Too Much Homework

I think that this is largely going to depend on where you are, how old you are, and what your mindset is. For me, I live in the United States. We're behind in education and we're just starting to make a push to catch up, which means that now kids are getting a bit more homework. I have heard parents say it's too much. I have heard parents say that it's fine. For me, I have a four-year-old who goes to Head Start. She gets homework there on occasion to encourage parent engagement, and I've always been very enthusiastic to support her with it. She loves her homework. In fact, if the teachers don't hand it out when they're supposed to, she reminds them. Since they don't get homework every day, we have to buy her workbooks or print pages because she insists on doing homework every day, she just loves it so. Will this always be the case? Probably not. But if, at four, she can spend half an hour to an hour every day doing "homework," then I don't see it as an issue for older kids, honestly. I graduated high school seven years ago, so not a horribly long time. Yes, we had a lot of homework some nights and sometimes it was stressful in high school. Before that, I never felt like we had too much and it never took a lot of time for me to finish it. Starting about 9th and 10th grade, I felt overwhelmed at times, but that was purely my doing. I took advanced classes. I started working about that time and I started college classes as a junior in 11th grade. By 12th grade, I was working, taking high school in the day, and then traveling to college at night. At that point, yes, that was probably "too much" homework, but I still did it, and there were very few nights that I stayed up later than normal to do it. I think what kids (and maybe some parents) need more of is time management. I feel like a lot of people don't know how to use their time wisely these days (myself included in that bucket a lot of days) so then they feel stressed and pressured and like there's too much and not enough time. Is less homework the answer? I don't know. In America, our education system is a bit sad, so I'm never necessarily in favor of giving the kids less if it's helping them learn. Maybe more parent involvement and more pushing the skills that will help them be successful at their homework instead?

Sounds like a bad 3rd grade teacher. The school where I work gives barely any homework. Kids write their spelling words 2 times each, do a math worksheet, and study for any test they have the next day. Most other stuff is done in the classroom. When I was in elementary school I had it similar to what you did in 3rd grade. Spend most of the day when I got home doing homework. Really hated 2nd grade teacher. If one student didn't do homework the entire class stayed in at recess. That is something I would never approve of as a teacher. I'm just an art and substitute but if I ever became a full teacher I would continue with what most of the teachers here already do.

You've asked a hot question in the education field! In the US, (I don't know the "rules" in other countries), the purpose of homework is supposed to be for reinforcement. What's supposed to happen is that the teacher gives the lesson in class. There is practice during class to make sure everyone understands. Then homework is sent home to solidify the concepts. You're right, it's not supposed to be busy work. Every assignment that is given should have a purpose and the teacher should be able to explain the purpose. Generally, there should be approximately 10 minutes of homework every night per grade level beginning in 1st grade. So 1st grade should have around 10 minutes, 2nd grade 20 minutes, 3rd 30 and so on. If a child is taking significantly longer than this on a regular basis, it's time to schedule a conference with the teacher. Sending a note doesn't do it because there are many factors involved that the parent and teacher need to talk about. It might be that too much is assigned, however it might be that all the other children are completing it in a reasonable time and something else is causing the issue. Although there are teachers out there that aren't effective, just like there are non-effective workers in every field, the vast majority of teachers want to work with parents and understand that parents know their own child in a way not possible just through school. teacher of 30+ years

When I taught high school, I gave very little homework. It would mainly be if they didn't finish work in class due to goofing off, or if they got below a C on an assignment and I wanted them to redo it. Most of my students were juniors and seniors who had jobs, they also had learning disabilities. It wasn't going to do them an ounce of good to pile on homework.