Monday-Thursday...

My 12yo 6th Grader is usually done in 30-45 minutes at home but that is after working on it for 45 minutes in study hall at school every day. He also practices his instrument for 15-20 minutes a day. He's on his own.

My 9yo 3rd Grader spends 45-60 minutes on homework each day. He requires a LOT of help... I basically sit with him every day to help him with it. It is the first year of state standardized testing in our state and so he is *learning* stuff at home.

I thought the homework load would lessen this year with the addition of 15 minutes to the school day but nope! They have both had at least 30 minutes a night of homework since Kindergarten.


How do parents who work do it (my hat is OFF to you!)? How do students with problems do it (badly, I'm thinking!)? How much homework does your child or children bring home each night?

Way to long.
Between homework and studying for upcoming tests I would just guess about 2-3 hours.
There are some nights that I do not see how others do it that have extra activities.
This is the reason that I love vacations.
SPINOFF~How much time do parents spend with their child doing homework!!

__________________
John 14:1
GO GATORS!!
GO BEARS!!
Check out my pictures!! Just click below:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gotjenks/

Tuesday night, oldest spent 2 hours on homework. It was a hard day here.

my 5 yr old (kinder) : 5 minutes
my 7 yr old (1st): 10-15 minutes depending on the day
my 8 yr old (3rd): 30 minutes average and has a couple nights a week w/ none

I believe I read a study that advocates 10 minutes per grade level in elementary. So 1st would be 10min, 6th would be 60 min. Basically homework should be a review and if your child is struggling w/ it the teacher/school needs to know, so kids can get the extra help they need. Maybe quite a few are struggling. Some kids just learn quicker than others; my 3rd grader flies thru hers (I do check it) and her friend spends three times longer.

Oh and yes, I do the homework with them kinda. Older 2 are independent for the most part, but my little guy and I do it together.

Too Much! My second grader spends 30-45 minutes a night, ridiculous in my opinion! I never did home work in grade school and I managed to get a Masters Degree not to mention what my DD is doing in 2nd grade I did in 3rd and maybe 4th. The schools are asking kids to do things that are developmentally thay are not ready to do. And yes with both myself and DH working it's tough...seems like we are in the get up, go to work, come home, homewrok, go to bed routine!

__________________
Mom to Miss C & Mr. E
Former SAHM now working full time
feboll@neo.rr.com

We spend entirely too much time on homework as well. The boys read their 20 minutes of reading each day on the way home on the bus. Then it averages about almost 45 minutes each night for my 3rd and 5th grader. My eighth grader has block scheduling which is 4 classes at 1hr.45 min. on one day and the other 4 classes the same on the following day twice a week with all classes 45 mins on one day. He gets all his homework usually done during class which is a blessing. After a long day of work, I really hate to come home to homework.

sandy

I give my fifth graders usually 2 or 3 assignments most nights (except Friday) They get started on all of them in class- Some are even finished before they leave. Mine who spend more than 30-45 min are those who did not make good use of class time.

It does stink as it gets closer to test time. I feel the pressure just as much as the kids do lol.

Do those of you who think the amount of homework is "crazy" talk to your child's teacher about it?

__________________
AKA: Airbornearmywife

My 4th and 5th grader have about 30 min. a day homework and each are supose to read 30 min. a day. I'm lucky that they can both pretty much do it all on their own.

DS has approx. 1 hour of homework per night (some more, some less) plus reading and drum practice for band. He's in 6th grade. Some nights there is so much homework that there is no time for him to play. He's in scouts so we've got that taking up one entire evening a week but that's the only extra-curricular he's in...I do not understand how the other boys in our scout troop who have an event/activity every night get any of their homework done--or sleep!!

I don't even remember having homework in HS. Except for one math class--Alegbra II yuck

My 2nd grader about an hour to 1.5 hours a night ...no homework on weekends cept I make him read at least 30 minutes a day and do flashcards for math.

