Comments on: Kindergarten + Homework = Necessary?

By: Terri M

Terri M — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 06:05:01 +0000

Thanks for this letter. I appreciate it. My first son hated homework after a 7 hour school day (“School is too long”), and the only way I could find to make him enjoy it was to take him to Starbucks to do it (worked well actually!).

However, I’m debating about refusing to do the homework for my second kid who enters Kindergarten next year, simply on principal. Nightly book reading/book bags are fine.

As for “teaching kids that life is about work”, I totally agree! It’s important to teach them that life requires work. But absolutely, the best kind of work to make them do is the kind they’ll be doing all their life: fold their laundry, put it away, set the table, put dishes away, clean up their room, clean up their playspace, cook dinner, help with the finances. If they weren’t so frazzled after school, I’d be able to get them to help do this, but instead it falls on my shoulders to pick up this work because they’re working on often unnecessary work. I can see why a lot of people yell at their kids…. By the end of the night, you’re frazzled.

By: Stacy

Stacy — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 01:41:22 +0000

My sister sent me a link to this post, saying that she had heard some of the same frustrations spoken from me. Granted, you wrote this a few years ago so that means we have kids about the same age as I have a second grader. My second son now has the same anal teacher and things have not improved with her. She sees homework as a way to help the kids be organized. I have a second grade son who hides his homework and watched him cry out of frustration during that year in kindergarten. Now I am facing a time when while our eager five year old son will do it, I wonder how much longer I have.

Why not just ask me to sit with my child and read? I hate the coloring pages and hate the fact that I as a mother am forced to sit down and read the directions to him so he can do his busywork. 30 minutes of wasted time.

By: Miranda Allison

Miranda Allison — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 18:30:37 +0000

i have a 5 yr old in kindergarden and he was crying last night saying that he is dumb and that he hates school i was so upset i do not want him hateing school he said i just do not understand why i do not get what the teacher wants from me and doing homework is so hard it takes hrs for us to get it done

By: christine

christine — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 01:45:02 +0000

I just got done doing hours of homework with my 5 year old. There is no enjoyment from it. It feels like we are just rushing to get it done. My husband and I both work full-time. He works afternoons and that leaves me on homework duty. Sometimes I do not even get home till 8 at night. Talk about stress on me and her!

By: Worried Mom

Worried Mom — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 00:15:23 +0000

I totally agree with you. My kindergartener was given a math homework packet last month containing 21 pages that ended up taking us between 20-40 minutes per night to complete. Much of it was not age nor developmentally appropriate (containing such problems as 9-____ = 6). In addition there are 3-5 different books sent home each night for us to help them read nightly. What in the world is going on and what do we do about it? We have got to stop this insanity!

By: Susan

Susan — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 17:58:42 +0000

While I do agree that the amount of homework being described here seems totally out of line, I too would like to point out that some home practice at the Kindergarten level is beneficial for both the child and the parents. I am a kindergarten teacher in a state that requires a full day curriculum but our budget allows us to provide only a half day program for Kindergarten. Therefore I rely on the help of parents to work with their children to reinforce the skills I am teaching in school because there is simply not enough time to fit everything in. This is especially true when a child is struggling with a skill or concept. I find that by sending practice activities home, parents have a much better understanding of their child’s ability levels and their progress than any report card ever could. Parents often ask me what they can do at home to help their kids. And, as a parent myself, I always viewed helping my kids with their homework as another routine of the day like feeding them dinner and giving them a bath. Educating our kids is not just the responsibility of the teachers, it is a community responsibility that needs to start with a partnership between teachers and parents. Refusing to do the homework is not the answer and teaches children that when they don’t like something they should just not do it. I think this is a much more dangerous message than asking them to do a little homework. Try talking to the teacher and coming to an agreement rather than promoting an adversarial relationship. That would be much better for your children.

By: Evelyn

Evelyn — Sun, 17 Oct 2010 23:08:27 +0000

Please don’t blame your child’s teacher for the homework as s/he may be as opposed to it as you are. All of the teachers on my team are opposed to it, yet we are forced to create it and send it. We work with children who have never been to school, speak very little English, and are at school for an extended day.

By: Robin

Robin — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 16:32:01 +0000

I too find this to be a real problem. I have a little boy that has been in kindergarten for just over a month. He has homework every night of the week, sometimes 3 and 4 pages. He is tested every Friday on letter and word recognition and so far has brought home an “F” on each test. I don’t understand homework and testing at this age. I don’t think that there is a problem, in fact I am impressed with his progress so far, I can tell that he has learned a lot, but there are a few letters that he has trouble recognizing. I am really troubled about his situation and am coming to dread every day of kindergarten. I did not go to kindergarten as a child and in the fifth grade, I was reading on a high school level. There is too much pressure on the very young child. Let them be kids. I am considering the home school option.

By: Sarah E. Ludwig

Sarah E. Ludwig — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 02:28:05 +0000

Thank you for sharing this, Crystal! I’m so glad that you agree with me. It’s nice to hear that from a teacher, in particular.

By: Crystal

Crystal — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 15:44:12 +0000

I teach kindergarten and found this entry on a google search. I totally agree with you, and highly recommend Alfie Kohn’s The Homework Myth if you haven’t already read it! I jobshare and was overruled on the homework issue, but when I go back to full-time teaching, I will look at homework very differently because of this book.