First grade homework

Posted on February 20, 2007 | Comments Off on First grade homework

It’s a little outrageous the amount of homework piled on first graders. The usual write-the-spelling-words-one-more-time (all twenty of them) and copy two long sentences; read a picture book on George Washington (whose birthday was Monday) and another one for a weekly reading test on Friday. All well and good. Except we also had a poster project due tomorrow on President Gerald Ford, and five more facts to write out in complete sentences on baseball Hall of Famer Jackie Robinson. So, with Muckdogs baseball practice shoveled in, we didn’t finish it all until 8 p.m., which still allowed bedtime stories, but just barely.  If it’s this bad in first grade…

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0 responses to “First grade homework”

  1. Unknown's avatar Deborah | February 21, 2007 at 12:41 pm |

    Don’t you think it is incredibly unwise, from an educational standpoint, to overburden first-graders with homework?
    It is essential to instill love for knowledge and studying in first-graders, not to frighten them away from school in this way. The average first-grader may simply lose heart at the sight of the pile and develop hatred for the pursuit of knowledge as a whole.
    I remember that I myself brought home a tremendous amount of homework – and ended up doing nothing but sitting in utter despair. I am still looking back at my school years in terror – maybe if teachers had showed some moderation I wouldn’t be so happy to be out of school.
    It is definitely a serious problem here in Russia, and the Ministry of Education is actually looking into the matter. Perhaps the younger generation won’t have to suffer as much as I did. 🙂

  2. Unknown's avatar Dick Stanley | February 21, 2007 at 1:49 pm |

    It certainly seems excessive, but so far he’s rising to the challenge. All this stuff is being used to teach reading and writing, and as he gets better at them, he seems to get more interested. I hope it lasts. I, too, was glad to be done with school, and I don’t recall this much work so soon. Statewide testing now holds the teacher’s feet to the fire, and loads of homework seems to be the result. Bush took the Texas testing national after he became president.