kitchen table math, the sequel: My latest rant

Monday, April 30, 2007

My latest rant

this time, about homework.

2 comments:

Catherine Johnson said...

I just left my own rant as a comment!

BeckyC said...

May I humbly suggest that parents who think their kids get too much homework are, to say the least, misguided?

Good rant, but it all depends on how you define "homework" and for what age.

I've come to see the wisdom of the classical education model of a grammar stage from 0 - 12 years, where we really only expect the child to practice what he's been taught by a teacher, rather than make him break new ground. That's exhausting, mentally and spiritually. Children are "breaking new ground" in so many other areas of their lives. It's "breaking new ground" to merely copy a form that is new to you, whether in mathematics or art.

After age 12, the child needs to learn how to break new ground. But not all homework should be new.