respond for socratic seminar (he's got his first one since school started in August now). Reading 20-30 minutes per day but no log and reading in bed is part of his settling down routine anyway.  I'd say it's no more than 1-1.5 hours a week total (not counting daily reading time), and many weeks are less.

[thebreakfastclub]

My 5th grader has no homework except to read for fun.

[flygirl]

My child has had a reading log from at least 2nd grade, and he still does it in 7th. He also had writing each night but it was probably less than 15 min. My DS struggled with math for awhile and always had it as homework. He sometimes spent an hour or more on just math. He said a lot of kids finished in school so I figured it was just him. He still has math that takes him an hour or more each night. Sometimes he needs help, sometimes he doesn’t. Apparently it’s more common for other kids to have this each night now too.

[noodleoo]

Oct 26, 2023 10:43:48 GMT -5 googled said:

In third grade my kid had a reading log (also 20 mins a day) and the occasional practice problems for math, but that was rare. They really wanted them to work on their multiplication skills. That amount of homework sounds kind of excessive to me. In fourth he had the reading log and then 1 math worksheet (front and back). This year he has no homework at all - just practice if he needs it before a test.

This is what I find interesting!  I remember in 3rd grade it was all about memorizing multiplication tables, which I think is necessary.  The worksheet this week was so confusing, about using the distributive property.  They went from skip counting to arrays to multiplying in like 3 weeks, and now they seem to be moving on. I feel like it is too fast and they are skipping an essential step!

Ugh, I hate this.  Everyone I know is complaining about it being too much HW.  And DD1 doesn't even play sports yet. I don't know how the kids with soccer twice a week are keeping up with it.  

I emailed the teacher, but he didn't really answer my questions and just said he'd work with her on this weeks math sheet since she didn't understand it.  But that doesn't help with my overall feeling that the HW is too much.  

ETA:  Interesting, maybe it is that DD1 isn't finishing the math at school so it is coming home.  I will have to ask the teacher.

[gerberdaisy]

Homework isn't allowed before third grade in our school. Just reading books to practice that come home.

Starting in third, DD would get a nightly math sheet (took 3-10 min), then asked to read nightly. Fourth grade, no homework, just reading nightly (Which is one reason DD thinks she has the best teacher ever!). This is teacher dependent, but I really appreciate less homework.

[luckystar2]

That sounds about what my dd had. Honestly I felt like there was way more homework in elementary school than older years. Part of it was just my dd seems to understand things better now so it goes quicker. But I really think the homework was excessive in elementary. She always had math worksheets, a few years were super focused on spelling, usually some reading comprehension work and several years required the nightly reading logs.

But omg yes elementary math worksheets with no books or instructions were infuriating!! We would help dd with homework to an extent. We didn’t do it for her. But the idea of homework to me is that you practice things to understand and learn. So if she was totally confused on something we would try to explain to her the concept and show her other examples. But often times this was so hard in math because math is so different now. I had to download teacher curriculum info so I could try to understand how they wanted them to do stuff.

Dd did have some great teachers who would say you should only be spending x amount on this stuff. If your kid isn’t understanding or it’s taking too long, just leave those blank and write a note on the homework explaining that. That way the teacher knows what concepts the kids are struggling with that maybe need more instruction or if it’s just a specific kid they can work with them on it.

[k3am]

Nightly home reading starts in 1st grade here. This continues for all other grades. They get a spelling list for the week, and the parent is supposed to make up "fun" ways to complete it, which was a PITA. We generally opted out assuming the kids could spell the words. No other homework.
Starting in 2, they get nightly handouts to work on. DS finishes his by himself at his aftercare program (no formal assistance, but they have 30 mins of quiet time to work on HW or read). I correct his work for any areas or items he didn't understand, but he's generally 95% self completed.
3rd and 4th we had minimal homework that I remember.
DD is in 5th and gets a handout or two per week. We check to make sure she completed it, but don't provide any help. Her teacher flat out said parents shouldn't be helping, you've all passed 5th grade already and don't get paid to teach. The parents only job for homework is to make sure that it's done, and if the kid is having difficulty, don't intervene but let the teacher know so she knows where they need to focus.

[devonpow]

Our school system doesn’t really do homework until 5th grade. Kids are supposed to read 30 minutes a night but there’s no log to keep or anything. In 4th grade he had a spelling test every Friday so we practiced that during the week. 5th grade he would have a math sheet and an ELA page or two each night but it took him about 10 minutes maybe? He’s in 6th now and has math each night (which is an annoying system using desmos which I hate but that’s another topic), and I haven’t really seen any other homework…he says he does it in school so hopefully that’s correct lol.

I’m a believer in not really helping with homework - if they are having trouble with something it’s good for the teacher to see that. Homework at this age is about setting good work habits and organization skills. And let me tell you having a junior in high school with an unbelievable amount of homework each night it’s definitely good to set those routines well!

