This is the 3rd year in a row that I have had a 1st grader. The older two had these stupid weekly assignments that were more work for the parents than the kid!! I hated them!!!!!!!! I don't mind homework or even helping my kids with homework, but I think it should be something that they benefit from and can do primarily by themselves. I do not need homework, I completed 1st grade many, many moons ago!!! So when we went to open house this year, I asked the 1st grade teacher (not the same one my other sons had) if they would have the same homework, and told her of my dislike for it. She assured me that they would have a weekly assignment, but not the same dumb kind my other kids had. Okay, school started today and guess what my 1st grader brings home!!! His first homework assignment, the same @#%$ thing my other sons' had!!! Ugh!!!! another year of this crap!!!! I am so glad I have a 3 yr break before my little one gets to 1st grade.

__________________
~Happiness is a large family~

Mine just started first grade today, what kind of asignment did they give? There is an article in Newsweek magazine about the amount of homework that is being given in schools now days. They say it is overwhelming the kids and parents and ultimately causing the kids to burn out and lose interest in school completely.

__________________
The mighty oak started out as a nut that held its ground.

I am glad our assignments (with the exception of the mobile project last week) my son can do on his own with very little supervision. That would tick me off, too.

I'm with you. Our first grade homework wasn't too bad, but this Kindergarten stuff... I don't mind helping them practice their letters, but the stuff that I have to actually do because they are too little is busy work for me & I think it sends the wrong message. I think it teaches the kids that it's okay for a parent to do the homework.

For the last 2 years I've had a second grader. At the end of the school year they did an egg drop from the roof of the school. Now tell me what second grader can come up with a contraption that can protect a raw egg from the rooftop! Sooo, since they had to check the egg to make sure it was raw, I fixed the teachers. One year I suspended an egg in Jello and they had to dig it out to check it and last year I buried an egg in a can of icing and they got to dig it out of that mess and check it! :D

__________________

ITA!

In kindergarten, my dd had to cut out a picture from a magazine for the letter of the week. Sounds easy, right? WRONG! Some letters were easy, but there were other letters that I had to find the pictures for. How many magazine pictures do you think you're going to find that begin with Z, Q, and X? Plus, we don't take any magazines, so I had to ask my mom to save old magazines so we could get pictures. Very frustrating!

My dd didn't have any silly projects in 1st grade, but during the first week of 2nd grade we got hit with one. Dd had to do an "All About Me" poster. There were no real instructions -- it had to be on 1/2 sheet of poster board, they had to have one picture of themselves, and they had to answer some questions about themselves. That was it! No guidelines whatsoever about setting this up. I helped my dd a little bit, but she did most of the work herself. I went up to school to have lunch with my dd one day and saw all the posters on display in the hallway. Wow! It was obvious some of the parents did the posters for the kids. Some of these posters had beautiful setups. It's obvious we have a lot of scrapbooking moms up there because some of these posters looked like pages out of a scrapbook.

Why don't teachers assign projects that kids can do by themselves?

__________________
"Everything happens for a reason, but there may not be a point." ~ Kinsey Millhone

I did that contest before, all I did was get a nerf football and cut out the mid section and placed the egg inside, place the part you cut out back and tape it closed with some duct tape - the egg never broke, no matter how hard someone threw it.

My son started the 1st grade too, last week there was no homework, so far this week all he has to do is read a small book (about 4 sentences) and I read him a book and write it down on a form (title and initial it) So far, easy...but I know it wont be like this forever.

Last yr when my son was in Kinder, the homework war was on. He hated it and I hated to have to force him to do it.
I work all day and when I come home I have to make dinner and make sure he does his homework, the day needs to have more hours!

I hope WW2 doesnt occour....

__________________
www.myspace.com/sassy143


Alex & the spider monkey

MARSHMELLOWS!!! Works everytime and if you wrap it in saran wrap they can eat the marshmellows afterwards! Worked with my 2 sisters and myself! The teacher was impressed with my 2 sisters but by the time I did it he wasn't too happy! Kinda sucks when you go to a small school!!

__________________
Stephanie

This may sound a little harsh, but it is b/c the parents don't complain. Too many parents assume that homework is part of school and nothing they can do about it. And they feel obligated to help their child out.

I have made a policy in my home not to do any homework that comes here. I did my years in school and I am way passed that. My kids have been told that if they can't do their work then they need to take it to their teacher for help, not me. I refuse to help. In fact last year I started putting a note on my dd math homework to the teacher that dd did not understand it and needed help, please help her. Of course the teacher was getting angry b/c the work kept coming back to her unfinished. School psychologist got called in and sided with me. In fact she asked the teacher what the heck the taxpayer pays her for. Her job is to teach not send the work home to the parent to do. Teacher wasn't happy, but I saw no more homework come in that dd couldn't do on her own.

This year at open house I had a chat with new teacher and gave her a heads up that I don't do homework. Any work that comes home that I in any way have to do will be returned unfinished. Teacher told me by all means, send it back. It was her job to teach and she doesn't send work home for the parents to do, she assumes they already know it all, else they would be in her class too. So far she is holding to this too.

Also had a talk last year with ds teacher about homework. Loved this teacher. She doesn't ever assign any. She said she has a life outside her classroom and she expects her students have one as well.

