Homework Question

[Appa23]

While deciding to avoid the whole mess from that other thread, I was struck by one aspect of PSM's post: her daughter has over three hours of homework every night, including weekends.

In the school districts here, at least through middle school / junior high, teachers only can assign homework on three nights a week. There is no homework on Wednesday evenings because of church midweek instruction, and there is no homework assigned for the weekends on a Friday. (However, you might have the need to do work on a longer-term project over a weekend.)

Since there are so many BBs from around the country and with varying ages of kids, as well as there being teachers here, I was curious if this is normal or abnormal. It does not seem to be hampering the students' education, as test scores are well over the national average.

[Appa23]

Odd. It changed the last voting option from "My kid must do his homework at school" to "one day".

[peacock2121]

There is no homework on Wednesday evenings because of church midweek instruction

You have got to be freakin' kidding.

Is this a public school?

[PlacentiaSoccerMom]

While deciding to avoid the whole mess from that other thread, I was struck by one aspect of PSM's post: her daughter has over three hours of homework every night, including weekends.

There is much more pressure in our district on GATE kids than there was when Maddie was in 6th grade. Part of the issue is that the District has started their own IB program in High School and they are trying to prepare the children for the caliber of work that will be expected from them.

I don't know about you, but I didn't learn to do a 5 paragraph essay until 9th grade, but Emma is doing it now. Every night she is writing and it isn't creative writing, it's writing directed essays about specific topics. Her science and social studies tests are also gradually becoming 100% essay driven. I have heard the teacher say, you are all obviously good at multiple choice tests, otherwise you woldn't be in GATE, but I want you to think beyond four choices and show more depth of understanding for any given topic.

I didn't have Algebra until 8th grade, which was considered advanced. Emma is already in pre-Algebra and will have Algebra next year. She has a lot of homework problems each night corresponding to pre-Algebra.

In addition, test scores drive everything, funding for individual schools is determined by testing and teacher are rated on the test scores of the kids in their classes. There is an incredible amout of pressure for the teachers to get through all of the content standards, before the test, which is usually in April, so the class works at a fast pace.

Finally, kids are expected to read for at least 1/2 hour "for pleasure" a night.

[earendel]

Since there are so many BBs from around the country and with varying ages of kids, as well as there being teachers here, I was curious if this is normal or abnormal. It does not seem to be hampering the students' education, as test scores are well over the national average.

Of course all my children are out of elementary/secondary school, so I'm speaking about history (oldest son graduated in 1992, second in 1998, third in 2002, fourth in 2003), and two of them (the last two) went to a private high school.

That said, all four of my children had homework every night of the week. It wasn't always a lot of homework, and there was some effort in my oldest son's school (a math/science/technology "magnet" school) on the part of the teachers to coordinate assignments so that often one homework project would be used for several classes.

[Appa23]

There is no homework on Wednesday evenings because of church midweek instruction

You have got to be freakin' kidding.

Is this a public school?

Yes, hence the use of the term "school districts".

Omaha Public Schools, Millard Public Schools, Westside Public Schools, Ralston Public Schhols, and Papillion-LaVista all apparently have formal or informal rules that there is no homework on Wednesday nights.

It makes perfect sense, when you consider that you know that a large number of the students already have 1-2 hours of their evening set aside for something else. Factoring in time for dinner and making sure that the students are in bed at a decent hour, the schools listened to the parents on this issue.

Oddly enough, parochial schools do assign homework on Wednesdays, but that is because its students do not have to attend midweek "CCD".

[peacock2121]

There is no homework on Wednesday evenings because of church midweek instruction

You have got to be freakin' kidding.

Is this a public school?

Yes, hence the use of the term "school districts".

I wonder if I will ever learn.

[littlebeast13]

I don't see the choice for WGAS....

lb13

[MarleysGh0st]

I don't see the choice for WGAS....

Yeah. What are all of us childless BBs supposed to choose?

[Appa23]

There is much more pressure in our district on GATE kids than there was when Maddie was in 6th grade. []

I don't know about you, but I didn't learn to do a 5 paragraph essay until 9th grade, but Emma is doing it now. []

Finally, kids are expected to read for at least 1/2 hour "for pleasure" a night.

I do not know if there is an exception to the homework rules for the gifted children program in our school district. If we still are at this school in a few years, I guess that we will find out.

I am guessing that I learned to do several paragraph essays by 5th grade (although in a Catholic school). I say that I am "guessing" because I know that I won a state essay contest put on by Daughter of the American Revolution during that year.

I like the idea of at least 30 minutes of pleasure reading. We laughed when the kids brought home their reading sheets for school. On one sheet, the goal was to read for something like 100 minutes for the month. We could have returned the sheet after a couple of days, especially for The Boy.

[Appa23]

I don't see the choice for WGAS....

Yeah. What are all of us childless BBs supposed to choose?

A prayer of thanksgiving for a life without foot injuries caused by Legos or having to spend an hour before bed cleaning a bathroom floor of the WD-40 that a daughter sprayed on it b/c she was bored.

