6 ms·

Seriously, parents are complaining about 10-20 min of homework a night? Kids should be spending 1-2 hrs on homework every night, and if they run out of homework

by zaccus 11y ago

Seriously, parents are complaining about 10-20 min of homework a night? Kids should be spending 1-2 hrs on homework every night, and if they run out of homework they should be working on a personal project or reading. That doesn't have to encroach on their fun time; I'm talking about 2 hrs max. Every night. That's not asking a lot. It's about learning how to manage your time and developing a productive routine. Kids will be expected to do plenty of homework once they get to college, I don't see the point in not assigning it before then.

zaphar 11y ago
Your sense of scale here is way off. My kids have 2-3 hours of homework a night 5 nights a week. Plus weekends. There have been times I've told my kids not to do the work and if their teacher asks they can take it up with me.
- sotojuan 11y ago
  And don't forget a lot of kids stay home late because of extracurricular activities. Some of my friends got home at 5pm!
cpfohl 11y ago
College kids will also typically spend a grand total of 12 hours in class in college (assuming 4 classes, each of which has three hours of in-class time). Expecting a college student to then put in another 12-20 hours of personal work makes a ton of sense. Expecting a high schooler who already puts in 30 hours at school, to then also put in 14 hours or more of homework time seriously doesn't make sense.
- Retra 11y ago
  It also causes teachers to have excessively long work days.
thedufer 11y ago
Not being a parent, I don't know what it's like now, but high school was by far the busiest and most stressful time in my life. I saw an average of 2-3 hours of homework per night, after 1.5 hours commuting, 8 hours at school, and 2-3 hours at sports practice. On an average day, that leaves an hour for breakfast/dinner and 8.5 hours for sleep; multiple nights in a row of 4-5 hours of sleep and no other breaks were not unusual. College is completely different. You spend something like 15 hours in classes instead of 35-40; of course you get homework.
- Kalium 11y ago
  If only there was something in there that could be easily cut and is significantly less important than homework...
  - kha 11y ago
    I agree, sleep is overrated.
    - Kalium 11y ago
      Exactly! Get that caffeine addiction going early. It's good practice for when you're in YCombinator later trying to develop your hyper-bacon-geo-social-game.
  - JadeNB 11y ago
    Assuming you mean the sports practice: I also personally value homework more than sports practice, but it seems callous and self-centred to assume that our own preferences are automatically right for others.
    - Kalium 11y ago
      Broadly, I think there's a price to be paid for any given life choice. You don't get to have it all for free. In this case, the person chose to pay in sleep. I'm suggesting that they had other options on offer. Yes, I understand it can seem callous. In this case, I honestly believe that my preferences are superior in the vast majority of instances (although demonstrably not all).
munificent 11y ago
Let's look at my first-grader's schedule. Kids need more sleep than adults, so we aim for about 11 hours. (For teens, they recommend 10, last I checked.) School is 7 hours. 1.5 hours for gymnastics, sports, or some other extra-curricular activity. An hour of transit. Another hour for breakfast and dinner (assuming all they do is sit down and eat, and don't help prepare anything or do the dishes). An hour for a bath. About thirty minutes to get dressed, brush teeth, pack bag, etc. 11 - sleep 7 - school 1.5 - gymnastics 1 - meals 1 - transit 1 - bath 0.5 - get ready We're at 23 hours, and there has been zero unstructured time (outside of playing in the bath). This is a first-grader. When she's older she'll be in school longer, have more extra-curricular activities, and more socializing. You're telling me two hours isn't asking a lot?
- ericssmith 11y ago
  Since I appreciate seeing someone else's schedule, figured I would post ours. I have 6 and 8yo. and we live quite close to school. 10.5 - sleep 0.75 - morning routine (teeth, dress, find lost things) 7 - school 0.5 - transit 2.75 - free time 0.5 - dinner 0.5 - evening routine (pjs,teeth, don't take bath every day) 0.5 - workbooks & parent tutoring or school homework 0.5 - independent reading of chapter books 0.5 - stories read to them By time they get to workbooks, they are quite tired. But they are used to being tutored in small doses so they get through it. At this point, all structured activities outside of school are on the weekend (e.g. girl scouts, soccer). Also, ideally they would go to bed 1/2 hr earlier. Because we personally tutor our kids, I'm sure we will resent an increased homework burden as they get older, especially as we are able to tutor to a relatively high level for most subjects. Unfortunately the school does not coordinate with us on the learning objectives, so we more or less rely on Common Core standards to know what's expected.
  - learc83 11y ago
    >Because we personally tutor our kids, I'm sure we will resent an increased homework burden as they get older, especially as we are able to tutor to a relatively high level for most subjects. Yep, just wait a few more years and you're tutoring will consist more of helping your kids figure out the instructions for ridiculous homework assignments than actually teaching subject matter.
mikeash 11y ago
A healthy adult's productive routine doesn't involve taking an additional 1-2 hours of work home from their job and doing it in the evenings. Why should a child's?
- gk_brown 11y ago
  I agree that 1 - 2 hours of homework may be excessive. However, 10, 20, or even 30 minutes seems reasonable to me, assuming that it reinforces what is being taught in school.
  - mikeash 11y ago
    Schoolwork, yes, but it ought to be done at school, just as work is done in the workplace.