Obviously, I'm not a homework fan. My thought is I don't dictate the teachers day and her class and I don't like for the teacher to dictate my evenings and what I can or can't do b/c they want to give homework assignments. I've been told that homework is given to teach the kids responsibility, but I don't buy it. Responsibility is taught at home, and if kids aren't responsible at home they sure as heck aren't going to be at school either. IMO, homework is the result of trying to teach the kids too many things at one time. I remember in elementary school my reading class was 1 hour long. DD spends 20 minutes on reading class, has a homework assignment every night to read for 30 minutes to an adult, b/c they now have a 35 minute french class every day. First off, isn't learning to read english more important, and second, I'm not opposed to exposing kids to foreign languages but french? Around here the foreign languages you here on the street are spanish, sudaneese or arab. Where is french going to fit in? It is time to go back to the basics, at least for elementary and let the kids decide on some of these classes when they reach high school as electives. That's the way it use to be. Of course I'm also for giving these kids back their recesses, but that is a whole other topic.

And no please don't think I'm cruel and heartless. I really don't mind helping my kids with their homework, I just wound up taking the stance of not after being inundated with it on a nightly basis. And we weren't talking about a few minutes worth, we have had nights where the work took several hours. And I really went ballistic when my 1st grader was literally bringing home more work than my high school kid every night.

You don't like the homework coming home with your child, don't be afraid to let that teacher know it. I don't let the teachers slide any more than they let my kids slide. I remind them every chance I get that I pay their salary and if I have to do their job then I want my money back. I hold the teachers accountable for their work. And if my child fails, then the teacher fails too.

JM2C

Ok, as a parent and a teacher I'm fuming at some of these comments. Do we all like what we have to do at work on a daily basis? NO, so does that mean we just don't do it? Of course not, we are accountable for what is asked of us. Do you think your boss needs all the piddly reports you fill out? NO. Teachers send homework home so that the parents are aware of what we are learning in class. It also teaches children responsibility, and a good work ethic. I can't believe some of the comments made about " I don't do homework", you are undermining your child's teacher & instilling in your child that schoolwork isn't really important and teaching your child that being lazy/irresponsible is acceptable. What you don't realize is that 10 minutes of homework whether you deem it worthy or not is teaching your child something.

I do agree that the amount of homework should be reasonable with the child's age and ability. Someone said why should I have to do the homework ~ you shouldn't, your child should, and you should be there to assist. I don't want my second graders turning in papers done by mom & dad. I don't want mom & dad doing their research & writing their paper/creating posters etc. and I tell my parents that. I won't accept work that's not written by the child and in their own language. What parents don't always allow their child to do is be themselves, they think everything has to look beautiful and perfect or their child will look less of a student. Don't DO thier work, let them do it and find success, even if it's with your guidance and reassurance.

I guess my question would be how many people actually bring home work to finish? I sure don't. When I leave work everyday I'm off. Nothing to worry about til I return the next day. Therefore I don't have homework. And b/c I'm not on the clock I don't allow the boss to dictate my evenings. He gets to dictate my day, but not my home hours. IMO it is the same with the kids, the teachers can dictate their days, but I dictate their nights and I don't take kindly to people who try to come in and dictate my nights and over ride my parental authority.

As for showing what is being learned in class, their are other ways. Class news letters and graded papers are 2 examples.

Third, the responsibility issue is a joke. Responsibility is taught at home, and if a child can't be responsible there, then do you really think they will be responsible anywhere else? And just how accountable are the kids held for not doing their homework. Here if assignments aren't turned in, yes the child receives a failing grade, but phone calls home are made to make the parents aware that they need to make sure the kid is doing the work. So who is being held responsible for doing the work? I have to laugh, last year dd forgot her spelling assignment at home. I found it after she left for school, but I deliver nothing to school for my kids if they forgot it. Their school items are their responsibility, yet I got a call from the teacher telling me that she didn't turn in her assignment. When I told the teacher it was here, she forgot it, the teacher asked me if I would bring it up. No was my reply. The teacher informed me without dd would receive a zero, so be it I said, it is her responsibility to remember her homework, if she was that concerned about the grade maybe she should have dd stay in at recess and do the assignment again, sure wouldn't hurt anything. Of course we couldn't do that b/c it infringed on the teachers break time. In the end, the teacher suggested to me that in the future I should start double checking her backpack every morning to make sure she had all her work in it. So who is being made to be responsible? I'm trying to teach my kids there are consequences for being irresponsible and I have a teacher telling me my kids work and returning it to school is my responsibility. I think not!!!

I think the real issue here though with so many parents across the country is the amount of work coming home and the fact that they literally have to do the work for the child. When my 1st grader brings home more work than my hs student there is a problem. When my 1st grader has to spend 3 hours on homework several nights a week, I get angry. And I get even angrier when that work is something that I have to do with my child b/c my child can't sit down and do it alone. I don't have the time to sit with my kids and do this. We are on the go 4 nights a week from the time school is out until bedtime. My problem isn't b/c my kids are involved in every activity out there either.

Jilli's mommy if you are telling your parents that you don't want them doing the work, then I have to assume that your students understand their assignments before leaving for home. I also have to assume that if those students don't understand their assignments you are there to help them understand so that the parents don't have to do the work. If this is the case, this is great. But this is not my case. Nor the case of a lot of parents in this country. I had no choice but to take the stance of "I don't do homework" b/c my kids were coming home with work they didn't understand and the responsibility of teaching that work was becoming mine. Well it isn't my responsibility. It is why I pay taxes, and some of the highest in the country. Yet I'm forced to deal with teachers that want my kids to be responsible yet they don't want to be responsible enough to make sure the kids are learning what they are teaching. I'm simply placing the responsibility of teaching back where it should be, on the teachers and the schools.