Update - building log forts and banning homework worked.
First, thank you to the folks who have read my controversial post "Why we say "No" to Homework." I must admit, I was blown away by the thousands upon thousands who read that post.
Many of you have asked excellent follow-up questions, but since there were so many of them I didn't know how to respond at first. Now I know. I'm incorporating "Homework" as a major topic in my next renegade parenting book. Meanwhile, I'll answer one of your burning questions here.
What happened after our family wrote the "we ban homework" letter?
The letter sparked a good conversation with my son's third grade teacher. We talked about how we supported his education at home. We talked about her goals for the class and her goals for him. We agreed to no homework and that it was still his responsibility to master what kids were learning in class. Thanks to her flexibility and understanding of individual needs, the year went by without a glitch.
It seems more teachers are willing to be flexible in the younger years, especially if parents show they care and are involved. My child's first and second grade teachers also agreed to no homework for our family, but each year the pressure increased. This school, on the whole, believed in homework for elementary students and had the common "10 minutes a grade" policy. By 4th and 5th grade homework was expected to be 40-50 minutes long each night (though many families will attest it took much longer) and became more serious. We were heading into a true clash of education cultures.
So last year we changed schools. This is difficult in our small town because there aren't a lot of options. We now send both our kids to a charter school that basically has no homework until middle school. They encourage reading every night at home.
The individual approach -- the "no homework" letter -- is a difficult path that gets harder as children grow older. What really needs to happen is mass change and education of educators. For my next book, I'm digging into research that shows that there is no evidence that homework at the elementary school age helps at all. Many scholars dispute its worth at the middle school level, either, and that any homework over two hours a night for high school has a diminishing return.
So it's a happy ending for us. My son is in 5th grade now and tells anyone who will listen that he goes to a "really cool school!" But the problem is immense. Every day people find my blog by typing pleas on the internet like this: "my 7-year-old is in tears with three hours of homework" "homework is ruining my family" and "it's past 10pm and my 4th grader is still working on homework."
What's your update? For those of you who have tried to buck the homework system, what was the result? I'd love to hear from you.
What happened? Did it work for you? What's your homework story?
Heather Shumaker is the author of It's OK Not to Share and It's OK to Go Up the Slide (published 2016) If you're interested in alternatives to a homework culture in elementary school, pick up a copy of It's OK to Go Up the Slide.
Hi Heather,
As a Pre-K ECEer, I was rather stunned last year when a parent approached me to find out why her just-turned-four year old daughter wasn't reading yet. She was baffled as to why we weren't doing worksheets. I tried my best to explain my classroom, and that I would not be asking any of the children to do worksheets or pressuring them in any way to "learn to read" but rather providing a literacy rich environment within a larger child-rich environment.
Don't know if my message got through to her, but I hope so!
I love your book, my copy has so many dog-ears and creases... I share bits of it with whoever will listen! Thanks for making the language so easy to use!
Cheers,
Marta
Good to hear your story, Marta. Yes, I've heard from many teachers that parents ask for worksheets and homework, even at a young age. The process of education goes both ways. So glad the book is serving you well. Those kids are lucky to have you.
Love to hear others who have the same opinion on homework. My 17 year old is an "Out of the box" learner. He makes all A's, other than Algebra 2. When trying to speak to his teachers about his learning style all of them agreed with my opinion except his Algebra teacher. He would rather spend his time at home building computers, websites and Apps., riding dirt bikes and rebuilding his 73" Duster. We are blessed to go to a private school that has an understanding of learning styles:)) He is being moved from that class to a teacher who supports our decision. He still has homework but he is not up until 2 AM( seriously) like his classmates. I'm pretty sure he is going to grow up to be a healthy, happy, productive member of society!
Good for you for speaking up and finding a teacher that was a better match. Wonderful - thanks so much for sharing your story.
