Homework! - How much is too much?

I think the teachers send home homework because they are wanting to know if the kids were paying attention and seeing if they can do their homework. It's really all about paying attention do be able to do the homework. If the kid was paying attention then the homework shouldn't take to long to do. I think that the teachers shouldn't send homework every night though as it does get tough to keep up with it all the night. Maybe they should try doing a different subject every night and do it by that so they only have one assignment every night night to do and that might be good.

Till Fifth standard I think children need no home work. Class work would suffice. Most of the children hate home work. They reach home tired after doing lot of home work. They carry a bag full of load!

I think kids are given way too much homework. Homework eats up healthy and quality family time. Moreover, education today has been reduced to mugging up some facts. There is no emphasis on learning and building up the child's thinking capabilities.

I've done the math on that - they don't spend tomuch time "working"... out of a 55 minute class time.. first 5 are for roll call, next 10 are "turn in yesterdays homework" time, next 10min is teacher laying out the plan for todays class or teling about things that are going to happe, where the class is headed etc... prior to the bell ringing at the end of class.. 10 are for giving homework assignments and other "end of class" issues, .. so do the math.. out of 55 minutes of class time at the most only about 30 are actually spent teaching and learning and many can't learn in only 30 minutes so homework is a good thing. Granted sometimes there is to much and in my experience, I have often wondered if the teachers weren't giving so much expecting the kids to either learn it on their own or parents to do the teaching so they don't have to. But if the kids are learning well, the amount of homework, although annoying, if they know what they are doing, it will go fast, and if they dont know what they are doing, then it is good that they have the homework to help them learn ... and hopefully a parent to help them as also in my experience, asking a teacher for help after school is not to popular with the teachers..again, my personal experience with teachers and 18 years of experience with them. JMO - don't yell at me teachers! I know some are great!

I think the school knew what they are doing. Our kids need to learn and more practice. Homework is for the practice of their mind work. Without their brain on exercising, they never grow to be intelligent. Just think of it. It is a beneficial exercise for your children.

Bare- In a class I took as a part of my reading endorsement we had this very discussion. The problem with education is that in America we've not expanded our school year or extended our school day like other countries have done. However, each generation we've added in between 10-15 new courses that we feel must be taught in the given school year/school day. So, we're teaching more, in less time. As a part of this we need to have a way to help students retain information. Homework is not designed, nor should it be designed to teach new lessons. It is designed to reinforce those concepts taught during the school day. Typically the amount of homework is supposed to be no more then 10-15 minutes per subject. Yes, that does equate to a lot when a child gets to high school, but college life is no different. And, most students are under the false impression that homework equates to study. Studying their subject is much different then simply doing a homework piece. And yes, it makes the difference between the average student and the honor roll student. Now, I do teach special education, so even though special needs students still have homework it typically isn't the same or even in time length comparable to the non special education student. It's all dependent upon the needs of the student. Though, I do feel if all students were taught as special education students are taught we might not have a need for special education. My own experience in school was that we had homework, but I also studied. I might not have been the best student because of my learning disability but I still studied. It's something that helped me get through school, and carried with me to college where I excelled as an A/B student. Namaste-Anora

That's what I said.They do school work all day.When are they supposed to be kids? Statistics show that because kids have so much homework that they don't have time for after school activities,jobs or do babysitting.It's crazy! Then if there is anytime left for a bedtime story then they don't want to see a book.This is part of the reason that I homeschool my daughter. Great discussion

Yes, kids do have more to learn. Let's look at the developments in science and changes in history and math and not to mention technology. I think kids do need more homework, when I was a kid, I remember coming home from school from about 3rd grade on and having a lot of homework. 2-3 hours on the weekend. I know my older brother did, since I would sit and watch Mom help him with it, so at the tender age of 3, I was actually in 1st grade. I learned it all, better than he did. School is not serious business now, kids have no attention span, the standards are much lower and discipline is none existent. Teachers spend more time trying to deal with problems than the do teaching.

Hi barehugs, Your school days were much like mine except that I did have homework, and lots of it. I would think that there would be less need of it today than back than. I know that kids here still have homework but I'm not sure if parents consider it to be too much. Blessings.

Little kids are spending all day at school (8 to 4 here) with out recess or gym or art or music. They then come with 3 or 4 hours of work. There were no trips this year. One last and that was because the circus donated the tickets. This is kids in the primary, elementary grades. Yes, they are getting too much. No, I don't think they need all that. And honestly I think it harms some kids because they get to hating school so much, they stop doing the work. Yes, it's serious work but there comes a line. And here in my area, the schools are failing so the students are failing so the schools fail worse so the kids fail worse. I have to use my favorite word... Balance. There isn't any.

