Homework Again????

I do sometimes have to do homework that is sent home from school for parents although the children aren't marked down if they don't co-operate. I actually think that it is fantastic to be involved in your childrens education as much as possible and to lead by example and as far as I can see doing 'parents homework' helps with that then that is wonderful! I think I would have done the paper your brother objected to as long as I knew that the information would go no further - they were probably studying relationships in sociology or talking about family trees - i would have hated being a child that felt left out because they didn't have that information! I know that nowadays we all have busy lives and hectic schedules but surely helping our children with their education si really important and I think we can all squeeze a bit of time in to do that! xxx

It sound a fishy homework to me. maybe the teacher ot the headmaster are in ht eMLM business or something cause I never had heard that kind of homework in my whole life. Yes, usually once or twice teacher asked parents to be invovled but usually in science project or cooking lesson. But cough up all of our relative names? do the teacher also need their adress and email and phone number too?

Are you kidding?? My daughter is in 6th grade-- and we are still doing "family projects"--- Every year she comes home with them- My favorite one (but a real pain in the butt) was building a long house- with real bark-- sticks- bark- and hot glue-- it took us days-- and my sig other had to come to the rescue it kept coming apart. My daughter had high expectations of us--- When we took it in a lot of kids made theirs with popsicle sticks- and cardboard-- we made a real-life long house--- too funny :) She got the Best grade and the teacher kept it for a long time and put it in the display- My daughter was so happy and proud! I always help her out with homework and projects-- it is tough at times as I work full time outside the house. But it's worth it- yes I would have done the project-- how hard is it to write down names! We did one once on military people in the family- it took some digging and we even went to the Legion to find out some stuff :)

I've not heard of parents receiving homework. What do they think we are? Kids? As far as I am concerned, I have completed my education for now, and it is upto my children to work on theirs, under my supervision. A child failing a subject because a parent has to do homework is wrong. Most of us have already done 15 or more years worth and are soooo over the homework. Maybe the parents being sent the homework should group together and not do the homework. I'm sure the policy would be dropped if every child in the class started to fail because of the parents not doing homework! And what a nerve of the school asking for so much personal information. It is none of their business, and they are leaving themselves open to a law suit. The sort of info they are trying to gain in this example is actually illegal. It could potentially be used for fraudulent purposes.

I would not have done the paper and I would have fought a failing grade if it was given to my child.. I made sure that I passed all of my subjects when going to school, (probably forgot most of it by now), so I am too old for homework.. I also made sure that my son had all of his homework finished and ready to turn in.. I made my trips to school meetings and did everything that I was asked to do, even becoming a salesperson to help the school with its funding, but I will be danged if I will have them telling me what to do now.. It makes me mad just to think about it, what reason do they need to know the full names of 25 family members, are they selling mailing lists now?? It is sad to think that the schools have teachers and leaders that do not know that much about teaching.. I would hope that they were making sure that my child knew how to read, write, spell and do math, then when he or she went on to college, I would hope they teach him much more than that.. But schools have changed so very much since I was a student.. I do not ever remember having to sell something just to get an education.. I do not think that it is fair to the kids.. Normal homework and enough of it to make sure they are learning but not rubbish that has no bearing on their education..

And what about students that are adopted? Or have step-parents? Or have never met their fathers? This is a lot of personal information, that obviously a student would need help with, parents may not even know their parents (my mom's were gone by the time she was 6) so what are the rest of us to do? This sounds like some ridiculous "HOMEWORK" is this what tax dollars are paying for? Some way to get more of your personal information?

We have had this happen here as well. The parents have to do certain things and if they don't the kids get the bad grade. I don't think it's right either. There are some parents who won't do it and the child shouldn't suffer for it. If the kid doesn't do their work that is one thing but not to hold them responsible for what someone else is to do. They should not be responsible except for their own work. I agree parents have enough to do without giving them homework as well.

