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The Forum > General Discussion > Homework for kids

Homework for kids

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Homework for school kids - who's for it, who's against it, and why?

Please caste your votes first up in your post (yea or nay), then please give explanation for why you believe in your vote.

For the record I'm posting the first NEY vote, because I believe that there should ALWAYS be a separation between home and work. I believe that a child's mind should be free to indulge in play and fantasy at their leisure in their own off hours. I have seen homework become a thorn in the side of my own kid's lives and anyway, I ended up doing all of it for them. Teachers never knew and the kids always got good marks.

Please do express your opinions.
Posted by Maximus, Thursday, 12 October 2006 8:36:51 PM
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Nae. Especially for primary age children.

I can see some value in kids getting used to out of hours school work in senior if they are likely to go onto Tafe or Uni if it's set up to teach them the skills they will need do do assignments and exam prep.

For kids doing a fair bit of after school care unless the after school care staff are able to supervise and check the it homework can have a significant impact on time with the child in the evening.

The only advantage I've seen to homework when my son has had it is that it keeps me a bit in touch with some of what he is doing at school.

R0bert
Posted by R0bert, Thursday, 12 October 2006 9:00:17 PM
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I'm in favour of homework, but of the research kind. When I was in primary school I remember being detained for about 10 minutes every afternoon when I came home from school doing the homework I had been given. I've never been sure what the point of that was.

Secondary school was a different matter. However, I don't think in the case of secondary school that homework was optional - it was a necessity to get through the amount of work required. How could you do English without reading the materials, and who was going to give you time in class to read the book?

When it came to Maths, Physics and Chemistry, there were a lot of facts, and more importantly theories, that needed to be imprinted on the mind after you'd encountered them in class.

And then there were assignments. Again, they had to be an out-of-class-time occupation.
Posted by GrahamY, Thursday, 12 October 2006 10:46:11 PM
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Nay! I have kids ranging from 3 - 20 and especially not for primary school kids. One of my kids was in year 4 and he was getting about 2 hours of homework a night. I went to the school and told them that he was not going to do it and that I thought it was way too much. The teacher told me that if he didnt do it he would be marked down in his yearly final assesment. We got marked down but I stood my ground (after all he was only in year 4). I stayed on about it and now the school has a homework policy of no more that 30minutes per night or 1 hour every 2nd night. Unbelievable.
Posted by Deborah58, Friday, 13 October 2006 7:46:56 AM
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Yea - amount depending on the age etc.

Things like reading through a picture book or doing spelling cards for twenty minutes with little kids seems quite acceptable.

Perhaps once a term a big 'project' for kids in upper primary.

In early high school, finishing unfinished class work plus perhaps one big assignment per subject each term.

Upper high school (yrs 10-12) more is okay.

It really depends on the kid - I was 'academic' and while occasionally annoyed by homework, it wasn't a major issue. My brother, however, hated writing, and it was always a battle to get him to do anything apart from his woodwork homework
Posted by Laurie, Friday, 13 October 2006 10:47:05 AM
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Nae. I am in the negative. Hate homework especially the type often provided. I would NEVER do the homework for my children. They are living their own life.

"Write your 20 spelling words out every night the teacher says". But I got the words all right in the pre-test my child cries. Why do I have to write them out so much and everyday it hurts my hand and it is a waste of my time? To bad they say you have to learn routine.

Too much busy homework with no real value and only really capable of causing frustration and despair.

I think that kids should be encouraged to read books at home and to do revision of the work that they didnt' understand or catch up if they are behind. Other than that, kids should be left to spend their time at home being at home, playing with their siblings, relaxing or even, when they get older - working gaining experience and making money.
Posted by Jolanda, Friday, 13 October 2006 2:54:45 PM
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I vote yes for homework. To say no is another example of surrounding kids with cotton wool, cocooning them from the painful realities of the world.

The reality is, this is the only way we can reach the standards that the parents demand from the schools. The only way that the teachers can schedule the time to keep up with these demands is to expect the kids to do some of the work at home. I do agree that homework should be relevant to the kid's vocational, basic knowledge, language, and math skills, therefore, concise and brief.

In this generation, people treat kids as if they are passive little garden gnomes. Don't forget that they are intelligent and thinking people.

Like it or not, homework is one of those responsibilities necesary to learn to better skills for the rest of our lives. This is ongoing through life as technology changes constantly.

Are you going to do it for them? Are you going to be in their tache case for the rest of their lives to solve problems? They are approaching a tough world that will require discipline and responsibility. This includes choice of food, exercise, discipline, and time management.

Of course there has to be time for fun and excerise.

If you just leave it for the kids to decide, and you know they will just slump around, get fat, lazy, bored, spoilt, and whinge louder and louder driving you to utter insanity.

This is an injustice in welfare as it does not prepare them for a world that is not made of cotton wool.
Posted by saintfletcher, Friday, 13 October 2006 7:44:51 PM
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Hi, I'm a teacher and also have kids.
Work given as homework is supposed to be revision of what is taught in class (i.e. nothing new). If that is the case and the child is bright they shouldn't need the extra revision. This is different in high school of course.

One poster mentioned their child getting all words right in a pretest. You should speak to the teacher as the child is not having his/her needs met. When I do a pretest the child receives a different list if they get them all right.
The reason I dislike homework is also that a lot of parents do do it. I never give marks towards an assesment based on homework for that reason. I refuse to do homework for my children. What does that achieve?
I work in a high achieving school and the children get homework. In kindergarten (first year of school) the children are expected to read a book and read sight words. Only the ones who don't do it are falling behind.
Posted by Lynnee, Saturday, 14 October 2006 2:38:13 PM
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