Grade Two Homework
Image via WikipediaYou’ve heard me rant before about how much homework “sucks” when you’re a parent.
When Singstar Princesses mid-year report came home, I noticed that “we” failed in the homework category. Apparently our homework effort “needs developing”. *sigh*
I was actually a little bit mad about that because we had explained the home situation to DD’s teachers earlier in the year. Some things (like feeding our children) had to take a higher priority than homework.
Of course, it doesn’t help when the homework often ends in tears.
Singstar Princess had this list of Target words that we were practising writing. It was quite a comprehensive list but it said to just pick 5 at a time to work on. According to the instructions, when she got them right we needed to initial the word. When she got them right 3 times she could colour in that word on her sheet and it was all done.
At the rate we were going, it was going to take ALL YEAR to get through the 1 sheet.
Last night there was a single word added by her teacher to the top of this particular sheet of paper.
READING
DOH!!!
No wonder DD was having some trouble spelling some of the words.
She only needed to READ them!!!!
Double DOH!!!
This week she has brought home her first list of “Spelling” words to practise at home.
They are a LOT easier.
No wonder the teacher thought we were “failing” in our homework attempts.
In reading, she would have been through the whole sheet in a week.
By trying to teach her to spell the words, we were taking WAY longer than anyone expected.
I kept trying to pull out the easier words on the list because I didn’t want to knock her confidence. Although she was actually managing quite a few of the words.
I tell you what, I think we ALL deserve an A on the next report!!!! 
Not sure who should get a fail on communication skills though - us or the teacher (or both).
Perhaps it’s the price the poor girl pays for having a gifted older brother. He did very little in the way of reading and spelling homework beyond reception (first year at school) because he was already so far ahead of his peers. I mean, where do you go when your 5 year old reads the newspaper, bible and encyclopedia. It doesn’t leave a lot of room for “practise”.
I wonder if the teacher assumed that her being our second child meant we should automatically know the difference between “target” words and “spelling” words??? It only took her just over a term to find out from DD that she’d been WRITING the words instead of READING them. 
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We have a homework diary where we comment on the success (or lack thereof) of each night’s homework. I have to sign it each night and the teacher has to sign that they’ve seen my comment (or lack thereof). A similar feedback mechanism might have caught the disconnect between spelling and reading in this situation. Did your son have the same teacher at some point?
I’m not a fan of homework.
Kids are in school all day.
They should come home to relax and play….spend quality time with their families. Not do homework.
Just my little not-very-humble opinion.
The trick I’m using at the moment is to make homework = quality time with Dad (at least for me “quality time” = real parent/child interaction rather than sitting on a park bench watching him got nuts on the swings). It also gives him (and me) a different association for homework - it is something we do together, like building lego, playing nintendo and so on.
I wouldn’t have known the difference… and I’m a teacher!
We have one who is dismal at spelling - oh, she gets 100% but that is because she is in the “slow spellers” group doing Grade 2 words in Grade 4.
Dina I’m going to have to with you on this one… Homework for kids is about rushing to get it done, so that they can go outside and play. The real value is at school imo
Some weeks we are on top of it and other weeks it’s a real struggle to get it all done. it all depends on how busy we are, but a quick note on the bottom of the homework sheet always takes care of it if things are hectic.
The thing I do though, is I often write a note saying that they found this bit really hard, or could they explain this bit better cos we weren’t sure what to do or that this bit was too easy or whatnot. I’ve written notes to ask teachers to explain to TJ that he can’t use a calculator for his maths homework or to ask them to explain what they want for certain questions.
Feedback certainly helps both parties to be on the same page.
Like I said to you today, homework is over rated. Especially in someone so young. Scott (in year 7) is doing three times more homework than Steph (in year 10). He has noticed this of course, and we hear every day about how unfair it is!
I’ve spoken to the deputy principal and principal of a top rate govt primary school recently who both disagreed with homework being sent home as they felt the kids completed enough work during the school hours. Unfortunately some of the teachers under them continue to hand out homework, one with very misleading instructions like Singstar Princess’ teacher!
For people who’s main role is communication, some of them lack the basics of it at times
Dina–my dad was of the same opinion, so all through primary school i didn’t bother too much with homework, barely finishing a few scribbled bits before class started the next day. When I got to high school and hadn’t developed a study habit I was in real trouble. Suddenly I had to work much harder to keep up and actually failed! Had to repeat the first year. Looking back now I wish I’d grown up living with mum, who always had the kitchen table cleared after tea and homework was brought out and finished, even inspected before bed. I may have had an entirely different adulthood.
Stuffy - yes, he did have the same teacher.
I would have no idea. Looks like when Annie starts Prep next year I will need to ask to have a cheat sheet included to help me.
I have spoken to the teachers at my boys school about homework. Most of them would just like you to read with your child. But there is an expectation from parents that their children should have homework, and they are asking for it. For example, my son in kindy is now bringing home maths homework because a lot of parents asked for it - for me, a kindy child should just be reading and reading at home, not continuing on with what they are doing at school. He is happy to do maths because it is all counting & he is an expert counter.
My son in year 3, well I have just asked his teacher for extra homework for his handwriting - it is terrible & becoming a concern for me. She agrees and has been trying to work on it in class, but it is very difficult given that at year 3 their writing should be OK. We have chosen to go this way as there as only so many hours in the day for the teacher to teach her 20 kids. She is really happy that I am trying to take this problem off her hands. She has also told me that she doesn’t care if he doesn’t do any other homework if he is working on his handwriting. He also has an assignment for the term on the olympiucs, which he & I will do together & I think it will be fun.
But, if you have issues with the amount of homework talk to the teacher because you may find that it is being driven by demands & expectations from parents rather than the school, apart from reading.
Homework is an absolute nightmare in this house. It is the cause of much stress, both for the kids and me. BUT I do agree with River, I think that the habit of doing homework is more important than the actual work that they do. There is no way that any kid can survive high school and get through the work without doing homework. Its much easier to start the habit early so that it is a habit when they are older.
As for the words, I think that you should all get an A for effort on that one.
Once again, it’s always interesting hearing about homework from the parent/family perspective - I tuck all these little tidbits away and hopefully I will remember them when I (hopefully) get a job as a teacher next year.