JCC Question for Parents/Teachers: Homework in Kindergarten, yea or nay?

My five year old daughter brings home homework every day from her kindergarten class. Mostly it's just writing down words of the week, but I think it's odd. I also think it's odd that my daughter's teacher recommends a tutor.

This is kindergarten. Wth?

 

As someone who routinely sees very young children getting math tutoring from graduate students I feel comfortable saying that any parent that does so needs to get their priorities sorted, but on that same note I think they might as well pay money for their foolishness.

 

My eldest had homework, had no problem with it. But it was down to the teacher. The second one is now in kindergarten, and does not get homework. Neither does my eldest who is in third grade.

As for the tutor...is that recommended to all parents, or is your daughter struggling? If it's recommended to all parents, the teacher isn't doing their job, I would say. Either way, tutoring at that age seems overboard.

 

Well, the teacher just mentioned it to me today that my daughter could benefit from a tutor. Now, I do the regular activities with my kids: read to them, talk about picture books, go to the park/playground, in addition to the homework. Admittedly, I don't do all of the homework with her--like the activities that require her to cut words out of magazines, since who the heck has magazines anymore?

My daughter is very shy. And even if she knows something, she doesn't like to answer because she's so shy. This could give the impression of a lack of understanding. But when I read to them at night, she focuses on the words in the sentences and points them out and repeats them. I don't think she has a learning problem. Imo, I think she's right where a person could reasonably expect a five year old to be.

 

When does her first report card come home?

 

Shouldn't be mandatory, else it's fine.
If she doesn't mind, why would you?

 

She just had one last month. It basically said that she was satisfactory in everything. The only thing above satisfactory was "exceptional" iirc.

 

Let 4 and 5 year olds learn to think for themselves before telling them what to think. They have the rest of their life to compete in the ratrace.

 

Well, then the best thing to do is ask the teacher why they think your daughter needs a tutor. The reason given is too nebulous, get specifics. If there are particular areas the teacher is concerned about, work with your daughter yourself on those areas.

 

Yeah.

So far it seems like people in this thread are of the "no homework in kindergarten" camp. I wonder why kindergarten changed so drastically.

 

It's never too soon for homework. The more work you give them the faster they learn.

 

I would suggest a meeting with the teacher and present these issues to her/him. Homework is the norm and what you describe sounds within reason for a five-year old. I would ask for specifics in regards to why the teacher believes a tutor would be beneficial.

Extreme shyness can sometimes be cause for misinterpretation of a child's ability and interest or lack thereof towards the material they are being given. But there could also be other issues. You're going to have to investigate.


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Homework in elementary school is an absurd practice and has been shown to have no beneficial effect.

 

Yeah, I've read a number of articles claiming this. But there are also a number of articles supporting the opposite.

 

If it's something simple and short, that's fine. But if it's more than a half-hour's worth that is way too much for kindergarten.

 

The homework takes about 5 minutes. It's the 30 minutes of coaxing them to do it that's the pain

 

Like Diggy said, it's seldom more than ten minutes of actual activity...though today's took quite a bit because for some reason my daughter decided to stop spacing her words andstartedwritinglikethis.

My ex is, surprisingly (considering her overall neglect for the children last year--but that's a whole different subject ) very insistent that my daughter does all her homework activities and then some every day, including the magazine cut and paste exercises (and I'm not about to go out and buy magazines just to cut them up, due to lack of time and it being pretty wasteful imo). My thinking is that it's kindergarten--lighten up, everyone. So she does a few word activities a day, okay. But if she misses a day because I decided that spending her time at the park playing with other kids and her brother is more productive, I don't see the big deal. Like I said, it's kindergarten. This isn't going to affect her college choices.

 

My mother is a retired kindergarten and special needs teacher with an amazing gift for teaching kids to read and think. She says homework is not good for kids until they're at least 10 years old.

 

A small amount of homework for young children probably won't kill them, but I'm far from convinced that it helps them. Since the littlest kids can't really be expected to complete homework on their own, I suppose it might have the positive effect of getting parents involved in the teaching of basic concepts, but then, so do bedtime stories, playing word games, showing up for parent-teacher conferences, etc. My own teaching experience was with kids who had learning differences, most of whom came from low-income households. For these kids, homework was often a kind of millstone chained around their necks. Single parents who work multiple jobs don't often have time to sit home and work for hours with their kids. As a result, the homework doesn't get done, the kid ends up with zeroes in the gradebook, and next think you know, the kid is developing an identity as a school failure. Just leave off the homework until the kids are semi-independent, for pity's sake.

 

Being a single parent with residential parent status who works and goes to school myself, I'm definitely left feeling like I'm not doing enough with regards to my daughter's homework. But we do so much else that, again, the writing repetition doesn't seem as consequential to me.

 

I had occasional homework assignments for kindergarten. It was usually cut pictures out of magazines that start with a particular letter, or coloring pages. It was never graded, but always discussed in class the next day.

 

Yes homework and martial drill instruction too. Get those little Prussian kindervolk in line.

 

Danke, Kapitan von Trapp!