Homework

Homework. 

How many of you just shuddered at the mere sound of the word? As a teacher I shudder too!

As a homeschooling teacher I can see both sides of this contentious topic. 

Bike Education instead of the 3Rs... something has got to give

One of the biggest complaints from teachers is what's referred to as a 'crowded curriculum.' For the non-teachers out there, this basically means there's too many learning outcomes to cover within the school day. 

Think about it. How many times in the media do we hear recommendations that XYZ 'should be covered in schools?' I'm talking about Drug Education, Road Safety, Water Safety, Swimming, Religion, Sex Education/ Family Life, Healthy Living, Gardening, Safe Pet Handling- the list could go on. Don't get me wrong- I believe all these things are important for children to learn about. However, whenever something is added to the curriculum something has to be pushed out as a result. In fact many teachers have commented to me over my time teaching "wouldn't it be nice to teach reading, writing and numeracy!" The point I'm trying to make is that teachers are expected to cover so much content that some of it may need to cross over into the home. 

"The Government has decided that all Australian children should learn how to communicate effectively with marsupials."

Shouldn't this be how kids spend their free time rather than doing homework?

Then there's the other side. Flash back 10, 20, 30 years and look at it from a young child's point of view. You've gotten up at 7:30-8am to be at school by nine. You spend 6.5 hours a day there, five days a week. You get two breaks in that time and when you finally get home you're then expected to do more work! Someone said to me that students should do this because working an eight hour day is expected of workers now. Really? Something about this situation just doesn't sit right with me. What about you? Do you think that sounds reasonable? 

Parents helping their kids do their homework... is this you?

On top of the expectation to use what should be free time to do homework, there's the issue of the quality content of the homework. I truly believe that 'full on' work should be taught at school and shouldn't be set as homework. The reason being the way maths  is taught. It is more than likely that different methods are used at home than at school because parents were taught other methods when they were in school, therefore creating potential confusion. What I see is parents trying to help their kids with homework, but yet both the parent and the student end up frustrated. Homework should be a fun way to consolidate what they've been doing at school. A good example of this is the homework given out at my school recently. It was simply "Make, Bake or Create something that interests you, and present it to the class  which resulted in tangible excitement and interest amongst the kids." I think this was a fantastic piece of homework that has no right or wrong answer to it.

 Homework should look like this?

Two points to note 
One: you can't please everyone. After homework was handed out, a parent complained that it wasn't 'real homework', and he wanted sheets of equations for his child to complete.
Two: Even though I think the "Make, Bake or Create example  is better option, I still don't think that it was necessary. I consider this to be busy work- for the home. I wonder if teachers would give it out if it wasn't deemed necessary by their schools? 

So there you have it. Homework from both sides. I truly feel homework shouldn't cause any stress on families and should be relevant to the student. However if it is required by the school it should be fun and engaging.

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Love Alexis