Kindergarten homework

[meg]

Apparently, the amount of homework our 5 year old is doing isn't enough

After a whole 4 1/2 months of kindergarten he still isn't a fluent reader (note sarcasm, lol)

We do sight words and home reading, which can take up to 45 minutes, maybe an hour, if you do all the activities they suggest. In total honesty, I don't make him do it every afternoon. I mean, he's 5, and spends 6 hours a day at school as it is.

Does this sound ridiculous to anyone else - that after a 6 hour day, our 5 yr old still has up to an hour of homework each afternoon, and has been told he needs to practise even more?

[JoyLynn]

Meg, that sounds totally ridiculous! He's a little boy, for goodness sake! I disagree with teachers giving children a bunch of homework, anyway, and at five... I just don't understand that.


Joy

[luvmy4sons]

That is ridiculous. He will hate everything before he is 6! Reading will become a chore! Some kids aren't even ready to read until 6 or 7; each kid is different. Here is a thought: It is your kid and believe it or not you don't HAVE to do what the teachers tell you to do. Of course I home school, but my neighbor had to put hers back in this past year. She was constantly telling them that her children were NOT going to do this or that because she didn't agree with it. And it worked! You have the power! They just don't want you to know it!

[meg]

He will hate everything before he is 6! Reading will become a chore!

Yep, yep, yep

He told me today "My teacher thinks I'm a bad reader." I asked if she had actually said that, and he said "No, but I got some words wrong and she said I have to practice more at home."

To make matters worse, our eldest had the same teacher in kindergarten, and picked up reading really, really quickly, so you can just imagine the comparisons our poor little one has to put up with. Not that it's actually said to him, but he's not thick, he often says he can't read as well as his brother. We just remind him he's 2years younger, and we don't expect him to read as well as his older brother.

[luvmy4sons]

AWWW! Poor little guy. Doesn't it just break your heart? My first is gifted and my second is gifted with dyslexia. So even at home he felt badly about himself because he wasn't reading as quickly as he older brother did at the same age. We do a lot of talking about how God has given each different abilities and different gifts. But it still breaks your heart when you see them feeling badly about something they struggle with. I get it! I wish I could give the little guy a great big hug and tell him how wonderful he is. But I am sure you already have!

[meg]

I wish I could give the little guy a great big hug and tell him how wonderful he is. But I am sure you already have!

You're so sweet Leslie! Yes, I've told him we're all good at different things. He's much more "physical" than his brother. Better co-ordination, faster (age for age comparison), things like that. However, he still finds it hard. Those big blue eyes just look so sad when he gets a word wrong

Angela had at least 2hrs worth of homework each evening...She would literally cry over the work she had to do...I learned that with her teacher, the work that we were forcing her to do every night, wasn't even being looked at by the teacher..Some days the binder never left the book bag

[stephwhiz]

Every child learns differently and at a different rate. In kindergarten in our school system after the first 6 weeks of school they have a "small" amount of homework each night. Usually it is writing their name 5 times, or writing the ABC's or numbers or drawing a picture. It is nothing that takes a long time but it encourages parents to spend some time with their children. I also try to read to my child (note I said child, 8 year old can read novels!) each day. But I think an hour of homework each day is way too much!

They also have 4 different reading levels in each class. Maybe he is in the wrong reading level and needs some more help? Just a thought on that. I know from my experience in the classroom some kids catch onto reading really fast and by 3 months into the school year can read really good while others can't read very good by the end of the school year.

Best of luck!

Stephanie

Hmmm... Meg... sounds like you're getting closer to joining our homeschool ranks!

I do respite work with a family once a week, and it just encourages me even more to homeschool. I couldn't even believe the amount of homework their grade one has to do. It's awful! She's exhausted after school and simply doesn't want to do it.

I do find it sad that there's not enough time for teachers to do all the stuff they want to do (through no fault of theirs!!).

[Madre]

Frankly, I don't like the trend toward all day kindergarten. I think a five year old is too young to be away from home all day. So they don't learn to read in kindergarten; they will learn in first grade.