By: Gordon Beinstein
I wanted to use this forum to write about every parent’s favorite subject: homework. Having had two kids go through the Greenwich Public School System, with a third still attending Greenwich High, I feel your pain when it comes to the homework battle. Two years ago I administered a survey after hearing from a number of parents about the amount of work assigned at Western. It was inconclusive at best. Parents of children sitting next to each other in the same class often had polar opposite experiences when it came to how much time their child was spending on schoolwork at home. I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised as homework can be very much a personal issue. The same assignment, which the teacher believes should take 15 minutes, may take one child 5 minutes, and another 30. If you multiply this by 4-5 subjects, we have an issue.
So, if there is a problem, is it with the assignment, or is it your child’s approach to the work that is leading to the inordinate amount of time on task (or lack thereof)? The reality is that it might be difficult to know. A typical middle school child (like there is such a thing) should spend approx. 60-90 minutes a night on homework. This amounts to approximately 15 minutes per subject per weeknight, plus reading. There should be no homework due on Monday that the child did not have an opportunity to do before the weekend. Weekends need to be family time!
I am not one who believes that the quantity of homework has a direct relationship with the quality of a child’s education. Homework has a purpose…to practice skills already taught or to lead off the next day’s lesson. Homework should not be ruining your relationship with your child, interfering with sleep or impacting your child’s ability to participate in non-academic pursuits! If your child is spending an inordinate amount of time on his / her homework, and it is beginning to impact other areas of his / her life, please contact your child’s guidance counselor or particular teacher where this might be an issue. Conversely, if you find that your child frequently states that he/she has no homework, or your child claims to have finished it in school, (or, more likely, on the bus on the way home from school) a phone call to the counselor or particular teacher is also warranted.
Please note that ‘time on homework’ means different things to different students. If your child is in his / her room, music blaring, texting away with friends, TV in the background, and claims to be ‘doing homework’, they are not. Also, if your child waits until Thursday to start a project due on Friday that was assigned on Monday, they lose the right to complain about how much homework they have that night. This is all part of the learning process. Students, who had been appropriately spoon-fed in their previous school, need to learn to manage their time. This can be one of the more difficult lessons students learn in middle school, and one of the most impactful.
To help you to best assist your child with their homework, I have attached some suggestions, taken from the book Rethinking Homework by Cathy Vatterott.
Parents are encouraged to:
· Ask their child about what the child is studying in school.
· Ask their child to show them any homework assignments.
· Assist their child in organizing homework materials.
· Help their child formulate a plan for completing homework.
· Provide an appropriate space for their child to do homework.
Parents may, if they wish:
· Help their child interpret assignment directions.
· Proofread their child’s work, pointing out errors.
· Read aloud required reading with their child
· Give practice quizzes to their child to help prepare for tests
· Help their child brainstorm ideas for papers and projects
· Praise their child for completing homework
Parents should not:
· Attempt to teach their child concepts or skills the child is unfamiliar with.
· Complete assignments for the child
· Allow their child to sacrifice sleep to complete homework
As Western, we have already incorporated a few initiatives to assist families with homework completion. All of your child’s assignments are posted on Schoology and students are provided time to write their assignments in their planners every period. In addition, students email home a ‘progress monitoring’ sheet 2x per cycle, informing you, and reminding them of where they stand academically at that point in time, and noting any missing assignments. This should, to a large extent, eliminate the issue of not knowing what the assignments are. In addition, teachers are available after school and students may stay after for homework club. This ‘club’ will provide students with a quiet, supervised location in which to get their homework done.
Homework is a part of a child’s school experience, but, if we assign appropriately, you support knowledgeably, and the student plans thoughtfully, it shouldn’t be the time cannibalizer it often becomes.
