So, Ana gets homework.

[conuly]

I think this is absurd, especially the *level* of homework (writing a sentence a day, for example), but it's easy enough for her, so I don't say anything.

(I suspect most of the other kids are getting seriously helped. Bad precedent there. But people online have criticized me for my statement that children past, like, the first grade should do the vast majority of their work themselves, mistakes and all. Apparently this view makes me a bad aunt.)

Anyway, sentences. Every day. And I swear, at least once a week her sentence manages to incorporate her marvelous ability to FLIP PANCAKES!

Today it was "Stop flipping the pancakes!" (the word she had to use was "stop").

I took the time to explain to her that when I said "silent E makes A say A" the official term for "A saying A" is long vowel, and told her which were long and which were short. It won't stick, but I'm looking forward to using the shorter phrase. (I also have explained to her that gh in the middle of the word works like a silent E. Silent E she still trips up on, but that one she internalized in less than a day. Weird.)

As for Evangeline, the two of us play games every day at lunch. We'd been doing an endless string of "let's list two things" (or, as I call it, "categories" - Evangeline has finally started saying "atagora" for that!) where we take turns asking how two unrelated things are the same, and how they're different. I make pairs like "tomato" and "apple". She makes pairs like "cloud" and "sink". Oy. I've yet to ask her why a raven is like a writing desk, but you can rest assured that I think it every day!

I got so bored of that that I more or less forced her to try something new - I clear most things off the table (yes, believe it or not, that table is CLEAR when Ana gets home, guys!) and then we take turns adding, subtracting, or just changing one, two, or three things about the setting. This time Evangeline has an easier job than I do - I'll subtly move her tomatoes so they touch instead of being apart, and she'll go and put something on my head while my eyes are closed! Or she'll turn backwards in her seat. My biggest problem is figuring out how to draw the process out somewhat.

And we play "I packed a suitcase", and Evangeline can get up to five or six items before totally losing the thread. That's pretty nifty.

Comments

[gingembre.livejournal.com]

Soooo excited about the 5th grade news! Also, any word on the G&T testing?

[conuly]

Shit, I forgot to tell you.

January 21st, in her school. Not sure her school has a gifted program, it might mean transferring her and a painful commute, be warned.

[gingembre.livejournal.com]

Yes...it would mean a new school. And, honestly, I am not sure I would switch her. I have been pretty darn happy with this school, and I think the school would definitely keep up with giving her different/extra challenging stuff. So...undecided. I figure, let's see what the results are and go from there.

[tsukikage85.livejournal.com]

How much homework is she getting a day?

[conuly]

10 to 15 minutes. Which is the recommended limit for first graders. There *is* no recommended limit for children younger than that, which really ought to indicate something important.

[tsukikage85.livejournal.com]

And what grade's she in?

[conuly]

Kindergarten.

[tsukikage85.livejournal.com]

Ah, okay. I thought she was older for some reason.

[sparkofcreation.livejournal.com]

She's in kindergarten and she has to write sentences? Since when are kindergarteners even expected to be able to read, much less write? My homework in kindergarten was stuff like "bring in a photo from a magazine of three (four, eight, whatever) of the same object" or "... of something that starts with the letter B."

[sparkofcreation.livejournal.com]

I should add that (since I actually could read in kindergarten and write by the time I got to first grade) I have no idea when I was expected to start writing sentences because I sort of skipped that and went straight into second grade work (yet they refused to let me skip a grade—just made me sit in the corner by myself and do work one grade level up).

[conuly]

I know. I think it's absurd.

I suspect the expectation is that the kid dictates a sentence, the adult writes it, and the kid writes that one word - but that's setting up an expectation of far too much adult involvement.

[mayna.livejournal.com]

our teacher expects the kids to write the stuff on their own with no help (invented spelling)

[conuly]

Which I still think is an unreasonable expectation for many children that age. Not every child, no - but kindergarten is no time for any child to start thinking they can't do the work.

[mayna.livejournal.com]

I think they get a happy face no matter what they put down, they have 5 stages of writing and want them to be on stage 5 by the end of k (writing actual words although they will be misspelled). Maylie's been at stage 5, I don't remember her being on the other stages, at least not since k started.

[gingembre.livejournal.com]

True enough...though I must admit, Ana's handwriting is looking awesome these days. (Connie better start practicing ;-) if she doesn't want Ana to trump her on that! Though of course, Connie's typing is BEYOND COMPARE.)

[mayna.livejournal.com]

Maylie had 15 pages of write a sentence and illustrate it homework over Christmas break. It was kind of insane although she normally only gets hw on fridays to do over the weekend, that and her "book in a bag" to read which is kind of a joke, I have her read it a couple times then we move on to better books.

[leora.livejournal.com]

Because there is a b in both and an n in neither.

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

She makes pairs like "cloud" and "sink".

But that totally works. Both are different, yet both contain water---

But people online have criticized me for my statement that children past, like, the first grade should do the vast majority of their work themselves, mistakes and all.

*blinks* If you hadn't just said that you have been criticised for that statement, I would have thought that's rather common practice. Where's the point in doing the homework for a child? Isn't the whole point of homework that the child learns how to do work on his or her own? Checking homework for mistakes after it is done is one thing, but first someone has to do it, and that someone ought to be the one who's doing the learning...

I mean, my parents would always (during elementary school) or when I asked for it (after that) have a look at my homework , or try to explain something I wasn't certain about, or help me memorise vocabulary, or whatever, but they certainly expected me to do the homework on my own before they checked it. Which I think is perfectly reasonable.

