Normal amount of homework for kindergarten?

[LionessMom]

what do you think is normal for homework in kindergarten?
my 5 yr old started this year, on her 3rd week. they expect my non-reading 5 yr old to do 3 hours of homework a week. DH sits down and helps her, but he complains all the time about how hard it is for kids who cant read to do the work. and now they are sending home literary packets on top of it. i might sound like a whiner but we dont have the time to do her homework with her on top of all the other stuff we have. how many other Kindergartners out there have this much homework?

[StephandOwen]

That is WAY more than they give here in Kindergarten. On weeks that are not a full 5 day school week (weeks they have either Friday or Monday off for a holiday or whatever) then there is one "homework" sheet given that has 4 new words. The parents just work with the kids on these words, teaching them to read or write them. Nothing has to be turned back into the teacher except that paper signed by a parent. On weeks where there is a full week then a packet of homework is sent home on Monday. It includes that same homework sheet with 4 words (new words every week) plus 4 other homework sheets. Each sheet takes a couple minutes to complete. They ask for all homework to be turned in by Friday, but if you need the weekend to complete it then that's fine. They aren't marked late or anything

[inkslinger]

At our school, each child has a 'homework folder.' On Monday, there is a packet of homework that is to be completed throughout the week and handed in on Friday. We haven't had more than 10-20 minutes of homework per day yet and we don't much, if any, on Weds because dd has lessons that day. There is also a reading log that is to be turned in with the homework packet, one book per day. Luckily, my dd is the sort that LIVES for homework, worksheets, workbooks, etc. so she loves it. In fact, it's Saturday morning and she's in the living room doing a workbook on sight words right now

[mommy2maya]

what exactly is the homework? I've had two kids go thru kindergarten, and their homework has consisted of a packet for the week. It usually consisted of 2-3 two sided language arts pages, and two-three two sided math pages, all from what they were working on at that point in time. Language arts was letter of the week- trace it, write it over a full line- once for upper case, once for lower case. Then the other half of the sheet would be like six blocks with pictures, underneath three letters, circle the letter the picture's beginning sound- like a picture of a cat, with c, n, p underneath, circle the C. Math would be like circle 8 cats, put an x on 4 butterflies, etc etc. Once they started really adding in sight words, tehy would get a sheet with sentences with blanks, and fill in the sight word. Or a coloring page that was like color by number or letter.

Half of it was learning to follow directions, the other half was cementing the concept. I know my kids always sat down with the packet like 20 minutes before school the day that it was due. I also know of lots of kids who it took an hour a night to get thru, usually fighting the whole time. So, I think it might depend on the kid a lot, for how long it takes to get the work done.

[Alyantavid]

My son didn't have any homework in kindergarten.

[babyj]

We had similar. A weekly packet that had 1 sheet per day of math or writing (est time 15 min per day). We also had a weekly spelling list and letter of the week (daily est 10 min). A kindergartner can't usually read the instructions on a homework sheet. The parent has to sit with the child during homework time. I would often do bills at the table too or have him sit at the kitchen table while I cooked. I didn't want to hover but I was nearby to read instructions and assist. We also wrote the spelling word on plain index cards (homemade flash cards) and did that later in the evening. He was also expected to read 10 min per school day.

I find that when my child is in school, it's like I'm in school too. It takes time out of my evening etc. My husband and I do switch off and we refuse to help with homework after 7:30 PM (cause our patience starts to get thin). However, after a month or 2, when everyone gets into the routine of homework, it gets a little easier.

Hope that helps.

[Peony]

DD1 is in 1st grade, it is a 1st/2nd combined class (we never did K so I don't know what they do). He homework is to either read or be read to 6 days a week. Once in a while if she didn't finish something in class then it will get sent home but it is just a simple worksheet.

3 hours a week is insane!

[ChetMC]

Kindergarten

DD is in kindergarten. She hasn't had any homework so far, but my understanding is that her teacher eventually does a little weekly reading kit where she sends home a poem and some kind of activity to do relating to the poem each week.

[Ellien C]

I have a first grader with at least 20 minutes at night and I think that's too much. Some of them are supposed to be "fun" activities like count how many thermometers are in the house, then draw pictures of some of them and label them all. That took AWHILE (when are you done? I hate those open-ended assignments) and it was on top of another worksheet. Then we are supposed to read 20 minutes a night. We are home by 6 and DD goes to bed at 8. There is just not much time in there, especially if she can't do the assignment in aftercare.

[Vancouver Mommy]

I think zero homework is appropriate for kindergarden.

[mojumi]

DD will have 20 mns one night a week (Weds), with occasional extra projects (another 20 mns) on a different night every couple of weeks. DS had the same last year.

[Mirzam]

Originally Posted by Vancouver Mommy

I think zero homework is appropriate for kindergarden.

Me too. None of my three ever had homework in kindergarten.

[RiverSky]

My son has been out of kindergarten for 4 years now, but when he was in kindy (in Florida), he had about 1 hour a week of homework to do, plus they asked us to read to him 30 minutes a day. (we did more than that already, so I thought it was a curious request)

For the record, I think homework in kindergarten is ridiculous.

