Elementary homework - too complex?

[tigereye]

So am I the only parent who thinks kid's homework is too complex? After spending 1 hours re?teaching my son about the metric system so that he could do all the math homework (because it evidently was not explained sufficiently for him to answer questions without help and cheerleading from me and a really crappy table in the textbook)

and THEN spending one hour helping him to understand what details are needed in sentences for a persuasive paper about LOTR (since the teacher provided an outline, but maybe insufficient explanations or examples? of what all the different terms for writing actually mean),

I find myself wondering: Why do kids ( my son is 9 and in a small private school) need to master all of this stuff in 4th grade, when I didn't really master these things til junior high and maybe even high school? Writing is very complex and I really wonder if they try to have kids master these things too young. My son gets it eventually, but wow, at times I feel that I am the real teacher. I know it isn't just me, because I hear the same thing from other parents of kids with typical intelligences and learning ability. Anyone?

:rant:

[wildeyed]

1. I do wonder.

It seems like we are trying to teach more to our children younger, yet test scores keep falling. My neighbor has two elementary age children, and they have hours of homework each night. They really don't have much time to get outside and play on weeknights. It is very hard on the younger child, who needs a lot of exercise to stay calm.

How is the work load affecting your son's desire to learn?

My daughter is in a non-academic preschool. She loves learning to the point that she basically taught herself to read over the summer. But I worry that the pressure of traditional education will kill her curiosity. My city does have a Montessori magnet, so I might check that out, see if it is a more conducive learning situation.

[Tab]

2. My son is in Montessori

He's now 9, but has been in that environment since the get-go.

I would absolutely recommend it if your school is decent. It is SO much better than the traditional public school that I went to growing up.

Some are just pre-school/kindergarten, but others take you through the grades - some even go up to high school. Ours currently goes to 6th grade, but we're trying to expand it to 8th.

Some kids are more suited to it than others. If they're bright and get bored easily, Montessori is right down their alley. If they require absolute structure, the public system is probably more appropriate.

I'll be happy to post more if you have any questions or want to know more about how it works...

- Tab

[tigereye]

4. I am familiar with it somewhat

our small private school has elements of this, it can be quite experiential. There are Mont. schools here, but none of them are near me or they are in another district. I would be interested to know how they approach Elem. school issues, if you want to send me some info.

Thanks.

[Tab]

5. What kinds of elem school issues? n/t

[tigereye]

7. developmental/academic philosophy

might be good for a start... how they determine what skills are appropriate to what developmental level. Piaget? or more recent research, for example. I know they do a lot of peer teaching....

One of my beefs with education currently is that kids are doing stuff that is way beyond ( 2 grade levels above) what old fogies like me were learning when I was that age. And I don't always think that kids are cognitively prepared for this, despite what the research says.

[wildeyed]

6. Does Montessori have multi-age classrooms?

My daughter is actually a pretty easy kid and would likely do fine in either type of school. But she is very advanced in certain areas. A classroom where she can work at her own pace would be ideal.

I also think that breaking up into smaller work groups makes more sense than making the kids sit perfectly still in straight lines for long periods of time. Seems closer to the situations they will actually face in the real work world.

I really need to start getting educated about Montessori vs. my neighborhood elementary. My neighborhood school is actually quite good, and it is two blocks away. The idea of having my daughter so close is appealing. The Montessori is halfway across town. I would have to believe that the quality of education was significantly higher to make up for all the drive time.

[tigereye]

3. my son is pretty positive and seems mostly unphased

except that I think he would like to spend more time having fun! Not that learning isn't fun, but they are in school all day long, why do they need so much homework?

[bleedingheart]

8. no problems here...

my kids go to public school here in my area and their homework is all within their reach and they can complete everything at home within about 15 minutes to an hour ..(age dependent)

My daughter's teacher is giving her extra stuff to keep her from being bored and she still does that quickly.

My son is a different matter, he does have reading comprehension problems related to his Asperger's. He does really well in math and science but he has extra classes for reading after school and during school to help him and we work with him at home but all his homework is on grade level and it is no different from the other kids. I have to say that my local district is wonderful in regard to having developed an IEP for him.