Trying to answer the question about how much homework is too much is a tough one. The reason for this is that everybody has his or her own opinions on what should be enough homework and what is too little. The biggest problem in trying to answer this question is that there are no state or federal regulations telling teachers or schools how much homework to assign. On average what the recommendation is for homework is that each student should receive ten minutes of homework for the grade that the student is in. For example, a third grader should be doing about thirty minutes of homework each night, whereas a 6th grader should be doing about an hour of homework each night. The key to assigning homework is balance.
One of the best ways to tell if your children are receiving too much homework is to know your child. You want to watch your child to see if they are exhibiting certain signs that often lead to homework overload. Many children who are suffering from homework overload are tired and appear to always be tired. The reason for this is that they are working harder than they should be on their homework. Something else to watch out for is a child that is giving up their activities just so that they can get all of their homework done. Children should still be able to participate in after school activities and keep up with their homework.
What you need to keep in mind as a parent is that teachers have a valid reason for assigning homework, no matter what grade level your child is in. The main reason that teachers assign homework is that they believe that homework is a way for students to review and practice what they learned in class that day. They also believe that homework is a great way to help teach children how to use various resources, including libraries and reference materials. Homework is also a way for students to fully investigate a topic because they have more time to take an in depth look at the subject at home than they do in the classroom. Teachers even use homework as a way to prepare the students for the next day of class.
According to the National Parent Information Network, there is a link between homework and academic success. One thing that supports this is that in high school it has been shown that spending time outside of school doing homework has a greater effect on the academic achievement of a child than time spent in school studying. In fact, the achievement efforts increased according to the amount of time that was spent on homework. In junior high children who received homework outperformed children who did not receive homework by 35%. Also interesting to note in junior high is that children who spent two hours on homework each night increased their academic achievements, but children who spent more than two hours a night on homework did not increase their academic achievement. Just like high school, homework was proven more effective than in school-supervised study.
In elementary school homework has no direct relationship to how a child does academically. However, you should still expect your elementary school child to receive some kind of homework because homework at this age is important. The reason for this is that giving homework at this age helps them to develop healthy study habits that will aid them as they get older. However, it also shows your child that learning can also take place outside of the school environment.
The one thing that you want to keep in mind when it comes to your child and homework is that children who do their homework outperform the children who do not do their homework on standardized tests by 69%.
Parenting viewpoints from parents in the trenches, because parenting doesn’t come with a manual. In addition to