[lessel]

My DS (3rd grade) goes to a specialized school for kids with learning differences (ADHD, dyslexia, etc.) so they're a little bit more lean on homework compared to the public school we left. If it's a regular week (no holidays or teacher workdays), they get 4 assignments at the beginning of the week and they have to get them completed by that Friday. It's usually 15 minutes of 2 online programs (one math, one reading), and then 2 worksheets (only the front page, so really short; spelling, phonics, etc.). So it's basically 15 minutes a night or we double it up if we have activities. They also have a monthly reading challenge that's like a bingo sheet where you aim to check 15/20 boxes of different reading activities (most involve reading, but some are like 'design a cover for a book you're reading').

DS is able to do his homework without assistance, but I do review it with him and he'll go back and fix things.

[felicity]

DS is in 3rd and so far has only had one worksheet a night that takes him around 5 mins and he is supposed to read 20 minutes a day, but there is no log. I think it's usually something they worked on that day so it's fresh in his mind, and he always says it's easy. I don't check it either because I think his teacher should know if he's not understanding something. He can ask me questions but he never does.

His teacher said it's not required or graded, but also to let her know if they are having problems completing it, so I took it to mean it's highly encouraged. I would reach out to the teacher if she's having trouble doing it on her own. IMO homework should be reinforcing stuff they already know how to do and shouldn't be a regular struggle.

[sent]

DD had almost no homework through 3rd grade and a very tiny bit in 4th, mainly creating some book report types of projects.

Now in 5th grade she has quite a bit more. We can also now see where she is clearly lacking in skills. Like the homework was graphing coordinates but she was struggling when the numbers had a decimal. I had to teach her and go over it with her. To me this feels like a deficiency from elementary school. They never sent home any math homework so we didn't know what she was learning.

[jewel]

My 3rd grader gets homework sent home daily, due the next day. It’s really minimal though - usually one side of a math sheet (the HW side of an in class worksheet) and they’re supposed to do 25 minutes of reading, but no log. My kid often does his reading in the morning when he wakes up, and he can do his math sheet on his own. He’ll sometimes do it during down time in class otherwise it might take 5-10 minutes after school.

[egishere]

pretty normal from our experience. Once my kids got to 5th grade it seemed like they had less homework- just math but more occasional projects to work on.

[abs]

That is more homework than my 7th grader has.

However the bigger red flag here seems to be that she doesn’t understand. I’d work with the teacher to see what is going on there. You shouldn’t have to pick her up early just to make time for homework. That will make her hate school so fast. Assuming she understands concepts I’d push back on that amount.

[sequins]

OMG, yes, my DD is in 3rd grade as well. And we have all of that. Plus weekly spelling tests and random exercises like family tree or mood monitor etc. It's a lot. What's worse is that the HW is either too convoluted or not sufficiently challenging.

Like, for a week straight she had to draw little circles to multiply. Like 9 x 3 and draw out 27 circles and count them. But 1) she already knows what 9x3 is 2) knows to add 9 three times to get to it even if she didn't. So what's the point of these little circles, that too in word problems? It's just time-consuming and boring. And they have names for these as well. Like use the circle method and then I have to figure out wth is the circle method because she doesn't care or is trying to get out of doing it so she won't tell me. So I have to sit with her for the entire duration except for the reading solo part.

[stemmie]

Our school did the no more than 10 minutes per grade level thing plus reading. DS's school called it "home study" and it didn't really ramp up until 4th although K-2nd had at-home projects intended to be done as a family. I hated those with the heat of 10,000 suns.

If your child doesn't understand what's she's supposed to do with homework consistently it makes sense to share that with the teacher. Probably other kids are confused as well.

[starburst604]

Real quick response, but as you know I have a 3rd grader in the same state. Her teacher has been doing this for 38 years and at her open house she said she gives no homework. She would love for all kids to read each night, but she doesn’t find value in homework at this level. That being said, many other 3rd graders we know have homework.

[DarcyLongfellow]

I have a lot of feelings and opinions about homework. Homework in elementary school has not been shown to be an effective way of teaching. At *most*, elementary kids should have a few minutes a night to just reinforce what they learned during the day (plus reading nightly). Also, homework should absolutely not require parental help. If the child does the homework alone and gets answers wrong, then when the teacher checks over the homework the next day in class, they'll know the child needs help in certain areas.

My first question is whether your daughter needs that additional practice in order to master the concepts being taught in class. If the answer is no, then I'd likely not have her do the homework. With my oldest, I would straight up tell her teachers that I wasn't going to require her to do any homework. She got straight As anyway and was a stressed out little basketcase of a child, so she needed time at home to just play.

That's a lot of homework for 3rd grade. That's how much my 5th grader has on a heavy homework week. In 3rd grade she would occasionally have some online math to do, but otherwise just had to read. In 4th, she had a math worksheet most nights (1 page, front and back). For her, I was happy with that amount, but if it had been causing stress I'd have talked with the teacher about lowering the amount.

