How much do you help with homework?

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Dec 11, 2010
4,713
113
I was not aware this was going on. I have noticed that my younger dd is learning material much younger than her older sister but so far seems to have less homework.

Cannonball, thanks for what you do. It is unfortunate that the good teachers who already have a good plan and know how to make it work are getting redirected this way. A skilled teacher can sure do a lot of good in the world and that good just keeps multiplying itself as those students go on to adulthood.
 
Jun 29, 2013
589
18
We help, mostly when asked with my older one (6th grade). Her teacher gives them time to finish it in school and she almost always finishes then. I wish she would ask for help or show me what she is doing, I could help her. But she has to learn the hard way all the time, and usually that means learning that doing work fast and without a lot of thought doesn't work too well. And like a lot of others, I don't like the idea of settling for a B when she could work for the A.
 
Mar 20, 2012
131
16
Sacramento, CA
We are also using the new common core curricula. DD is being taught things in 6th & 7th grade that we didn't learn until high school. Unfortunately some of the teachers she's had seam to be in over their head and couldn't teach the subject matter. (especially in math) If the kids don't get it, the teacher couldn't explain it. "Read the book, look at the example and figure it out."

I feel sorry for the kids who's parents are not involved, because a lot of them are being "Left Behind".
 
Jul 14, 2010
716
18
NJ/PA
My freshman DD has at least three hours of homework a night, sometimes as much as five. She is a straight-A student with five Honors level courses and just about kills herself to keep up. Thankfully softball is at a lull right now here in the frozen northeast.

Come next semester, she'll have school ball, travel ball, and the school play to occupy her, on top of student government and the other clubs/activities she does. I am basically incapable of helping her with her schoolwork except for English and Spanish, since she is already far beyond anything I ever learned in math or science, so she's pretty much on her own. My wife does help her out to some extent, but we both expect that DD will either learn how to manage the heavy load or give up some of the extracurricular stuff. We have already told her she can drop down to standard math next year (rather than Honors) since that seems to be where she struggles most with the workload.

Amy is absolutely right about Core Curriculum, those of you who haven't experienced it yet are the lucky ones. The demands placed on the students, especially those on an AP track, are beyond unreasonable.
 
Aug 29, 2011
2,581
83
NorCal
Amy is absolutely right about Core Curriculum, those of you who haven't experienced it yet are the lucky ones. The demands placed on the students, especially those on an AP track, are beyond unreasonable.

AP course is supposed to be on par with a freshman level college course. The course work should be more demanding.

We'll be introduced to Common Core next year so I guess I'll just have to wait and see what happens.
 
Jul 14, 2010
716
18
NJ/PA
AP course is supposed to be on par with a freshman level college course. The course work should be more demanding.

We'll be introduced to Common Core next year so I guess I'll just have to wait and see what happens.

Three to five hours of homework a night is unreasonable by any normal person's standards. Even in college I never had that kind of load. Demanding? Absolutely. When she was in middle school, we were told that it would get easier in high school, because the Honors teachers understand that they're not the only class giving homework. But the structure of the curriculum demands that they push forward at a very fast pace, so the kids get caught in a whirlwind.
 
Aug 29, 2011
2,581
83
NorCal
Three to five hours of homework a night is unreasonable by any normal person's standards. Even in college I never had that kind of load. Demanding? Absolutely. When she was in middle school, we were told that it would get easier in high school, because the Honors teachers understand that they're not the only class giving homework. But the structure of the curriculum demands that they push forward at a very fast pace, so the kids get caught in a whirlwind.
If she stays that track it doesn't get better. Between AP World History, Honors Chemistry, Honors English and Honors pre-calculus my sophomore DD averages 3-5 hours a day in homework.
 

JJsqueeze

Dad, Husband....legend
Jul 5, 2013
5,436
38
safe in an undisclosed location
The day my daughter is given 3-5 hours a night in homework is the day I teach her about assigning expected values and closely examining grading structures to maximize her time/grade investment. She'll start looking at school like I ended up doing. OK, this is just a drill now, what is the path of least resistance to an A? Final and Midterm make up 80% of my final grade? great, I will now do about 50% of the homework and get an A on the tests. Tell me the rules and I will play the game. Burying kids in homework is not how they learn. Lord knows that I didn't.
 
Mar 26, 2013
1,934
0
... I will now do about 50% of the homework and get an A on the tests. Tell me the rules and I will play the game. Burying kids in homework is not how they learn. Lord knows that I didn't.
I rewrote the rules. At the start of my junior year, my math teacher laid out her grading scheme and something like 50% was based on homework and maintaining a notebook. I talked to her at the end of class and asked why should I be penalized for not doing the homework if I get A's on the quizzes and tests. She agreed I didn't have to do the homework as long as I got A's. I told my buddies and they immediately jumped up to get the same deal. We'd go through the homework problems and did a few to make sure we knew
the material. I only had to do the homework once (for a week) because I missed a couple questions on a quiz.

We had the same teacher the next year - we asked "Same deal?" and she said "Sure."
 
Feb 3, 2011
1,880
48
Core Curriculum. -
In Kelly Thompson’s household, extracurricular activities are history.

There’s no time for music lessons and after-school sports, no matter how much her two children enjoyed them.

Not with the multiple tests her fourth-grader and sixth-grader take each week on top of additional hours of homework, the result of the new Common Core State Standards rolled out in Anne Arundel County Public Schools this year.

“It has completely changed our family dynamic,” said Thompson, co-creator of the Facebook group Parental Awareness of Common Core.

Teachers, Parents Struggle With New Common Core State Standards « CBS Baltimore

What a joke. I read that article and it sounds like a bunch of parents whose sole interest is in crippling their children. I had to 'show my work' in the 70s and 80s. Why are these parents acting like that's some sort of punishment now? Idiots. My complaint was that the students were not required to show their work in grades 1-5.

The amount of homework on a typical night should increase a bit each year, but the average should never be more than about 2 hours/night.
 

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