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Since school has started a couple of weeks ago...

My 5 yr old daughter in Kindergarten has more homework every night than my 4th grade son.
She goes to all day (no naptime, either) at a local public school and has a minimum half hour homework every night.

When my son was in Kindergarten, it was all day, but he got a lengthy nap in the afternoon, and rarely had homework.

When I was in public school Kindergarten (early 70's), it was a half day Kindergarten and homework was virtually unheard of.

Is this commonplace now?

Gotta get 'en ready for college, ya know.

Homework for little children should be play. The social development provided by play where they have to deal with other children is exactly what they need. Not 'worksheets'.

The Big Ben wrote:Homework for little children should be play. The social development provided by play where they have to deal with other children is exactly what they need. Not 'worksheets'.

Well stated!

Oh, I dunno. I think kindergarten is an ideal time to start learning to rebuild a Turbo-Hydramatic 350 transmission. I got one sitting in the driveway that I wish my kid would rebuild.
(In a 1979 Grand LeMans for anyone who wants to come get it)

My oldest son is starting 1st grade next week. He had full-day kindergarten last year and we were a little nervous about it, despite his having done preschool 3 mornings a week and us having prepped him as much as we could. We ended up very pleased with the pace and he had a great experience.

He didn't have 30 mins of homework a day, though. He had homework maybe one day a week and it probably took him 15 or 20 mins to finish. They did have a nap time, an extra recess and lots of time for in-class quiet play.

He's very excited to be starting school back up next week!

euphenstien wrote:Seriously? Come to Tulsa and I can have it?

Sort of a picture here.
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=24968

MartyNeilan wrote:Since school has started a couple of weeks ago...

My 5 yr old daughter in Kindergarten has more homework every night than my 4th grade son.
She goes to all day (no naptime, either) at a local public school and has a minimum half hour homework every night.

When my son was in Kindergarten, it was all day, but he got a lengthy nap in the afternoon, and rarely had homework.

When I was in public school Kindergarten (early 70's), it was a half day Kindergarten and homework was virtually unheard of.

Is this commonplace now?

What kind of homework do they have? Most Kindergarteners can't read or write yet.

I feel your pain... in our neck of the woods the teachers think they are to give at least 30 minutes of homework PER SUBJECT every night. We also received this note last week =>

Most of you are aware that the State Department of Education for Tennessee has changed its curriculum standards for math, reading and science effective this school year. The curriculum is much more rigorous. While it makes sense that our students should be able to handle the changes pretty easily, we do want to make you aware that many of the old standards have been pushed down to a lower grade level. An example would be that, in the past, applying the concept of slope would have been an Honors Algebra indicator. Now, using slope to analyze situations and solve problems is an 8th grade math expectation. Another example would be connecting rational numbers to locations on the number line. Formerly, an advanced student in the seventh grade should have been able to do so. Now, all sixth graders are expected to do so.

So... my struggling 5th grader has effectively jumped a grade - Until last night I was only freaked out that his band director wants him to play Trombone! After 3 hours of homework last night - I'm wondering how many years of 5th grade we are going to take.

Ricko

Wade's post made me revisit this. That, and the fact that last week was fall break here. She (the Kindergarten student) had a booklet of "fun fall projects" where she had mandatory homework EVERY DAY OF THE WEEK last week. The 4th grader had none.

I think they have their priorities all screwed up.

My wife is a highly respected 2nd grade teacher of 34 years. She has been selected teacher of the year 3 times in 3 different schools and 2 different states. She is retiring after this year because as she puts it, " I am being forced to to things to these children that I wouldn't do to my own." The culprit is a spineless state and local school board who bought No Child Left Behind hook line and sinker. She spends three times the amount of time now that she did just 5 years ago on assesment. That's right. The kids take three times as many tests as they used to to cover these spineless beaurocrats' butts. They want numbers to prove they deserve to keep their jobs. My wife has absolutely 0 time in the schedule alloted to re-teaching what they missed on the tests because there is another series in a few days to prepare for. The system is broken. She and others like her have given up on trying to fix it. No, just trying to survive it. There were 9 teachers with over 20 years each that retired in her elementary school alone last year. They expect another 11 this year. She leaves the house at 6:30 every morning and two nights a week she is home by 7:30. The other two nights she brings work home with her. She worked 6 hours on Saturday and 5 on Sunday last week. The poor kids. After all, they have to keep up with the Japanese don't they. And don't get me started on the poor music teachers. I called one tonight after my rehearsal at 10:00 and he was still at the band room. The guy that drives my garbage truck makes more than he does. RANT OVER.

well....yes.

