24/09/2023
https://www.facebook.com/100041655466428/posts/1052417836156722/?mibextid=Nif5oz
Homework: Unnecessary Overtime in Childhood
I want to start by stating an inconvenient truth. There is NO evidence of any academic benefit of homework in elementary school.
There is also no support that homework promotes good work habits or self-discipline. When those reasons fall short, adults may turn to “it prepares them for the future”. However, there is no need to “prepare” them for that. We do a lot of “preparing”: Preparing for kindergarten, preparing for middle school, preparing for the cruel adult world. Instead, we should be focusing on the child’s current developmental level and building skills appropriate for that level, not “preparing them” for a future developmental level.
To the best of my knowledge, homework has traditionally been meant to be a review of what was learned during the school day. It has evolved into hours of additional work after a child has already put in a 6 hour workday; or worthless counting, tracing or matching worksheets that could easily be done during their time in school. I remember in kindergarten my son brought home a worksheet to count the number of socks on a page. We did laundry together instead. That’s counting AND matching. “Let’s count all the socks that don’t have a match! Oh, look! 3 socks don’t have a match (again)!
The myth about homework is well documented in the research and summarized beautifully in Alfie Kohn’s work: https://alfiekohn.org/teaching/htips.htm
Another truth about homework is the amount of stress and power struggles it creates at home, with parents dealing with the challenge of trying to get an unwilling or spent child to pick themselves up again after spending so much energy earlier in the day in school. For our neurodivergent kids, this is especially true. There are many, many kids who hold it together in school in order to meet the expectations. When they get home, they are done! There are also many kids who don’t understand WHY they have to do “more work” when they already worked in school. Their mentality is simple and valid: Work is for school, not for home. Do adults take work home? Sometimes. Does that mean kids should? Absolutely not! Kids are not adults. Again, it’s a different developmental level and one we do not have to “prepare” them for.
So, even though there is no evidence to prove the value of homework for young children, parents are put in a difficult situation. Do I force the homework? Do I do it for them? Do I “opt out”? I am seeing more and more teachers limit the amount of homework going home (progress, but still not supported by the literature). However, I also hear horror stories of endless homework, meltdowns and power struggles to get the worksheets or ‘spelling words 10x each’ done.
My suggestion? Communication is key. I don’t agree with homework in elementary school, but I’ve always kept the mindset that the point of the pointless homework is to make sure the child understands the content. When my kids were either too busy with afterschool activities, family events or were just running on empty, I would do a ‘check-in’ with them to see where their energy level was. At any time, if it became clear that homework would not be a positive learning experience and more of a stressor than a help, I would alter the way we completed it. Could they just tell me the answers? Could we do it another way that brought the questions off the worksheet and into real life? Could I get it started for them and just have them finish? There was never one set way to attempt it, but whatever I did, I communicated the situation with the teacher. I didn’t try to write in my kids handwriting. I didn’t do the homework for them and just put it in their folder. I assessed my child’s ability to participate and communicated honestly with the teacher. That communication was always appreciated. If my child lost points for not completing the homework or received a consequence, that situation was addressed immediately and my decision was backed up with not only the literature but a more thorough explanation of the state of regulation my child was in and an explanation that the homework wasn’t worth dysregulating my kid at the end of their day.
Teachers need to stop giving homework in elementary school. Full stop. The research doesn’t support it. We know more now, so the “it’s what we’ve always done” argument doesn’t hold water anymore. If an administrator insists on it, that’s a great conversation for a staff meeting…with literature to back you up. That being said, I trust that parents and teachers can work together to assure that THE CHILD, the most important factor in this discussion, is understanding the content being taught in class, with or without the homework.
The majority of elementary school kids I have spoken to, and I’m willing to bet kids in general, think homework is “dumb”, “boring”, “annoying” or “not fair”. The research supports their desire to have less, if any. So, with this new knowledge that homework in elementary school does not improve academic achievement or study habits, and the understanding that homework is an additional stressor at home, the question becomes: What are we doing?
It's time to re-think homework.
What's your homework situation this year? Share your story in the comments!
Image description: Mom with hand on forehead looking frustrated sitting next to her child, who is wearing glasses, and has her arms folded and head down on the table. The child is lying on top of papers with a computer screen in front of her.
