Your eighth-grade child
comes home from school and you check over her homework assignments. You see
that she has twenty English vocabulary words to memorize, a page of math
problems to solve, two history chapters to read, a science report to outline,
and a Spanish quiz the next day. If she’s lucky she’ll be done with her
homework in four hours--just enough time to fall into bed and wake up the next
morning ready to do it all over again. Not to mention violin practice.
Or how about this--your
tenth-grader comes home from school and you ask him about his homework.
English? The teacher didn’t assign anything. Science? Did it in study hall. The
social studies report? Don’t worry, Mom, it’s not due until next week.
Geometry? We had a substitute teacher today and she didn’t assign anything.
Health class? Did it at school. Your tenth-grade son believes that he doesn’t
have to do any homework tonight. He wants to go play basketball with his
friends--you know, those dubious characters who hang around the parking lot at
the convenience store.
Two extremes, neither of
which make parents happy. Your inner diva may feel sorry for your
nose-to-the-grindstone daughter. Your inner CEO hopes your son gets a boot in
the right direction. Parents today are understandably torn between wanting
their kids to be challenged and wanting them not to be overworked.
How much homework do
kids get? Apparently more than
their parents got. In one recent report, researchers from the University of
Michigan compared the amount of homework assigned in 1981 to the amount
assigned in 1997. Although few changes occurred in high school, the amount of
homework assigned to kids from grades six to nine almost tripled during those
16 years. Homework assignments increased from about 44 minutes a week to more
than two hours a week, and homework assigned to kids aged nine to 11 increased
from two hours and 50 minutes to more than three and a half hours per week.
What’s
recommended? According to the
National PTA and the National Education Association (NEA), the following
amounts of homework are recommended:
• Kindergarten to
third grade--no more than 20 minutes per day.
• Fourth to sixth
grade--20 to 40 minutes per day.
• Seventh to
twelfth grade--the recommended amount of daily homework time varies according
to a student’s course load. In general, college-bound students should receive
more homework than students who do not anticipate going to college after
graduation.
Homework
effectiveness is what counts!
Whether your child seems to have too little or too much homework, the National
PTA suggests tips for making the most of homework assignments:
•
Budget homework time. Set aside a defined period every night for homework. If
nothing is assigned, ask your child to read a book or review.
•
Associate. Putting information into context is more effective than trying to
memorize seemingly random facts.
•
Using senses can increase learning. Research suggests that using all the senses
can make learning more effective. Drawing pictures and reading aloud can help
students retain lessons more quickly and thoroughly.
•
Break lessons into manageable parts. Kids can grow frustrated if they try to
study too much material at one time. Limit new material and mix with familiar
review items.
•
Personalize. Relate a math problem to your child’s weekly allowance. Ask if a
situation in a book resembles something he or she has experienced.
•
Tackle the unfamiliar. Don’t let your child coast on review; be sure she is
forging ahead with new material on a manageable basis.
•
Ask questions. Review your child’s homework and ask a few questions. How did
she arrive at this math solution? Who was the main character in the book she
read?
•
Make homework a shared activity. It’s okay to invite your child’s friends over
to do homework together. The goal is to learn!
The
more involved you are with your child’s homework, the more effective the
learning process will be. Don’t hold back—you might even learn something new.
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