Heather, I've been fighting the homework battle for over two years. I have 7 kids - my oldest is now a high school senior, and I am sad to say that when he was in elementary school, I just didn't know better, and I would fight with him daily over homework, taking on the role of drill sergeant/enforcer, because that's what I thought I was supposed to do. It wasn't until my fifth child was in first grade a couple of years ago that I had kind of a revelation. She was coming home from school every day with a packet of worksheets to do, and she would cry and dawdle and complain that she was tired, and I would sit there and make her do her homework anyway. Then she started complaining of tummy aches and saying she didn't want to go to school, and that's when it hit me: this is all just too much for a six-year old. I started reading everything I could get my hands on about homework and realized that as a practice, it's not evidence based and has no intrinsic value, especially in elementary school. I tried to reason with my daughter's first grade teacher, but I was met with "My way or the highway." I ended up telling the teacher flat out that I just wasn't going to make my daughter do homework anymore and I really didn't care if her grades reflected it, and that teacher and I had this huge falling out over it, drama drama drama, blah blah blah. Anyway, my daughter didn't do any homework for the rest of the school year and did just fine academically. But since then, I've taken it to the district and the school principal, trying to get the homework policies changed, and nobody will budge. So I fight individual teachers about it, and sometimes they are receptive, and sometimes they are not. I now have a high school senior and a seventh grader, both of whom manage their own homework pretty well. I have two fifth graders (twins) who have daily homework, but I've made clear to their teacher that I will only support homework to the extent that it doesn't create stress and tension in our house, and that it doesn't interfere with other activities/pursuits. My fifth child is now a third grader and I'm actually pulling her to homeschool her because she's falling through the cracks at school. I really feel like her first grade teacher did her a huge disservice with her inflexible authoritarianism and turned my daughter off to school, rather than instilling in her a love of learning. In second grade my daughter was placed with a teacher who was counting the days until her retirement, and this year she's gotten placed in a 3-4 combo class with a teacher who is teaching full time for the first time - AND she's very committed to homework as a necessary practice. So I finally realized that if I don't do something a little drastic to try and turn things around for my daughter, she's going to have years of misery ahead of her.
Anyway, you're right that the problem is a big one. The whole thinking surrounding homework needs to change, but I'm really not sure how that is going to happen. I am really losing confidence in the public school system, what with overcrowded classrooms, Common Core, and homework policies that are not supported by evidence.
I write a blog about school and homework if you're interested: http://hometownhomeworkchronicles.wordpress.com
Also, I meant to address your point, too, about your son remaining responsible for mastering the material even without doing homework, and I just wonder how a child can do that when so often, teachers do make mastering the material dependent on homework. So often, it seems that teachers rush through lessons (I'm sure due to time constraints) and then expect the practice and application of the lessons to take place at home. How do we deal with that?
Good question Lisa! My son (a 9th grader) has wanted to only learn it in the classroom. When I have let him slack off on homework on and off through the years, my assessment is that he still doesn't know as much as I would expect. This shows up clearly with the scores on his math tests. Of course his math teacher would say he needed to do the homework for practice. They are on a block schedule, meaning there are chunks of classroom time that could be dedicated to math practice. I can't imagine the teacher talks the whole time. The end result is that the output is poor, time is wasted at school and at home. Unless I completely jump in and teach it to him, much understanding gets lost. When he is home sick, I do the teaching and get better results with less effort in a shorter period of time. A lot about life today is just pushing through the volume of things in our lives instead of truly learning and absorbing and appreciating life.
Good for you, Heather! I opted to homeschool for the same reasons. I hope your bravery has an impact on the public school system. Hooray for teachers who are willing to listen with an open heart!
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My daughter is about to start kindergarten. I was actually pretty surprised that she's expected to spend 20 minutes a night on homework even though she's going all day. I wrote a detailed letter in an email about why I don't plan to force her to do any homework she doesn't want to do in elementary school. I also told her that I am INCREDIBLY busy this year with working as a teacher (new position as a gifted intervention specialist), have a husband who also works all the time, and I have a 1-year-old and a 4-month-old at home. I explained that even if I wanted to do homework with her I really don't have the time. Reading together everyday is about all I can manage right now, and when I have more time I plan to spend that time teaching my daughter how to play piano. I said that if she falls behind (which I highly doubt as she's already very advanced for her age), I am willing to tutor her but only on the weekends as I'm too busy during the week. I also stated that I was aware she may disagree with me and was a bit nervous about her reaction. I tried to sound as respectful as possible, and I put a pretty good amount of time, effort, and feeling into the letter. So far the letter was received worse than I expected. I got a really short response that homework is the expectation in kindergarten.
I'm feeling pretty disappointed. I hope things go okay this year. I've heard this teacher is wonderful. I just can't believe people are such strong advocates of homework at such a young age!! I don't know any adults who had homework in kindergarten!
love this post and will share with the families whose kids I teach ... Why don't you homeschool? Just wondering and exploring for my own children
I watched my first child (now 12) cry and hate on himself as he struggled to complete the homework assigned in his cushy, crunchy, alternative private school that he attended through 5th grade. He was slow to read fluently due to a (later discovered) visual tracking issue, and although that was resolved with vision therapy, he developed the idea that he is bad at academics, specifically math. We solved the homework problem by pulling him and his sister out of school and are now homeschooling the older two, with two younger kids just beginning (one preschool and one in kindergarten - public school.) It's been 2 years and I am still trying to repair the damage to my son's image of himself as a learner from that homework experience.
I am happy to hear you have had success with your no-homework policy in your family, as it's what I have been planning for my younger ones, when they get there. Once they are through 3rd or 4th grade we will probably homeschool them also, but the sibling dynamics are too challenging for me right now.
Thanks for setting such a strong example!!