9th grader and 10th grader it varies depending upon the projects they have due.
I do remember middle school they used to spend at least 2 hrs every night.

I think the ideal is supposed to be 10 minutes per grade, however that doesn't allow for individual childrens capabilities.

When my son was younger I was concerned that he wasn't getting enough homework because he seemed to be done in less than 10 minutes every night. I then overheard other mothers complaining that the teacher was loading them down with up to 2 hours a night. So each child does it at different pace so teachers can't really give each child the same times worth of homework. DS is now in 10th grade and still seems never to have more than a half hour of work a night and tells me this is his easiest year- I am so hoping he doesn't fall on his butt when he hits college but the school isn't concerned because he gets good grades they don't understand he doesn't know how to study or manage his time.

My DD is in 4th grade now and I am one of those parents sitting with 2 hours of homework because it doesn't come so easily for her. I think she will be much better off in the long run as she is learning to use the brain God gave her.

__________________
All you can do is All you can do-- But All you can do is enough!!!

1st grader and he has about 20 minutes Mon-Thurs. Some nights it's less than others depending on the work. He also has 20 minutes of reading and 15 minutes for speech. We break it up through out the afternoon/evening so we don't have meltdowns. We also try and practice his math flashcards and his snap words at least twice a week.

My 5th grader has about and hour of homework a night. Her teacher is very considerate though, because she also plays on the basketball team (all the girls in her class do) and the teacher usually does not assign homework if there is a game after school. She practices basketball on the weekends. When softball season starts in addition to regular homework they have softball practice 3 times a week for 2-3 hours at a time, in addition to pitching lessons 1 X a week, then she practices pitching 7 days a week pretty much.

we are in a public school in jacksonville beach....I really think it depends on the teacher. Our teacher is disorganized and never stays on schedule, so my student has three to four hours of homework per night. The other 4th grade class only has homework a couple of nights a week. Thank god for organized teachers. This is the first year we have not had one and it is hell. I can't wait to move up to 5th grade a get with a better teacher for my very gifted child.

My 8th grade son runs between 2 up to 3 hrs a night---But he has 6 different classes and teachers every day. The teachers are all on a "team", so I do wish they would coordinate things better, because I really do believe that is way too much for EVERY night of the week. Once in a while for a long-term project or something, but every night of the week is ridiculous. And my son is and always has been a straight A student so that is not the problem.
My DD is a Jr. in high school and has about 1-1/2 to 2 hrs a night....again with 4 classes a day. Her HS is on a "block" schedule, in that they have 4 classes a day, and each class is jsut a bout 2 hours a day 5 days a week. They finish a year curriculum in a semester.

__________________
"Well-Behaved Women SELDOM make history."Laurel Thatcher Ulrich


"Yesterday is but a vision, and tomorrow is only a dream. But today well lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness, and every tomorrow a dream of hope." Anonymous

"Your candle does not lose it's light by lighting another candle" Generosity

Have the courage to be yourself.

Thanks too No Child Left Behind and the FCAT we have alot of "home learning" it's not called homework! Each child has to read for a half hour each night and their is math everyday. It also depends on which child I am dealing with my 3rd doesn't like my help, she knows it all, my 5th grader wants my help and I am telling her she needs to do it on her own, them my 1st grader really does need my help. Some times it is a real hard night. Now I make my dh help someone! I say go ask dad he know fractions better than me!

My 1st grader has to read or be read to and work on vocabulary/spelling words each evening (takes about 15-30 minutes) and then has weekly homework (sent home on Monday and due on Friday). He spends between 15-30 minutes a week on that, depending on what it is.

This week, however, there is no homework because the school exceeded it's copy limit (on the copy machine) so they couldn't make copies of homework worksheets for 4 classes -- DS's class was one of them. I'm still shaking my head about this one. They just went back to school today from Christmas break. How could they have exceeded their copy limit already???

