Homework

My boy hates most homework. . . really he would rather do just about anything else. My girl, on the other hand, was overjoyed to discover that from last November through April, she has the opportunity to complete one optional book report each month. These reports include writing a summary and doing some sort of creative project to go along with the book. . .she has, so far, created a movie poster for Black Beauty, a diorama of a book called Waggit Again, and her clay model of Waggit's Tale is due this coming Thursday.

When I'm not farming or mothering, I teach future teachers what to do with linguistically diverse kids in their future classrooms. I don't write about this much, and I won't write much about it now, except to say that one of my favorite things about my teaching gig is that I can get on my soapbox about a few things.

Like, for example, homework.  I know homework is actually quite popular among most teachers. I personally don't see the point for young kids, at all, but since I realize I am somehow in the minority here, I get to give these future teachers tips on how, if they must assign homework, to at least assign it well.

I get to tell them that making it fun and relevant will mean it's more likely to get done, and that they should give kids multiple nights to do it, so if basketball practice and 4H happen to fall on the same night, homework is not adding stress to that night, and that it's best if the teacher has a consistent system, like always sending homework home on Monday that is always due back on Friday, so that parents don't have to rely on any notoriously unreliable 6 year old reporters to tell them if homework exists that day, and even better, that the whole school should agree on the same consistent system so that if one has both a first and a fourth grader, for example, everyone is on the same sort of homework schedule and please, a million times please, don't ever take recess away from a grade schooler just because she didn't do her homework that day.

It seems so simple, this homework utopia I have created in my head. I actually know of real life schools that are already living in this utopia with me. However, sadly, my kids' school is not yet one of them.

Which means that my fourth grader, who is consistently now spending more than an hour each night on homework, frequently gets upset that she doesn't have enough time to finish before the other things we do in the evening, like go outside and play or go to sports practice or, you know, eat dinner, have to happen. This problem is made worse by the fact that the regular homework is invariably something stupid, like alphabetizing all 20 spelling words and then copying them 3 times. . .when there are only 2 words she doesn't already know how to spell. In these instances, I am likely to say that I think she's spent enough time on her homework and that I will just write a note and tell her teacher it was too much, but that thought understandably mortifies my girl and things get tense and unpleasant at home and so, once again, I say. . .

I don't really see the point.

But that's just me.

My daughter wants all that and more!

If she must have homework, though, I think these optional book projects are by far the best kind. They allow for creativity, promote pleasure reading, etc. I can see a clear academic enrichment benefit from the book reports that just isn't very evident in the standard nightly worksheets. I wish she could do book reports in lieu of spelling worksheets. Alas. The most educational homework is the only optional kind.

So I am 100% behind the book project. But I worried about her choice of a clay model for this most recent project. It just seemed really overly ambitious to have to create a project out of clay, and I was worried that this would take up  a ridiculous amount of very precious time and energy.

"How is this different from the diorama? Do you have to use clay?" I asked, over and over again. Because the clay model really is just a diorama, but instead of just using paint and the dogs from your existing doll house set to make your scene, you have to create the dogs and all other scene props from clay, which seems like a lot more work, doesn't it? She stood her ground, and I bought the clay under protest.


As so often happens when she is given the chance to be creative, my sweet, smart, sensible girl came up with a totally manageable approach to this clay model project without any help from me, sat down to do it, and had the entire thing done in 30 minutes. See that, over there?  It was not a big deal at all. Her brother even made some roadblocks for his hot wheels cars.

Sigh. There is so much more I have to learn from these kids. It was suddenly so clear to me that had I decided to make a diorama out of clay, I would have added so many unnecessary details and components that I would never have been able to complete the project. I totally would have bitten off more than I could chew, and then halfway through, I would have regretted it and been stuck doing it anyway because there would have been no going back.

Since my girl can handle herself, and since I am pretty sure my sweet, smart, sensible boy's way of not biting off more than he can chew will be to never ever complete any sort of optional project, I am the only one that will have to start applying this new self-awareness in my every day life.

I am ashamed to admit that I am less practical and self-aware than my children. But it's clearly true. 

As for the rest of the stupid busywork kind of homework, all I can hope is that my future teachers are actually listening to me. I suspect they are mostly texting. But I do hope.