How much homework is enough???

[kodiakchicken]

chicken stalker ;p :

I teach high school earth science

There's a big difference between high school science and 5th grade. I agree with you that kids should have homework, but no 10 year old should be spending 3 hours a night on homework.

BTW, your post came across very negative and will probably got that much farther to preventing Bren from ever coming to this group of people for advice again.​

 

[Sugar Sand Farm]

My grandson is in 5th grade and is in honors classes They don't get anywhere near that homework. We live in a small town as well. The kids school day starts with a one hour 30 minutes ride to school. The bus comes at 6:30 School starts at 8:00> School ends at 2:15 They do not get home until 4:00. Can you imagine them getting that much homework. I am of the belief that a teacher who gives hours of homework is lazy and doesn't teach what she should in school. She sends it home for the parents to do the teaching.

 

[chicken_angler]

I am a kid. I think that that is wayyyyyyy too much. I am in 7th and I dont have nearly that much homework. I am an honors student so I usually comprehend most of the material pretty easily and the stuff that I do bring home doesn't even last me 10 mins. I think that you should bring it to the attention of the school board that your dd's tacher is assigning so much HW.

 

[Buckaroo]

I think homework has gotten crazy, My kids are always at the table late at night. Poor kids work all day in school, then come home for more. Good way to burn them out, and not like school.
My boy's teacher was sending home every book he had, and the other night a grabbed his book bag, and OMG, this is crazy, how can a 10 yr old cary this much weight? I told him to tell his teacher its to heavy, and if she has a problem with that, to call me.

Now the story gets good about the school.

Day before yesterday, my boy was at P.E and while running stepped on a butter fly. He had no idea he had done this, but was punished and sat on the wall. Then another teacher comes by, says sham on you, and called him Jeffery Dommer. Now he has been asking who Dommer is, was he killed, and last night was playing a video game, got mad at himself, and called himself Jeffery Dommer. I am so p. o, and this isn't over. I have ripped the teachers, principal, and now have gone school district office. I told them they need to suspend the teacher and give my boy canceling, and they say he doesn't need it. When a child starts calling himself J.D, then he needs it. I am waiting for a call from the school district with thier findings. But sure like anything else here in Florida, nothing will happen, its all about the good ole boy network. I already plan on calling the news, and letting them get the word out what the teachers are doing.

 

[chicken stalker]

Quote:
There's a big difference between high school science and 5th grade. I agree with you that kids should have homework, but no 10 year old should be spending 3 hours a night on homework.

BTW, your post came across very negative and will probably got that much farther to preventing Bren from ever coming to this group of people for advice again.

I didn't mean to come off negative I just wanted to give another view point. I do agree some teachers do give too much work and I do think students should be challenged but not to excess. Sorry if it came across negative.

As for punishment for stepping on a butterfly I agree with you. Uncalled for and very unprofessional.

 

[kodiakchicken]

Buckaroo -

You absolutely need to follow up with this and get the new involved. I am getting tired of these people that are unqualified to deal with children getting away with stuff like that because of they have the title of teacher. That title carries a lot of responsibility, and that includes being held accountable for everything they say to a child.

One of my co-workers, whose daughter has a tough time in school but does not have any diagnosed learning disabilities, was put in the "special" ed class with several students that have serious mental retardation. She took a lot of flack from peers for being in the class in the first place and then one day there was a spider crawling across her desk (this is a 9th grade girl) and she freaked out and screamed about how she hates spiders (wouldn't many of us!). Her teacher told her "it's been proven that people who are afraid of spiders have been sexually abused by their parents as children". I was furious! Unfortunately, she's not my daughter and her mom was afraid of "stirring the pot" so this teacher got away with this.

 

[kodiakchicken]

And just to clarify, I am not anti-teacher. There are some fabulous teachers out there who put their heart and soul into educating our children. My daughter is blessed with one of them right now. But there are also some major bad apples out there that should have never been allowed near children, and unfortunately, the system seems to protect the teacher more than the children.

 

[joebryant]

Quote:
Exaggerating.....are you serious? Why would I do that? I take great offense to this comment. ...

I am so sorry I now asked this question. It is people who say things like this that makes me not want to say a word for fear I am going to get the same reaction from the administrators.

Thank you everyone who gave advise. We (several parents and I) are going to take the correct steps of command in hopes things will get better. If not we are going to have no choice but to look into other options. Either switching to the other 5th grade class or pulling her out of the school system and putting her in the one that is about 10 miles away.

Going back into lurking mode.

Feel free to take all the offense you wish from my statement. I did not just fall off a turnip truck, and I still do not believe that a town full of PARENTS would tolerate their children's having to do three hours of homework every night, year after year.
I feel that I'm entitled to state my opinion, not just agree with or totally believe you or any other poster. If the teacher were represented as much as you represent your side, then I might go with your statements.

 

[Rosalind]

Can I suggest a slightly different approach? I used to teach college classes and often heard a similar complaint. When I got the students in office hours, they were complaining that they could not possibly complete the reading assignments they'd been given. But, the more I asked about their study habits, the more it became clear that they just did not have good study skills. Things like time management, mnemonics, fast and accurate note-taking, scanning texts for information, figuring out which information was useful and which was not, regular review of past concepts, summarizing information on their own and putting it in their own words, searching for other sources of the same information, finding books and articles other than the text, they never did any of that. They just sort of sat down, plugged away, got frustrated, and tried re-reading or re-doing the same problem over and over, then realized that they were still only on Chapter 2 and it was past bedtime.

Many primary school teachers don't have a separate class wherein they teach study skills. The high school I went to specifically had a study skills class to remediate this issue. I realize learning the Cornell Note Method probably isn't going to help your daughter, but mnemonics, starting with a 10-minute review, efficient reading techniques, and time management are good things to learn--especially for when she's older and needs to apply those skills to things like taking the SAT. If teacher is just checking that the homework was attempted, then what is the minimal attempt needed to get credit? If she is stuck on a particular concept in the reading homework, can she skip ahead and work on something else, then come back to the more difficult bit--at least get partial credit?

Can you suggest to the principal that the students entering this teacher's class maybe don't have the level of study skills she was expecting, and suggest that she needs to address this issue in class? That way, you are suggesting a constructive solution to the problem rather than putting the principal between a rock and the teacher's union, and you won't put the teacher on the defensive so much. Plus, your daughter would get extra study skills that would help her be more advanced than other classes of students next year. After all, NOTHING the 6th grade teachers can throw at her will seem so difficult compared to the Homework Lady!

 

[DuckLady]

Flaming and insinuations of lying don't really help here.

Good luck with your dilemma.