[My3guys]

My kids have homework three nights a week. About 20 minutes each time. In addition, they need to read for a minimum of 30 minutes each night. So, between 30-60 minutes of homework a night depending on the day.

[cyncyn]

Last year my dd's public K sent home an 8 page packet every Friday that had to be returned by the next Friday. It might take a couple hours to do the whole thing so we spread it out over several nights. I thought it was too much busywork for K. Basically a repeat of the letter of the week, number recognition, matching, patterns, etc. Not every school in our district does this much homework. It was a tough go for us after the excitement of the first few weeks. We ended up getting way behind and not turning in all the packets. We wanted dd to do as much as possible of it on her own, but eventually it came down to dh or I sitting with her the whole time if it was going to be completed. I hear you on the limited evening hours! Dd is going to a new school next week and her teacher said there won't be any regularly scheduled worksheet based homework. :

[~PurityLake~]

Originally Posted by LionessMom

what do you think is normal for homework in kindergarten?
my 5 yr old started this year, on her 3rd week. they expect my non-reading 5 yr old to do 3 hours of homework a week. DH sits down and helps her, but he complains all the time about how hard it is for kids who cant read to do the work. and now they are sending home literary packets on top of it. i might sound like a whiner but we dont have the time to do her homework with her on top of all the other stuff we have. how many other Kindergartners out there have this much homework?

Not only does the content sound completely unnecessary, it also sounds like they want the parents to do their job. If it were possible, you might as well home school. 3 hours per week! that's absolutely ridiculous, especially for a 5 year old who isn't even technically in school yet. Maybe it's a sign that I'm really old, but last I checked, Kindergarten is all about hands on play learning, not pages of homework.

[BCFD]

DD's homework consists of being read to or reading every night, helping to prepare meals, and if she *WANTS* to finish certain projects (usually cultural) that were not completed in class. It's not mandatory, so I usually just ask her how she feels about her project not being completed. She says it makes her "happy" to complete her projects and so far we haven't had a problem.

It's a Montessori charter school, so even in 4th grade, this is what homework will look like:

PRACTICAL LIFE HOMEWORK
THEME: Cooking a complete meal for your family
Part of your homework this week is to cook a nutritious meal for your family one
time. This can be breakfast, lunch or dinner. You must plan a meal from scratch. (No
frozen pizza, chicken nuggets etc.) This meal must have something from all the food
groups. You can find recipes on the internet or use cookbooks already at home. Please use
the following guidelines to help plan your family meal:
1. Select what you would like to cook, (a menu). A good place to start would be
http://allrecipes.com/Recipes/Everyd...ites/Main.aspx this
website has kid friendly recipes and ideas for cooking a meal. Remember you must
have a complete meal with and entrée, fruit/vegetable, grains and dairy. Check to
make sure no one is allergic to any ingredients.
2. Once you have selected a menu and a recipe, write down a list of supplies needed
to cook your meal.
3. Look at your list of supplies needed and check what things you already have in your
home. (most supplies should already be in your house) It will be up to your family
whether the additional items needed for the meal needs to be purchased. (You may
have to modify your recipes to fit what is already at you house.)
4. Once you have obtained all of the necessary supplies, READ THE DIRECTIONS
FIRST, then you can start cooking. Remember to read through the recipe, to find
out how much time you need to prepare the meal and how much time you need to
cook the meal. You have to budget your time.
5. Enjoy! Your delicious meal with your family.
6. Don’t forget to clean up the dishes!!!
If your meal didn’t turn out well that’s okay. Remember professional chef’s ruin dishes all the time. After you have eaten your meal, you must write your recipe on a 5”x7” piece of paper (Like a recipe card). If it didn’t turn out well then write a modified version on the recipe card. Make sure you rate the meal 1 to 5 stars, 5 being the highest. Have fun!
7. Then take a piece of poster board and display your pictures. Write a a sentence or two describing what you are doing in the pictures.
8. In your oral presentation you should give details about what you cooked, how you cooked it and how your meal tasted.



Our school has really cut back on homework this year. There are things I want to do with my kids at night and I'm glad they respect it!

[neverdoingitagain]

There's homework in kindergarten?! My dd started in August and hasn't brought any homework home. As I recall from when I went to school, we didn't have homework either. The only thing her teacher asked was that my dd be able to spell her name when she started.

[Mandynee22]

DD didn't have homework in K, in first grade it was 15 minutes (with a rule, from the teacher, that if it took longer to stop and send in what was done). 2nd was 20 minutes I think.
Is it a set 3 hrs of HW a week or is that how long it takes your LO? I think that's way too much if it's that amount. That would be several papers, I would imagine.

[Hatteras Gal]

No homework for my kindergartner. She brings home small readers, like 6-8 pages long with one sentence one each page, like "I am cat." But they read those in class together first.

So far dd1, in 2nd grade, has only brought home math homework- one page, both sides. But she has spelling words and math facts to practice. She brings her reading book home Thursday nights to read her story of the week to us. She is supposed to read for 10 minutes every night too.