School watch

I didn't mind homework way back then, but I didn't have all that much in catholic grammar school (8 years) and it mostly helped me get stuff that might have whizzed by; similar in high school, though it was more than earlier grades. With the level of it I had, I think it helped get ready for the university world of sometime later, re how to study, but I still played with neighbor kids after school (roly poly, tag, baseball, basketball, roller skating, bicycling, ice skating, built houses out of chairs and sheets, watched tv, read what I wanted to).

But, I get the gripes about too much time spent on stuff to get the class to pass tests that are needed for funding (didn't read the article, that's my view of the issue).

I definitely like sozlet's take on how to live a richly full life. Plus I'm very visually oriented and looking around, observing, observing, is muy importante to such as me. Can't do that if you're tied to a rigorous schedule as a child.

I read that article this morning. Balls are too dangerous for school now. What will they think of next? Chairs can topple over! They should make all the kids sit on the floor.

I'm glad you had a chance to discuss the sub with the school and I think it's a great idea for you to do some tutoring!

My neighbor kid goes to one of the STEM schools and he does hours and hours and hours of homework a night.

He's a real introvert and loves staying home doing homework more than just about anything else so it works for him.

Mo would be suicidal in that environment.

What's the connection here? I'm one of the 'S's in STEM by training, with a carreer that was mostly in 'T'. And while people like me are not exactly lazy, I fail to see why a STEM curriculum would require more homework than, say, a liberal-arts curriculum with all its strenuous reading assignments. So, to repeat, what's the connection here? Does anybody know?

Just had this conversation with a co-worker - I spend my evenings going over homework. It is a pain in the a$$ because now I am spending time explaining how to do the work when they make a mistake. This co-worker said her child gets no homework - it is expected they do all their schoolwork at school. She said what are the teachers teaching them if you are forced to go over and explain what they are doing wrong.

Any way - I am of the mind set - I like the projects they give the kids now. They require not only knowing and learning the material, but a creative side and also how to plan longer term to complete something. I find my kids enjoy doing these projects so their interest is peaked thus they are actively engaged and really learning.

Homework pages - a pain without little gain.

On the positive side - now that her "real" teacher is back she is enjoying the class.

This particular class is a possible progression to having an internship in her senior year which I think will benefit her greatly.

I think it's some kind of cult of rigor, Thomas.

I follow a lot of parenting and education blogs and forums and there is a lot of hand wringing over STEM topics -- they're really the only ones people seem to care about. College is looked at as a very vo-tech kind of place now where all that matters is STEM and the kind of career it sets a kid up for. Humanities are considered a waste of time and money.

Schools try to steer the brainy kids into these STEM schools where they expect them to crack down and do nothing but study in hopes that they'll... I don't know... save us all from ourselves or something.

These schools are really intense.

It's a very dead way to look at science and math, in my opinion, when rigor rules the day and creativity falls by the wayside.

Mo's school assigns no homework and I've never seen him more engaged with school. He comes home and reads up on things just because he's interested. He endlessly discusses, debates and argues topics he's learning about.

He's thinking about what he's learning.

From my experience, he wouldn't be doing that if he was required to do it as homework.

On another front -
of course I'm no expert in this, just interested.
http://www.slate.com/articles/life/education/2013/10/teach_for_america_recommendations_i_stopped_writing_them_and_my_colleague.html

Now we wouldn't want that in a scientist, would we?

Thanks, osso. I haven't read that one yet. I have it up in my tabs to read first thing tomorrow morning. I'm really interested in this.

I think TFA had its heart in the right place but it didn't, and couldn't work as intended.

I'm a believer in homework, now that I don't have to do it. Still, I understand that Finnish schools don't assign any, and we know how they are ranked.

I'm so confused by school. The difference in Mo over the last year and a half is night and day. I'm so glad I found the school he's in.

Math and science are now his favorite subjects and he's totally rocking them. He's so excited that they're going to be doing chemistry for the second half of the year that he can hardly contain himself.

Wednesday's are Mo and my "meet up" days. He gets out of school early so we meet at the pizza place for a slice and a chance to visit. Today he came in talking about what an awesome day he had at school and how Amanda (his math/science teacher) is the best teacher ever in the whole history of teachers.

I'm going to send her an email tomorrow telling her what a great job she's doing (copying it to the school's director).

Mo is kicking ass and taking names at school this year!

Good for her!

We've been doing that recently (me and my 14 year old) with the novels she has been assigned to read at school. She is taking an honors class in English and the novels are great that she gets to read. I think discussing them (I read them or re-read them if I've read them before) with her engages her more and makes her more interested in the subject.

I think homework can be beneficial if it is the right kind rather than just a work sheet to keep them busy.

And from the thinking perspective - my daughters' schools are beginning a new curricum (sp) - any way they are supposed to be trying to teach them to reason things and think about it - more how to attack a word problem - I've seen a huge increase in this - this year.

I'm not against all homework. I'm against bad homework and I consider 95% of the homework Mo was bringing home to be bad homework.

In most cases it was not created by the teacher, had no real connection to what they were studying in class and often covered things that had not studied at all. It was usually some 50th generation mess of a fill in the blank busy work page that related to nothing.

China has followed Finland's lead by outlawing homework for primary school students starting this year.

Just to let you know, Boom--great thread, and i'm following it with interest.

That TFA article was really good. Thanks for that link, osso!

I'm reminded of a good TED talk I saw a while ago.

The whole thing is good but the part that stuck with me starts at about 14:30...