It's 10:30 p.m. Cinderella is awake and doing homework. She stayed home from school sick on Friday. She was miserable. She's finally feeling quite a bit better, but I'm guessing that this late night will make it so that she feels worse in the morning. She worked on tonight's homework for about an hour and has been doing Fridays work for two hours. It's sort of looking like all six of her teachers expect her to put a full 45 minutes in since she missed class. Ridiculous! Isn't she too young for this? Most of it is busy work that will teach her almost nothing.
I'm too tired to pull an overnighter, even if she can. I can't just leave her working by herself, can I? I don't know how old she will be when I decide she can do this all by herself. Maybe now. I'm exhausted. I have no idea how to do her math anyway, so I'm basically just here for moral support. And, I think I'm just bothering her more than helping her. How many times have I asked her to hurry in the last hour? Maybe ten. Or more. Aaaaaah!
Since I'm up, though, I'd like to ask a question--Do you think homework helps kids better understand and grasp a subject, or is it just extra work that gets in the way of family time that could benefit a child more? Where do you stand on this issue?
Also, have you ever in your entire adult life used integers for any reason? I can't think of one time. I can't even explain to her why she needs this skill.
August 31, 2009
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extra work that stands in the way of family time. or Wii time. or DS time. or TV time. (haha-- last three of course according to my eldest)
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integers? what huh? no way. fractions? no way! addition WITHOUT a calculator? NO WAY!!! nouns & verbs! absurd -- no way!!!! (I mean besides using them -- seriously, when do you actually need to identify them??? NEVER. silly school.)
I do believe that homework helps to reinforce a concept you learned in school. I spent a lot of time on homework and don't regret it.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I use integers every day!
Sigh - sometimes in my life I think about teaching junior high algebra. It sounds so fun, except for the dealing with teens. That part I would NOT like at all.
I think homework is good for learning responsibility, not necessarily for further learning of the subject. Kids need to get used to doing homework because that's all there is in college, but I definitely think there should be limits to the amount assigned.
ReplyDeleteI use integers all the time. Mostly to figure out why there is so much homework!
ReplyDeleteAnd my 12 year old has been sick the past three days. He had 9 pages of English work to do last night. Incredible.
Speaking as a teacher, not a parent, homework is often the only way I know if a person has a clue about the subject matter, i.e. in my case major scales, etc. However, in my own experience I can barely remember even having ANY homework until 7th grade, but then had quite a bit. Your girls seem to have extreme amounts however. What a good mom for staying up for moral support!
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