With the implementation of Common Core and more rigorous course work to prepare students for college, long gone are the days when “the dog ate my homework” merited an extra day to turn an assignment in.
Homework, although very beneficial to children and teenagers, can sometimes be a hassle. Many educators, however, say it doesn’t have to be.
“I think homework is important as an enrichment mechanism to supplement what they are learning in class,” said Jamie Jyles, a business management instructor at the Greenwood Public School District Career and Technical Center. “In some cases, children may struggle in class, so they are going to struggle with homework. But if they grasp it in the classroom, then it is going to give them something to help them remember it.”
The district does not specify the amount of homework needed and leaves it to the teacher’s discretion.
Deborah Balle, counselor at the Career and Technical Center, said the National Parent Teacher Association has recommended homework amounts based on age groups.
“They suggest that homework for kindergarten through second-grade students should not exceed 10 to 20 minutes per day. Third- to sixth-graders benefit from 30 to 60 minutes a day. Junior high and high school students need more, but it is going to vary every night,” said Balle.
Jyles is familiar with homework as a teacher and as a parent. She helps her 8-year-daughter, Jamia Nash, with homework every weeknight.
Jyles said that her daughter spends about an hour to an hour and a half each night on homework. Jamia is also preparing for the end-of-the-year test, established by Mississippi’s Third-Grade Literacy Promotion Act, to determine her next grade level.
“A schedule is key,” said Jyles. “She already knows what comes next and that she has to do her homework. She knows that when we get through with her homework, she can get on the computer every day.”
Jamia begins her homework for the day at her day care after school.
“When we go home, I’ll look over it, and she will tell me about what she is doing,” said Jyles. “If she hasn’t finished it, we’ll work on it together.”
Jyles said another key to homework success is communicating with teachers. She attended an open house at Threadgill Elementary School at the beginning of the school year and talked to Jamia’s teacher.
“I know Jamia is going to have math homework three nights a week and she is going to have spelling and reading homework four nights a week,” she said.
Jamia also uses the district’s IXL and Odyssey software to brush up on her reading and math skills.
“I give her about 30 minutes while I’m cooking,” said Jyles. “She loves to work those math problems, because if she gets one wrong, she has to make a goal to get the next two or three right.”
The software is interactive, and some of it is presented in a game format.
To help with the upcoming literacy test, Jamia will read a passage every night. Jyles will ask her a few questions to see if she is comprehending the reading.
This also provides the mother and daughter quality time together.
Jamia also uses Dibels reading assessments each week so her mother can gauge how many words Jamia is reading per minute.
“If she reads 140 words one week, next week she’ll want to read 143,” she said.
Jyles and Balle both agree that parental involvement, routine and talking to a child’s teacher are keys to homework success.
“To me, homework is a communication from the school,” said Balle. “It is another form of communicating with parents — ‘This is what your child is learning.’ Then, the parents respond by helping the child with the homework or overseeing it so that they have an awareness of what the child is doing at school. It just helps them improve the parent-school relationship.”
Balle said it is not too late in the school year to contact a teacher by phone or email or by writing a note and putting in a child’s school folder.
