Getting 4 year old to do homework

[minsy1010]

Hi moms,
I would like to know the following:

1) Does your 4 year olds have homework from school? Not daily but like weekly.

2) Are they doing it?

3) How do you get them to do it (without having to threaten time out) if they don't want to?

Thanks!!

[Alyantavid]

Not normally. However, if he didn't really participate in school time or missed a day, we'll get the worksheets. With a 4 year old, you'll probably have to sit there and walk them through it. With my kid, as long as I'm right there doing it with him, he loves it.

ETA: I'd find a time when he's more open to it as well. If he's cranky or tired or hungry or whatever, it'll be much harder.

[limabean]

My DS started kindergarten at 4, so he had weekly (parent-directed) homework at that age. He did it and enjoyed it -- we sat at his little table (called it his "desk") in his room and he liked spending that one-on-one time with me.

[jmo]

Is this homework from preschool? I can't even imagine homework at 4! or 5 for that matter!

[laila2]

Yikes

Homework at 4. What is the world coming to.

When my 4 year old started kinder, due to her birthday being late August, her homework was reading. It was hard for her, and we had to be very patient. We were coached by her teacher that in no way associate it with something displeasurable, like punishment.

Her teacher made sure we knew how the brain forms, and she is exactly where others her age were. It helped me incredibly, by volunteering in class, to see how alert she was compared to others. Volunteering in class really teaches you.

[Holiztic]

4 is an awfully early age for a child to start thinking of learning as 'work' or as something they "have" to do. This attitude is likely to damage a child's relationship with school and learning at large.

I hope the "work" is fun as in games and such. Maybe if you do it with your child as an activity it might be thought of more as fun than 'work'.

I don't really have a problem with 4 year olds doing stuff at home (if they're doing academics anyway), but the idea that your DC is fighting it (which you did not actually say) would worry me.

[artgoddess]

Originally Posted by Holiztic

4 is an awfully early age for a child to start thinking of learning as 'work' or as something they "have" to do. This attitude is likely to damage a child's relationship with school and learning at large.

I hope the "work" is fun as in games and such. Maybe if you do it with your child as an activity it might be thought of more as fun than 'work'.

I don't really have a problem with 4 year olds doing stuff at home (if they're doing academics anyway), but the idea that your DC is fighting it (which you did not actually say) would worry me.

yes, yes and yes.

Talk to your child's teacher and find out the purpose of the work. Find out if there are alternate activities you can do instead.

[meemee]

one of the oft repeated complaints i hear from kids is i HATE homework.

even today at 3rd grade my dd says she tolerates school but HATES homework.

homework makes her life miserable.

her school asks her to do waaaaaaaaaaaaay more and she is the one child who has from K gotten a N for needs to improve in turning her hw in on time. she does turn in maybe 60% of the time, not 40%.

that is why she went to play based non academic ps/dc. i feel vvvvvvvv. strongly about this.

[4Blessings]

Homework for a four-year old? In July?

No, we don't force homework on any of our children. It's one of the joys of homeschooling I suppose.

[LynnS6]

No 4 year old should ever have homework. I might see an 'assignment' such as 'bring in something blue' during the week they're talking about blue, but if my child were in a preschool where they were getting worksheets of any sort at any time during the day, my child would be out of there so fast the director's head would spin.

Worksheets at 4 are not developmentally appropriate practice. Worse, they stifle love of learning later on.

So, in answer to your questions:
1) No.
2) No.
3) I wouldn't even ask them to do it. Heck, dd and I ignored kindergarten homework most of the time. (The school didn't care.)

[Drummer's Wife]

I have a DS who was in pre-k last year and no, he never had homework. It was very much a play-based preschool, and I would not have been okay with them requiring homework. I really can't see forcing a kid of any age to complete schoolwor at home, and luckily my kids are in Montessori so it's really not an issue.

[MusicianDad]

If, at 4, DS starts bringing homework home... Then he gets pulled from the class. I too believe that no 4 year old should ever have homework.

[Ornery]

No homework for my 4 year old. When preschool was in session, the teachers would let us know what they are working on and give suggestions as how to best follow up on it at home but no "homework". We might point out birds or things that start with the sound "th" or whatever. I would hate it if my 4 year old had to do worksheets or something like that!

[LaughingHyena]

Last year (4yo) DD brought home a reading book and worksheet each week. We were expected to read the reading book and note it down but the worksheets were pretty much so the parents could see what they had been doing in class.

This year (5yo) she has a reading book which we are expected to read and then homework. Again it's supposed to be done with the parent. IMO there is quite a lot and we very rarely do all of it. We still take a lot of it to be letting us know what DD has been doing that week.

I will not struggle to get DD to do homework, in those cases where she has really objkected we've noted this down in her book. Her teacher appreciates this so she knows it has been an issue rather than just not looked at.

I HATE that children this young are getting homework, I hate a lot of the work set and think that it is homework or me most of the time. For example a couple of weeks ago she had to write a act booklet about Uruguay. I don't know many 5 yos able to research a country and then write a booklet about it. That one had me complaining to the school.

FWIW we are in the UK where children are expected to start school the year they are 5. Since my DDs birthday is in August this meant she was only just 4

[zeldamomma]

Originally Posted by LynnS6

No 4 year old should ever have homework. I might see an 'assignment' such as 'bring in something blue' during the week they're talking about blue, but if my child were in a preschool where they were getting worksheets of any sort at any time during the day, my child would be out of there so fast the director's head would spin.

Worksheets at 4 are not developmentally appropriate practice. Worse, they stifle love of learning later on.

So, in answer to your questions:
1) No.
2) No.
3) I wouldn't even ask them to do it. Heck, dd and I ignored kindergarten homework most of the time. (The school didn't care.)

I agree with this.

[minkin03]

my 4 yo is in preschool and they don't do homework, thank goodness! i get enough of it with my 6 yo in 1st. luckily for me though my 4 yo actually likes to do workbooks and will sit for long periods of time going through workbooks. but if she were required to do it and she didn't want to, i just wouldn't have her do it. pushing too early will do more harm than good imo.

[madskye]

Originally Posted by LynnS6

No 4 year old should ever have homework. I might see an 'assignment' such as 'bring in something blue' during the week they're talking about blue, but if my child were in a preschool where they were getting worksheets of any sort at any time during the day, my child would be out of there so fast the director's head would spin.

Worksheets at 4 are not developmentally appropriate practice. Worse, they stifle love of learning later on.

So, in answer to your questions:
1) No.
2) No.
3) I wouldn't even ask them to do it. Heck, dd and I ignored kindergarten homework most of the time. (The school didn't care.)

What she said. My now 5 year old just "graduated" pre-k from what's considered a more "academic" preschool in our area, and there was no homework.

Do you see any positives in it? It sounds terrible, honestly, but perhaps if you gave more background about the school or the assignments it would make more sense.

[Masel]

My DD is 4 and in preschool. Twice she's had a worksheet that was sent home. These were months apart. I suspect they just wanted me to see what she was doing. I had her do one while still at school. She was very excited to show me where they keep the pencils. The other time I completely forgot about it.

[coop_mom]

No homework for us here either. I've already been worried about homework in the future (I dread watching my child come home with the giant backpack...that's just not for us...), so if we were getting homework already, I'd be frustrated.

But if that is not a helpful answer (obviously it's not ) - I would just try and make it as enjoyable as possible and make sure it's scheduled at a time when DC is most willing to be cooperative

[cedoreilly]

Homework at 4? I have not had anything other than making a Valentimes' Box once. There are theme days every once in a while but it is not required. My older ones did not have homework until they were 6 and in first grade. I had a hard enough time dealing with it then.