Beating the Homework Blues

In newspapers and magazines around the country, there are plenty of articles debating homework. Do kids have enough homework to practice necessary skills? Is it interfering with extra-curricular activities and family time? On one hand, many families complain that their children are swamped with schoolwork. Students start their homework when they hit the front door, take a break for supper, then hit the books again until bedtime. On the other hand, US students are lagging behind their international counterparts in essential skills such as math. Politicians and reformists are pushing for more homework instead of less. What is going on?

In spite of views to the contrary, homework does serve a number of important educational purposes. It’s not a lazy teacher’s way out of educating, and it’s not intended to force parents to be teachers. It IS intended to provide practice for needed skill development and also to build character strengths such as independence, initiative, and time management. Homework is one vehicle to help students become the self-motivated learners that they need to be as adults. It gives the teacher evidence of whether a student is grasping concepts, too. Yes, homework is a valuable part of the school experience. And yes, there are also guidelines for how much homework is appropriate for a given age group. Most schools strive to adhere to these guidelines, and you can likely find your school’s policy by speaking to the teacher, the principal or the curriculum development administrator.

However, we all know children who spend vast amounts of time on homework assignments. Perhaps one or more of your own students works for hours on end to complete the work. Maybe some of your child’s friends, or the children of your acquaintances struggle in this way. Homework in these households eats up hours and hours of free and family time. It becomes absolutely the only thing that gets done in the household on a nightly basis. Parents feel like jail keepers and children feel like abused prisoners. No one has time for other important parts of life, like socializing, sports activities, or family togetherness.

The problem, in many cases, is not too much homework-others seem to get the work accomplished in a reasonable amount of time. The child’s classmates have the freedom to have a friend visit or participate in lessons or be on a team. If everyone is responsible for the same amount of work, then the issue lies elsewhere. There are numerous possibilities.