Sarah......mom to Jason & Devin

They must have made a ton of copies before the holiday, or on the day they came back (like an inservice day)

We have those copy limits now too. Thankfully for me, I do not make a ton of copies.

__________________
AKA: Airbornearmywife

This is just tooo funny and one that is new to me. On the other side, why could the teachers just not use the old chalk and board to actually write the work on the board.
One day when I was a sub I wrote about 15 study questions on the board for the students. (I had NOTHING else to do) and the students were amazed by this. What are the boards for?!?

What next No School since we have exceeded our energy bill this month and cannot turn the lights on.

This will have me laughing all day!!!!!
(I am easily ammused I suppose)

__________________
John 14:1
GO GATORS!!
GO BEARS!!
Check out my pictures!! Just click below:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gotjenks/

Teachers were working too hard on their vacation and need to learn to take a break... ...which is a very hard thing for teachers to do with No Child Left Behind always hanging over their heads. Makes me sad what education is becoming; the excess homeworks, the excess worksheets... crazy. Teacher's jobs are in jeopardy if their students don't do well or improve on standardized tests (at least that's how it works here!).

9th grade DD has little homework - she gets stuff done in class, while waiting on the bus after jazz band or ball practice, and on the bus. No study halls at our school. and they recently switched from a block 4 schedule to 7 classes a day so there minimal class time to work. I do know that when I was in high school taking the same classes she is taking now, I spent a minimum of 2 hours a night doing homework.

6th grade DS - homework h*ll at our house. I spend anywhere from 2-4 hours per night WORKING WITH him or going over/checking his completed work - that doesn't include what he gets done at school and before I get home from work. We were up until 12:30 last night (and unfortunately he is my child that requires the most sleep by far). He can do math and spelling assignments on his own with me checking them later and jointly making needed corrections. Reading textbooks is a joint effort and we typically outline them and do any associated worksheets. Studying for tests isn't something he does well on his own either - we go thru the outlines and worksheets/study guides, go online and take the quzzes provided by the publisher, etc. Vocab/spelling involves multiple tests/retests on Thursday nights. Interestingly enough, he has the same exact teachers my DD did 3 years ago, and she rarely had more than 30 minutes of homework a night and rarely needed my help.

My 1st grader has homework most nights, although not very long. Monday Math - 10 minutes. Spelling takes him about 20-60 minutes each week depending on which activities he chooses to do (has to do 2 of 10 or so choices). A quickly read story one night a week. He easily reads as well as my 6th grader and spells better. I liked the format he had for homework in Kindergarten - a worksheet each week with 4 short assignment sets on it for Monday thru Thursday nights. He could easily do it in one evening if we wanted, or he could break it up over a few days - sometimes it got done over the weekend, other times it got left until Friday morning before school (afternoon kindergarten). If he paid attention he could be done with the whole thing in 10 minutes, if he was goofing around it would take about an hour.

DH does great helping the kids when they are younger, but as they get older it's pretty much up to me - he's much more creative but I'm an avid reader and more computer savvy, so most of it falls on my shoulders once they get beyond 4-5th grade. So, for the most part, anything the older two kids need help with, I have to do it, and evenings where one of us is out of this house can be very challenging. If I was a single mom I don't know how I would do it.

During the winter fitting homework in around other activities isn't so bad, but spring and summer and super busy. Freshman does volleyball, jazz band, and softball - school and club/travel teams. She dropped basketball this year, to my delight and DH's dismay, lol. 6th grader plays basketball for a non-school league now and for school starting in February (6th grade plays after the 7th/8th grade season is over). He also plays highly competetive travel league baseball starting in a few weeks. The first grader plays basketball, baseball, and soccer which have weekday commitments, but we can leave the older kids home if needed. Fortunately for us, our busiest time of the year is summer (VERY busy with multiple activities each night) and later in the school year when academic things are winding down. I've tried to keep fall/winter activities to a minimum for the 6th grader especially.