Posted on 09/03/2006 10:52:22 AM PDT by roostercogburn
The New First Grade: Too Much Too Soon? Kids as young as 6 are tested, and tested again, to ensure they're making sufficient progress. Then there's homework, more workbooks and tutoring.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
My son and one of my daughter are both gifted. The main thing with them is letting them do their own thing. They just learn on their own. They don't require me doing anything with them. I just make sure we have lots of books around the house, and they have lots of computer time.
My special needs daughter is so different. She needs so much help in reading and writing. She needs lots of one on one intervention. She needs to read out loud to someone to make sure she is reading the words correctly. She needs help with writing. She usually tells me things she wants written down, and I do the writing for her.
My gifted kids just mainly need books. They just learn on their own.
I agree! I think this could be the reason for a lot of children committing suicide. They feel they can't live up to what is expected of them and are overwhelmed.
I will add though that I think that kids should not be separated based on age. They should be separated on ability and also style of learning.
For example, my son has skipped 2 years of math. That's a good thing for him. His school does not have an honors program for English, and I wish it did.
My daughter at private school is in a multi-sensory reading group with other kids who read at the same level as her who are not auditory learners.
If you have a group of kids in a high reading/math group, then they may be able to cover more material.
If you have kids in a low reading/math group, then they might be able to cover material slower.
Sorry to hear that. Both ends lose.
Just a guess ... but I'm thinking you haven't got a kid in grade school at the moment. Homework is tough in kids -- there's too much of it. There's no reason why a first-grader should be bringing home an hour's worth of homework every night.
You're right.
No, it's not. It's about jackasses who think that "discipline" means that kids shouldn't have time to be kids. In the elementary grades homework is either a project that requires the parents to do the hard stuff; or it's busywork. And all it really does is make kids hate school.
I do however grade every bit of homework I give them. If it is important enough to give them as homework it is important enough to grade, as a diagnosis tool.
Forgot to mention, I teach 7th grade.
What kind of expertise do you have in education?
Are you aware of the differences between what was expected when we were children vs. what is expected now?
Are you aware of how this has hurt young boys?
Thanks for the report. I wonder if sometimes we push these six and seven year old kids so hard that they burn out by the fifth grade and have a hard time keeping focused after that.
Teaching the times tables at seven years of age seem excessive to me, but then I'm not involved in education.
"Way too much in the early years...
Far too little in the mid to late years...
Take out the social engineering and get back to basics."
Agreed.
They are trying to cram too much too early into the little ones, and then are slacking off with the middle schoolers.
Homework is necessary if for nothing else than to teach kids the ability to work independently. That's something they'll need to know for the rest of their lives. The problem is parents who can't allow their kids to actually do it-they want to hover over them and make sure it's perfect, which defeats the whole purpose.
Four words: Home/private/parochial school.
First graders should NOT have homework. In fact, first graders should not be in the first grade. The whole argument of public schools goes on, while children are distorted, uneducated, tormented, etc. This is like discussing the discontinuance of Iran's nuclear program -- while their dangerous progress continues uninterrupted. So it is for the children of this nation -- any one child has up to 18 years (?? .... if he's lucky) to be a child. When that time is up, it's up! For that child, the discussion is ended. But the formative losses and hurts are there for a lifetime. I believe that for the vast majority of those who can homeschool, they should. Retrieve your child's childhood while he has one.
MRS. ESOPMAN
Well, it seems that way to me. It also occurs to me that at the point they seem to be slacking off teaching educational materials, is when they seem to be ramping up the provision of socialist indoctrination.
There's a world of difference between a 7th grader and a 1st grader.
I think the only homework a young child should have is reading with his/her parents every night.
Starting in about 2nd grade, I could also see a spelling list that the kids have a test on once a week. Let the parents and kid decide the best way to study the words.
I would probably have a math test once a week, and have some worksheets that are optional. If the kid understands the work, he doesn't need the worksheets. However, some kids might need some extra practice.
When kids can read (3rd or 4th grade), then you start giving them some book reports like once a month.
By 7th grade, kids can handle a lot more. They don't need as much sleep as the younger kids.
My middle school son is still in public school. The one thing that really irritates me is that his school starts at 9:30 am. He doesn't even need to go to sleep until 11 to get enough sleep.
His 9 year old sisters' school starts at 8:30am. They need more sleep than him, and they have to start earlier. They really need to be asleep by 9, but he ends up bugging them (and me and his dad).
I really wish that school started at 8am for him. He could go to bed about the same time as his sisters then.
That bears repeating:
"They are trying to cram too much too early into the little ones, and then are slacking off with the middle schoolers."
I'll say it again, last year my 3rd graders had more homework than my middle school son. He needed more, and they needed less.
Then, I get to listen to my children explain that they watched "Snow Dogs" in class that day.
The teachers are passing the buck--to parents! My daughter just finished her fifth-grade year. The INSTRUCTIONS for one of her projects were written at a twelfth grade reading level! I believe in stretching children, but this teacher was over the top.
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