I would go to the school with my lawyer. It isn't none of the school's business who is related to my child.And what if you don't have 25 members of your family?will a child "fail" if they only have a mother and that's it.When I was young, I had many a family member that I never saw and I couldn't tell you how I was related to me.It sounds like a list The Nazis or the Communists would want just before they were to scoop you up and make you disappear. I guess the school should be ready for many students to " fail" this task because there are many parents that won't do it and others who can't do it. There are many a parent that can't read English as well as their kids.I wonder how many parents refuse to do this paper.If there are more than 10 they have the numbers. I guess I would go to the teacher and inform her/him that I refuse to do this paper because it is none of your business who is in my family.and if I they say anything like " you have to. Or It is the rules of the school' then I will go get a lawyer and sue the school for invasion of privacy. And I would notify my local news of the story.Then I would see if there are more parents that feel the same way.then maybe it could be a class action suit.

Thats just plain stupid...I do not blame your brother ,i do not think it is none of the schools business...Its not fair to your nephew either...I think i would take that to the board of education and complain...Man this world is getting to be a controlling world..What happened to freedom..?.your nephew should not have to take the blame for a parents education...Man this is so dumb!

I did refuse to do something similar. I don't think my kids were getting graded for having me fill out a form that the teachers sent home, but they wanted to know all sorts of things, including questions about our income. I thought it was none of their business, and I told the kids to tell the teacher that I would not do homework, and if they didn't like that, they could call me up.

In my opinion this is obtrusive and should not be part of education. When I was a student the school required several things that my parents refused to do or allow me to do, such as signing permission slips for field trips or participating in exercises they felt should have been extra-curricular. One example was when the home economics teacher sent a note home telling my mum to send nail polish and other manicure equipment to school with me for a lesson on nail care. She did not think it was appropriate and said she did not want her daughter to learn how to paint nails. The teacher had to arrange for a different activity for me. I was crushed at the time, because I wawnted to "fit in" but now looking back, I think mum did the right thing that time. She could have been a lot nicer about it though.

well...i have a younger sister and her homework needs to be done by me because it involves cutting out pictures and pasting... so im the one left to do it... even if im also busy with my studies... but their teachers are not like that... and if ever they will do that ill probably go to their office and question that kind of policy... its not right...

I would find this acceptable if it was something the parent could do within a few minutes. That is a LOT of work and a lot of people don't even have 25 family members. Even when all of mine were alive, I only had 11. Now I have 7 total. This is an extremely unfair thing to be given and it should definitely NOT have anything to do with your nephew's grade. I would definitely NOT do the paper, and I would take it up with the school board or school just like your brother did.

Home work is the best practice in the home, But in some schools give over load to the students. In today's fast world there is best practice to students.

I would do some things for and with my kids, but full names of family members is an invasion of privacy. We did have our third graders come up with a list of family names themselves, first names only, except for their own, to be last week's spelling list. They could include pets. They were to ask parents if they did not know the correct way to spell, but no child was penalized if their parent couldn't/wouldn't give them names. It just would not be right.

I have never heard of that before, what happens if there are not 25 members in a family. What if the parents were never adopted and lived in a home and didn't know their own parents? I fail to see how a student would get an f for not having a big family

Frankly, that assignment sounds intrusive. And I don't know what the point is in grading the child on the parent's behavior. I know some parents who are real losers but their kids are great. Seems unfair to grade a child poorly if their parents don't comply with some weird assignment. I can understand having parents sign off on a kids homework to be sure the parents know what the kid is or isn't doing. But I don't see the point of the parents doing busy work for the teacher. It would be much better to have the child work with the parent on the child's homework. Like having a child interview their parent for a writing assignment or something like that. I think it sounds downright stupid to send home homework for the parents to do. We get enough forms to fill out in our daily life to do anything extra!

I haven't ever heard of such a thing and I would not have done this either. I totally agree with your brother. I would take this up with the school board and see why this teacher needs these names. I am thankful that I homeschool my kids and do not have to worry about things like this.

I think that that school has gone way too far. as your brother rightly said that is none of their business. and to give the kids failing grades over something that the school wantstheir parents to do is illegal to begin with. I would not have done it either and no its not fair to the kids at all. I never had to do that when I was a young parent.

This seems very fishy and i would have sent the paper back with a note that said when i learn 25 members of your families info , then I will send out mine, but until then I better not see and hear of my nephew/son/grandson getting any grade lower than an A! There is a thing called privacy and this has nothing to do with teaching Him..he already knows who we are!