by zaccus 11y ago

zaphar 11y ago

Your sense of scale here is way off. My kids have 2-3 hours of homework a night 5 nights a week. Plus weekends. There have been times I've told my kids not to do the work and if their teacher asks they can take it up with me.

sotojuan 11y ago
And don't forget a lot of kids stay home late because of extracurricular activities. Some of my friends got home at 5pm!

cpfohl 11y ago

College kids will also typically spend a grand total of 12 hours in class in college (assuming 4 classes, each of which has three hours of in-class time). Expecting a college student to then put in another 12-20 hours of personal work makes a ton of sense. Expecting a high schooler who already puts in 30 hours at school, to then also put in 14 hours or more of homework time seriously doesn't make sense.

Retra 11y ago
It also causes teachers to have excessively long work days.

thedufer 11y ago

Not being a parent, I don't know what it's like now, but high school was by far the busiest and most stressful time in my life. I saw an average of 2-3 hours of homework per night, after 1.5 hours commuting, 8 hours at school, and 2-3 hours at sports practice. On an average day, that leaves an hour for breakfast/dinner and 8.5 hours for sleep; multiple nights in a row of 4-5 hours of sleep and no other breaks were not unusual. College is completely different. You spend something like 15 hours in classes instead of 35-40; of course you get homework.

Kalium 11y ago
If only there was something in there that could be easily cut and is significantly less important than homework...
- kha 11y ago
  I agree, sleep is overrated.
  - Kalium 11y ago
    Exactly! Get that caffeine addiction going early. It's good practice for when you're in YCombinator later trying to develop your hyper-bacon-geo-social-game.
- JadeNB 11y ago
  Assuming you mean the sports practice: I also personally value homework more than sports practice, but it seems callous and self-centred to assume that our own preferences are automatically right for others.
  - Kalium 11y ago
    Broadly, I think there's a price to be paid for any given life choice. You don't get to have it all for free. In this case, the person chose to pay in sleep. I'm suggesting that they had other options on offer. Yes, I understand it can seem callous. In this case, I honestly believe that my preferences are superior in the vast majority of instances (although demonstrably not all).

munificent 11y ago

Let's look at my first-grader's schedule. Kids need more sleep than adults, so we aim for about 11 hours. (For teens, they recommend 10, last I checked.) School is 7 hours. 1.5 hours for gymnastics, sports, or some other extra-curricular activity. An hour of transit. Another hour for breakfast and dinner (assuming all they do is sit down and eat, and don't help prepare anything or do the dishes). An hour for a bath. About thirty minutes to get dressed, brush teeth, pack bag, etc. 11 - sleep 7 - school 1.5 - gymnastics 1 - meals 1 - transit 1 - bath 0.5 - get ready We're at 23 hours, and there has been zero unstructured time (outside of playing in the bath). This is a first-grader. When she's older she'll be in school longer, have more extra-curricular activities, and more socializing. You're telling me two hours isn't asking a lot?

ericssmith 11y ago
Since I appreciate seeing someone else's schedule, figured I would post ours. I have 6 and 8yo. and we live quite close to school. 10.5 - sleep 0.75 - morning routine (teeth, dress, find lost things) 7 - school 0.5 - transit 2.75 - free time 0.5 - dinner 0.5 - evening routine (pjs,teeth, don't take bath every day) 0.5 - workbooks & parent tutoring or school homework 0.5 - independent reading of chapter books 0.5 - stories read to them By time they get to workbooks, they are quite tired. But they are used to being tutored in small doses so they get through it. At this point, all structured activities outside of school are on the weekend (e.g. girl scouts, soccer). Also, ideally they would go to bed 1/2 hr earlier. Because we personally tutor our kids, I'm sure we will resent an increased homework burden as they get older, especially as we are able to tutor to a relatively high level for most subjects. Unfortunately the school does not coordinate with us on the learning objectives, so we more or less rely on Common Core standards to know what's expected.
- learc83 11y ago
  >Because we personally tutor our kids, I'm sure we will resent an increased homework burden as they get older, especially as we are able to tutor to a relatively high level for most subjects. Yep, just wait a few more years and you're tutoring will consist more of helping your kids figure out the instructions for ridiculous homework assignments than actually teaching subject matter.

mikeash 11y ago

A healthy adult's productive routine doesn't involve taking an additional 1-2 hours of work home from their job and doing it in the evenings. Why should a child's?

gk_brown 11y ago
I agree that 1 - 2 hours of homework may be excessive. However, 10, 20, or even 30 minutes seems reasonable to me, assuming that it reinforces what is being taught in school.
- mikeash 11y ago
  Schoolwork, yes, but it ought to be done at school, just as work is done in the workplace.