I'd see if you could have a conference with the teacher (not just an email) to discuss what he wants out of the homework. Explain how long its taking you and how its affecting your family's home life. My guess is that he assumed that amount of homework would require only 20 minutes a night or so. In my experience, elementary teachers are sensitive to the fact that they're teaching small humans who need a life outside of academics.

[kath16]

mine are in first or second grade, so i do understand that it's not a true comparison...

second grade: mine has to read at least 60 minutes per week, which i just guesstimate whatever he reads at bedtime before he falls asleep. it all evens out and he's well above the 60 mins per week, so i don't stress the accuracy of his reading log. they typically have to read 5-10 mins out loud and prep for spelling tests, but they already go over the spelling words in class so i don't care if he does this and if his grade starts to slip, that's on him.

first grade: 5-10 mins of reading out loud, and he does have to write out his spelling words each night. i do care that he concentrates for the 5 minutes that it takes him, but i do not check it or look over his shoulder. if it's wrong, so be it.

math is done solely in the classroom for both kids. we have not dealt with that yet as parents, but i do agree that the teacher needs to understand where kids are struggling, and if the whole class is struggling on something specific then they need to know that too. hopefully it's not graded?

[chedifuen]

Our district has no homework in elementary school and in middle school the only homework is assignments that the student didn't complete in class.

This is way too much in my opinion. I wouldn't have my kid complete anything other than reading.

[7costanza]

My son is in 4th and has 30 minutes of reading a “just right” book (the teacher was specific that it should not be a graphic novel), and 5-10 minutes of practicing math facts. There are also optional math worksheets, which we don’t do. Nothing is tracked. We actually just had a parent/teacher conference and she said she stopped assigning homework last year and did not see any difference in learning.

[noodleoo]

Oct 26, 2023 11:50:19 GMT -5 sequins said:

OMG, yes, my DD is in 3rd grade as well. And we have all of that. Plus weekly spelling tests and random exercises like family tree or mood monitor etc. It's a lot. What's worse is that the HW is either too convoluted or not sufficiently challenging.

Like, for a week straight she had to draw little circles to multiply. Like 9 x 3 and draw out 27 circles and count them. But 1) she already knows what 9x3 is 2) knows to add 9 three times to get to it even if she didn't. So what's the point of these little circles, that too in word problems? It's just time-consuming and boring. And they have names for these as well. Like use the circle method and then I have to figure out wth is the circle method because she doesn't care or is trying to get out of doing it so she won't tell me. So I have to sit with her for the entire duration except for the reading solo part.

OMG I think we must be using the same curriculum!  I think it is called Envision for Math?  We did the same thing with all the stupid circles last week.  This week it was drawing the circles and then splitting them into 2 arrays and multiplying and then adding them.  But the instructions were *terrible* so I honestly had no idea what they were trying to teach her!  

Oct 26, 2023 11:55:31 GMT -5 starburst604 said:

Real quick response, but as you know I have a 3rd grader in the same state. Her teacher has been doing this for 38 years and at her open house she said she gives no homework. She would love for all kids to read each night, but she doesn’t find value in homework at this level. That being said, many other 3rd graders we know have homework.

Ugh, I wish our school had a no HW policy other than reading.  She loves to read, so I'd much rather she do that at home then having to fight with her to do HW.  I've told DD1 she doesn't need to do it all, but she thinks she does and is the type of kid who will feel bad if she doesn't.

We should be having parent teacher conferences soon and I will definitely bring it up.  

[fivechickens]

This seemed about right when my kids were in 3rd grade.

Reading 20 minutes every night but math and the scholastic newsletter was not every night.

[picksthemusic]

DS is in 4th and he brings home a math worksheet (usually takes him 10 minutes to complete tops), and he has to read 20 minutes (no log, just highly suggested). That's about it.

[steamboat185]

3rd grade we had 30mins of reading, math 1-2 sheets, various computer assignments, times table work, and spelling words weekly. It didn’t seem like too much.

My 2nd graders has spelling words and reading nightly. They also have to fill out a “bookworm” every 2 weeks. It feels like a decent about, but DD is dyslexic and everything is harder for her. We try to do at least 15mins of math, but that is us and not homework.

My 5th grader has 45 minutes of reading, a math sheet, and spelling words weekly. She occasionally has to bring home stuff she hasn’t completed is school, but she’s much better about getting her work done on time in school this year.

[christy082]

My daughter is in 3rd grade and she's supposed to practice math facts and read daily. There's no log or any requirement to show she's doing this.

Most weeks she gets an ELA sheet with a passage to read and questions to answer that a parent is supposed to do with her. They get it on Tuesday and it's due Thursday.

A couple times per week she gets a math workbook sheet, but often gets time to do it in class. Frequently, they only have to do the odd numbered questions. She's in a class with kids who tested in the gifted range for reading and math, so I don't know if this affects the amount of homework given or not.