All right now where to start answering the questions. How much is too much depends entirely upon the student. Any was too much for me. Why homework, everyone has there own opinions, I never really bothered with it too much myself. Was assigned it of course, just didn't really do much, and if I did, no effort. If it can't be done in class I said, I won't do it. Teachers didn't really like that. Trips are fun, especially to the museum and such, I know you didn't go, but you went to a country school, they probably thought to teach you enough to run the farm and that was that. I could be wrong that is my opinion based on talking to your generation. My son doesn't have homework yet, as he isn't in school, we shall see how it goes. School for me was 9 - 3 30, 4 classes a day with a 45 minute lunch break (high school) I did graduate, even with out doing most of my homework. It should be fun, we learn better that way. I always remember more about what interested me. Ah that is a good, yes I do believe kids need to learn more, but at the same time less. Technology you know, adds some, takes away others. And you mentioned somewhere about morals and such, I think that is more important then information. Reading writing and arithmetic is all that is really "necessary" in my opinion. All else is really just expanding on that.

I enjoyed my childhood days so much. My favorite subject way back then is recess. There's always a free food for the kids, will I guess because our parents paid them already to make a food for us. There are times too that we play a lot. Of course, the ever dearest coloring book assignment. Basically, I just spent my childhood study more on play, eat and enjoy. This is so good to remember. Have a Blessed day!

Homework is a way for students to enhance their understanding for the topic that they learn that day. Teachers usually give homework based on student's class (students in my country were stream into classes based on their level of ability to understand and learn) Lower class has less homework than upper class where the students has higher understanding ability. The way you study is different from today probably due to the way your teacher teach you. Try to understand your child's teacher a bit more.

Hello Barehugs, First of all, excellent question. How much homework is too much? My personal view is that too much homework is when your child has extreme fatigue or has 'developed' personal vendetta against his/her teacher. Yes, although I didn't go to school in the 19th Century (not to be slamming the time period or anything), I have heard about the style and schedule of school back then. No holiday homework, etc...less strenuous, in terms of school workload. Presently, I also am cramped with homework - evidently, I am a young writer. With tests, exercises, classwork, homework, studying, and goodness knows what else, it really does become overwhelming after a while. Just to stay ahead, I generally spend 3 and a half to maybe 4 hours a night on homework. And that's not to mention distractions, which really can lengthen the time you spend on homework. I think the world is becoming increasingly competitive, and that's mostly the reason for the increase in homework. Teachers themselves aren't evil; they're pressured to do it by the various Board of Directors and school districts, especially in public schools. I think, however, that it is a necessity to 'appreciate,' or just grin, grit, and dive in, as it really won't get any better. It'll most likely just get worse, as the human population increases and colleges become more competitive (as well has high schools). So, unfortunately, unless there's a drastic policy change in the amount of homework given to students nationwide and worldwide, we will only be able to continually adjust and help our kids. Unfortunate, but true...my best wishes for you and your child. If it gets worse (you say Little Bobby hates doing his homework), a suggestion would be to contact his teacher and also see how the other kids in HIS class are doing: are they falling behind, excelling, or somewhere in between? Thanks for starting this discussion! -Fresh Writing

Well, in a lot of ways, I do think that many schools are really giving out too much homework these days, and it gets to the point where it is hard for a kid to enjoy being a kid even, and have some time to play and have fun. When I hear of kids having homework as early as 1st grade even, I am thinking the schools are loosing it, and no wonder there are a lot of kids hating school, and wanting to give up. Personally it would be nice if things could go back a little more how they used to be as well.

I think today children suffer higher study pressure. I remember when I was a primary school pupil, our teacher told us that the suitable homework for us was within one hour. So I think over one hour homework is too much. I love China

Toronto School Board in Canada now restricts the amount of homework. There were so many complaints about the excessive homework they now restrict it. Only so many hours per night, and no homework on holidays. Studies were finding the kids did not get any learning benefit from the excessive hours of homework and parents were finding that that was all the kids were doing in an evening, they did not have time for socializing and doing things with the family. I believe that is also contributing to the obesity epidemic. Kids sit around in class all day then come home and sit around for several hours doing homework. When do they have time to run around and play being kids? It is not much good if they are full of book learning if their behinds are as wide as the bus they take to school every day and they are developing adult diseases as a kid. Give the kids a break. I even see kids, the ones that are still able to walk to school with huge backpacks that seem to be as heavy as they are. What are they doing at school all day that they have to bring so much material home each night.

When I was a child,I hated doing homework either.If there was no homework that day,I would be very happy.Now I am going to have my own baby,I wish he will have no too much homework.I just want him study with happpiness. :0

haha, people might say i'm a strange kid but i LOVE doing homework! I love that there's a deadline for it because it makes me want to do it and complete it earlier...It drives me into working hard and i'd get this lovely sense of accomplishment once they're all done ^_^

The polblem you said was very general in our country.in fact,the children do not need so much homework.but,we hava to gave them much homework.because we have too much employment pressure.