I think that it is wrong. I think that our public school systems across the country are stuck in a place that is not good for children. Which is why mine don't go to the best public school system in our area (the one we live in).

One of my observations/thoughts is that the 'state' or government generally running the education system is always going to end up driving towards a 'how do we fit these kids into the economy' sort of educational system. Not something based on the idea that teaching kids how to think and learn is a goal in and of itself.

As a recently retired principal and teacher I can empathize with many of the frustrations voiced here. The common sense that was prevalent in years past has now been replaced with results driven agendas. As long as the educational systems in both Canada and the United States cater to a business model, there will be unhappy children, parents and teachers. Of course all parents want their children to do well, however the involvement of parents in the schools I had taught in had increased every year. This had its benefits and its drawbacks with parents seeing their child as an "investment" and what exactly was the return going to be for them?
Kindergarten is for play and socialization, not homework. Heaven knows they'll have enough of it by the time they graduate from the system.

I m lucky in this case. My 4 years of girl who is studying in Phoenix pre-k is happy with her school. I even noticed that she enjoyed in the school. It is due to the facilities and education system provided by the school. That's why i emphasis more on the school when enrolling her. You should tell your problem to the faculty of the school.

Adley_7 wrote:I m lucky in this case. My 4 years of girl who is studying in Phoenix pre-k is happy with her school. I even noticed that she enjoyed in the school. It is due to the facilities and education system provided by the school. That's why i emphasis more on the school when enrolling her. You should tell your problem to the faculty of the school.

I would, but she is in fourth grade now

My wife taught kindergarten for about 20 years, then 3rd grade for another 12. She's been retired now for 4 years. I asked her about this and she tells me that when she left the grade (took 20 yrs to graduate out of K. ), there was no more nap times, but there were two play times... one outside and one inside. Kindergarten was an all-day deal.

Homework in kindergarten? Yes, but only 15 to 30 mins per day. Homework usually consisted of writing two sentences with their spelling or vocabulary words. Toward the end of the week homework included taking home a story they wrote in class to read to their parents (a time for parents to recognize their hard work and encourage them).

rocksanddirt wrote:well....yes.

I think that it is wrong. I think that our public school systems across the country are stuck in a place that is not good for children. Which is why mine don't go to the best public school system in our area (the one we live in).

One of my observations/thoughts is that the 'state' or government generally running the education system is always going to end up driving towards a 'how do we fit these kids into the economy' sort of educational system. Not something based on the idea that teaching kids how to think and learn is a goal in and of itself.

I agree with everything you just stated
as a product of lausd from Preschool and after school programs to when i was senior in high school i noticed that the system is Bs
as part of the marching band we played for some of these district people when invited and then to be stabbed in the back by them saying that music was not important! Not to mention that its all bureaucracy and about money since the districts are often the ones with the most money.
in the case here lausd has allowed the take over of schools to private companies or individuals who have no knowledge of teaching but have $$$
not to mention building multi-million dollar schools that are not even needed only to give them away to charter schools(which the Latino community falls for by being uninformed and results in individuals that are incompetent and the schools are not liable for ****!)
education has become pure business and politics.I feel its time to take back and rebuild the education system because these bureaucracies are bullshit!

My 3 years old daughter goes to Phoenix pre-k school for full day because I am a working mother. She do not get any homework and she learns everything at school. At home, I do only fun and interesting riddles to her.

Here are some of those kindergarten standards that might require homework.

Know the eight basic colors: red, yellow, blue, green, orange, black, white, and pink
Recognize and write the letters of the alphabet in upper- and lowercase forms
Know the relationship between letters and the sounds they make
Recognize sight words such as the and read simple sentences
Spell his first and last name
Write consonant-vowel-consonant words such as bat and fan
Retell a story that has been read aloud
Identify numbers up to 20
Count by ones, fives, and tens to 100
Know basic shapes such as a square, triangle, rectangle, and circle
Know her address and phone number