Homework hell - Page 2

[Liz]

Originally Posted by mamaduck

Liz -- in your shoes, I would just totally back off your son. I wouldn't show him his report card or talk to him about it all. I'd support him with homework, but give him permission to stop working at the point it becomes hellish, and simply send a note to the teacher each and everytime you reach that point telling her that it was too hard. Other than that -- I'd encourage him to enjoy his life. Jeesh. Six year olds soak up everything around them and learn what they need to through osmosis. There is no need for this sort of stress!

Thanks, mamaduck. I actually did tell him about his report card and said that he got all Bs. He said, "Aww, no As?! I'm going to have to try harder!" I said that Bs were very good and that As were excellent, and I told him I thought he should have gotten an A in math, just so he'd have something to compare, you know. He's good in reading, very good in gym and excellent in math.

I know that because of standardised testing kindergarten reports cards are anecdotal and starting in grade one the teachers have to follow this impersonal template. But I was expecting to get the anecdotal side at the conference yet she didn't offer any insight into what Crawford is like at school so I feel like she doesn't even know him. How can she not know that he is excellent in math?

So we will change the way we're doing the homework and I expect it will get faster. I am going to make a note at the top of each page saying how long it took just so she is aware.

Thank you all for your comments and support! This is such a great community.

Liz

[MamaDimstam]

How our alternative public school does it...

I have to make this quick because I'm leaving to go meet with dd's teacher in about 20 minutes.

My kids go to an alternative school here in Ottawa. Dd's teacher isn't a big homework person. It's a 1/2 split class. Her way with dealing with it curriculum-wise (I am starting to think that Ontario's is among the most BRUTAL jurisdictions anywhere in NA- but that's an aside) is to do a few projects each term. We had three up until Christmas. They were given out at least a month in advance of when they were due, so we could pace the work as we wanted. I think this is reasonable and actually a pretty good way of introducing the concept of homework, not to mention the kids get a feel for organizing their time on a bigger scale.

Anyhow, I've asked for this meeting because our 'real' meeting last week was student lead- meaning dd was there the whole time and I couldn't exactly be as candid as I wanted. Today, I intend to be candid. I can't stand the doublespeak gibberish- I want to know what this teacher thinks of this reporting system, if she thinks it's bunk but is doing it because she has to, if she actually hands out A's, etc. etc. In short I need to put the whole thing in context. Originally I didn't want dd to know her letter grades, but she knew they'd been assigned and then dh piped up and said he thought she had the right to know. ::sigh:: Before i knew it she'd seen them. She was disappointed she didn't get any A's. Some of her narratives, in French for example, were totally fabulous, not even a mention of anything she might need to work on, yet it was a B+. I do not get why to get an A, the standard has to be so far *ahead*. Is it not possible to have excellence at an age-appropriate developmental level? Dd's reaction wasn't exactly "hey! now I'll aim for an A!" She was disappointed because she thought her French was amazing (which it is).

It's crazymaking, isn't it?

p.s. I used to live in Toronto for many years...I miss it so much at this time of year...we think maybe one day we might move back, but dread the thought of re-entering the real estate market and being totally house poor.