[Appa23]

I don't see the choice for WGAS....

lb13

How can I add it? (I should have had that as a choice, you are right.)

[littlebeast13]

It is now a choice.

I was afraid it would reset the poll, but apparently the old votes have been saved...

lb13

[minimetoo26]

Mini-me (3rd grade, public schools) has homework Monday-Thursday nights (he has religion on Monday nights but that doesn't earn him a homework exemption. He just has to do it earlier...)


Rain Man (6th grade, public schools) has homework assigned Monday-Thursday, with the occasional weekend assignment.

Both are required to do extra reading, which they will knock out on the weekends, plus Rain Man has two hours of viola practice assigned which he can spread out however he wants (he's good about doing it in chunks, unlike Stephen who does his two hours all on Sunday because it's due on Monday.)

Both will also occasionally have nights without homework, like if there is a school-sponsored event like a skating party, and neither was assigned homework on Halloween, which would probably make the heads of the Omaha School Board members explode. Except Halloween was on a Wednesday this year...

Stephen (8th grade, private school) has homework assigned all the time, including weekends and summer vacation.

[MarleysGh0st]

Stephen (8th grade, private school) has homework assigned all the time, including weekends and summer vacation.

Ouch!

[littlebeast13]

Stephen (8th grade, private school) has homework assigned all the time, including weekends and summer vacation.

Ouch!

One of my "favorite" homework assigments I remember was in 8th grade American history class. We had to outline the entire US Constitution, and it was given to us over Christmas break (About a week and a half, usually).

I stayed up late the last night working on it. A precursor of the many, many homework assigments I'd do in high school either late, late the night before it was due or at school the day it was due....

lb13

[kayrharris]

I only have one son, but apparently this is the way boys like to do assignments. Why start early? They work well under pressure.

[minimetoo26]

I only have one son, but apparently this is the way boys like to do assignments. Why start early? They work well under pressure.

Yeah, but when he tries to kick me off the computer at 8 pm for an assignment that's due the next day....BWAHAHAHA!!!!!

[littlebeast13]

I only have one son, but apparently this is the way boys like to do assignments. Why start early? They work well under pressure.

Yeah, but when he tries to kick me off the computer at 8 pm for an assignment that's due the next day....BWAHAHAHA!!!!!

You'll have to wait until the little orange man quits flipping over, young man!

lb13

[minimetoo26]

I only have one son, but apparently this is the way boys like to do assignments. Why start early? They work well under pressure.

Yeah, but when he tries to kick me off the computer at 8 pm for an assignment that's due the next day....BWAHAHAHA!!!!!

You'll have to wait until the little orange man quits flipping over, young man!

lb13

Last night I was trying to get the fixes and running scans and whatnot, so he had to kick his brother off of Webkinz to get his online assignments, and their printer is my old one, which is possessed but still has ink, so he managed to get one page printed before it wigged out. Hope it had the assignments he needed, but if not, it serves him right....

[littlebeast13]

Last night I was trying to get the fixes and running scans and whatnot, so he had to kick his brother off of Webkinz to get his online assignments

Geez, I know it hasn't been THAT long since I was in school....

Your turn to make me feel old today, mini....

lb13

[minimetoo26]

Last night I was trying to get the fixes and running scans and whatnot, so he had to kick his brother off of Webkinz to get his online assignments

Geez, I know it hasn't been THAT long since I was in school....

Your turn to make me feel old today, mini....

lb13

I wish they had that when I was a kid! Plus, it makes it easy for us parents to keep track of what is due, and they can't use that "she just assigned this yesterday" lame line when I KNOW it was assigned two weeks ago...

Face it--you're old no matter WHAT I say...

[littlebeast13]

Face it--you're old no matter WHAT I say...

Tell me about it! My back's still killing me from that first Prison Throw session 2 weeks ago....

lb13

[minimetoo26]

Face it--you're old no matter WHAT I say...

Tell me about it! My back's still killing me from that first Prison Throw session 2 weeks ago....

lb13

You were supposed to use the catapult, not just brute strength.....

[PlacentiaSoccerMom]

Last night I was trying to get the fixes and running scans and whatnot, so he had to kick his brother off of Webkinz to get his online assignments

Geez, I know it hasn't been THAT long since I was in school....

Your turn to make me feel old today, mini....

lb13

I wish they had that when I was a kid! Plus, it makes it easy for us parents to keep track of what is due, and they can't use that "she just assigned this yesterday" lame line when I KNOW it was assigned two weeks ago...

Face it--you're old no matter WHAT I say...

Do you have online gradebooks as well.

I check in the morning and before I pick up the girls from school. Sometimes I know what is going on before the kids do. Sometimes papers don't get returned in mailbags right away and I have time to do "interventions" before their grades are lowered.

Last year, Maddie's geometry grade was hovering at a low A- and every point counted. I checked her grade before I left home and saw that she hadn't turned in her homework, lowering her grade to a B+. When I picked her up, I asked her why she hadn't done her homework and she told me that she thought that it didn't need to be turned in. I told her to turn it in. So she ran to her class and because it was before 3:00, she got full credit and her grade went back to an A-.