I have a complaint about 6th grade. Where is it in the teacher's manual that says that homework assignments should take between 2 and 3 hours to complete each night?
Tonight's homework assignment was the following:
1. Review this week's 20 new spelling words. Look up the definition of each word and write it down.
2. Read pages 79-92 in the Literature Book and write a paragraph about storyline. Be sure to include the names and description of the three main characters.
3. Complete problems 12-32 of the Math Workbook.
4. Draw a picture of a flower and label all of the parts, including petals, stamen, pistol, stem.
5. Read about a current event in the newspaper or on-line. Make a copy of the story and bring it to class for discussion.
Now take a look a typical evening schedule in my life:
1. I leave my office between 5:00 p.m. and 5:30 p.m.
2. Drive 20 minutes to Clovis to pick-up Kenny at his great-grandmother's home. Arrive between 5:20 p.m. and 5:40 p.m. Chat with Meme (Kenny's great grandmother) for ten minutes.
3. Drive home. Arrive between 6:00 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.
4. Start dinner while Kenny starts his home work.
5. Eat dinner at 7:00 p.m. usually ending about 30 minutes later. Clear and wash dishes while Kenny starts his home work again.
6. If all goes well, we finish the last assignment between 9:00 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Kenny helps feed the dogs, takes a shower and gets ready for bed.
7. I now have about 30 minutes free time to try to blog, knit, or read before I take a quick shower and head to bed myself.
I don't remember spending all my evening hours as a 6th grader doing homework. I distinctly remember having time during the evening hours to be with my family --- to have "fun time" with my Mom, Dad, brother and sisters. I know that school work and learning is important but Kenny has already spent the entire day at school (he gets out at 4:00 p.m. because he is in drama) and now spends his entire evening doing homework. It is no wonder kids are sick of school by the time they reach high school!
6 comments:
I'm with you, sister! :) My schedule is actually a bit shorter on time than yours, but it is the same sort of hectic pace.
The homework started for mine in Kindergarten, but at least it came home on Monday and was due on Friday. Still, homework for 5 year olds.
I'm not looking forward to homework 2-3 hours per night. That seems a out of control to me.
I'm with you,too (even though I don't have any kids, I've heard similar stories recently...) It seems funny that they have sooo much homework, yet all we hear on the news up here is how all the kids are failing the required tests to graduate---maybe it's information overload!
I remember having time in the evenings on weeknights, too. How else would I now still be able to sing verbatim every theme song from every 60's-70's' sitcom in existence? :p
I believe the guidelines in this state (WA) are 15 min of homework per grade. So that would be 1st - 15min, 4th - 1hr, 6th - 1.5hrs, but I know many friends whose children spend much more time than that.
I have to say I love homeschooling for that reason, when we're done with school, we're done. I know that isn't a possibility for everyone, but we started it this year and are loving it. No busy work(unless mom needs a minute and assigns it), no fighting with teachers, no gift wrap/cookie dough/magazine sales. It's been lovely.
That's crazy. I've heard other people complain about the middle school workload, too, but we're not there yet. My kids have about half an hour of homework a night, which I think is perfectly reasonable. Kids need time to do other activities and just play outside after school.
I have heard several debates lately about how teachers are sending work home with kids instead of actually teaching it themselves. It does seem like it is getting to be more and more with time.
I know this is not helpful but I am so glad to be at the end of my children as school students career. Nothing but frustration with my son. He is on the verge of not graduating and I live in fear of having to do this one more year. I agree, that that amount of work in 6th grade is unreasonable for a human. Maybe for a robot...
Li
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