[conuly]

Frankly, I think after a certain age - say, second or third grade - you shouldn't even be checking for mistakes other than those made out of total carelessness. Part of homework is for the teacher to evaluate what the kid understands. If the homework comes in perfect because mom and dad tell the kid every error, how is that working?

With Ana, I stop her from making very careless mistakes - she gets into ruts sometimes? where it's hard for her to stop making the same mistake over and over? It frustrates her - but otherwise, well, if it's not perfect, why should I care?

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

Heh. Checking for mistakes doesn't necessarily mean you correct them without further ado. If the homework comes in perfect because mom and dad tell the kid "Hm, you may want to look at that sentence again", and the kid then pays closer attention to the sentence and thus finds the mistake on his or her own, I think that's perfectly fine. Of course that's theoretically the teacher's job, but at least in my experience most teachers don't check every single student's work, but just have one kid read her result out. If that result isn't correct, a correct solution will be offered, and perhaps the teacher will ask for other kids' suggestions; but on the whole the teacher may not even find out about some mistakes because the teacher doesn't look at that particular kid's homework.

But of course correcting mistakes for your kids (or your nieces, or what have you) - especially without explaining why those are mistakes - defeats the point of homework a little.

Perhaps some parents are afraid that if their kids show up with homework full of mistakes, people will think the parents didn't catch those mistakes and thus assume that the parents are stupid? Which is ridiculous, but I could imagine that some people think like that.

[gingembre.livejournal.com]

Soooo excited about the 5th grade news! Also, any word on the G&T testing?

[conuly]

Shit, I forgot to tell you.

January 21st, in her school. Not sure her school has a gifted program, it might mean transferring her and a painful commute, be warned.

[gingembre.livejournal.com]

Yes...it would mean a new school. And, honestly, I am not sure I would switch her. I have been pretty darn happy with this school, and I think the school would definitely keep up with giving her different/extra challenging stuff. So...undecided. I figure, let's see what the results are and go from there.

[tsukikage85.livejournal.com]

How much homework is she getting a day?

[conuly]

10 to 15 minutes. Which is the recommended limit for first graders. There *is* no recommended limit for children younger than that, which really ought to indicate something important.

[tsukikage85.livejournal.com]

And what grade's she in?

[conuly]

Kindergarten.

[tsukikage85.livejournal.com]

Ah, okay. I thought she was older for some reason.

[sparkofcreation.livejournal.com]

She's in kindergarten and she has to write sentences? Since when are kindergarteners even expected to be able to read, much less write? My homework in kindergarten was stuff like "bring in a photo from a magazine of three (four, eight, whatever) of the same object" or "... of something that starts with the letter B."

[sparkofcreation.livejournal.com]

I should add that (since I actually could read in kindergarten and write by the time I got to first grade) I have no idea when I was expected to start writing sentences because I sort of skipped that and went straight into second grade work (yet they refused to let me skip a grade—just made me sit in the corner by myself and do work one grade level up).

[conuly]

I know. I think it's absurd.

I suspect the expectation is that the kid dictates a sentence, the adult writes it, and the kid writes that one word - but that's setting up an expectation of far too much adult involvement.

[mayna.livejournal.com]

our teacher expects the kids to write the stuff on their own with no help (invented spelling)

[conuly]

Which I still think is an unreasonable expectation for many children that age. Not every child, no - but kindergarten is no time for any child to start thinking they can't do the work.

[mayna.livejournal.com]

I think they get a happy face no matter what they put down, they have 5 stages of writing and want them to be on stage 5 by the end of k (writing actual words although they will be misspelled). Maylie's been at stage 5, I don't remember her being on the other stages, at least not since k started.

[gingembre.livejournal.com]

True enough...though I must admit, Ana's handwriting is looking awesome these days. (Connie better start practicing ;-) if she doesn't want Ana to trump her on that! Though of course, Connie's typing is BEYOND COMPARE.)

[mayna.livejournal.com]

Maylie had 15 pages of write a sentence and illustrate it homework over Christmas break. It was kind of insane although she normally only gets hw on fridays to do over the weekend, that and her "book in a bag" to read which is kind of a joke, I have her read it a couple times then we move on to better books.

[leora.livejournal.com]

Because there is a b in both and an n in neither.

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

She makes pairs like "cloud" and "sink".

But that totally works. Both are different, yet both contain water---

But people online have criticized me for my statement that children past, like, the first grade should do the vast majority of their work themselves, mistakes and all.

*blinks* If you hadn't just said that you have been criticised for that statement, I would have thought that's rather common practice. Where's the point in doing the homework for a child? Isn't the whole point of homework that the child learns how to do work on his or her own? Checking homework for mistakes after it is done is one thing, but first someone has to do it, and that someone ought to be the one who's doing the learning...

I mean, my parents would always (during elementary school) or when I asked for it (after that) have a look at my homework , or try to explain something I wasn't certain about, or help me memorise vocabulary, or whatever, but they certainly expected me to do the homework on my own before they checked it. Which I think is perfectly reasonable.

[conuly]

Frankly, I think after a certain age - say, second or third grade - you shouldn't even be checking for mistakes other than those made out of total carelessness. Part of homework is for the teacher to evaluate what the kid understands. If the homework comes in perfect because mom and dad tell the kid every error, how is that working?

With Ana, I stop her from making very careless mistakes - she gets into ruts sometimes? where it's hard for her to stop making the same mistake over and over? It frustrates her - but otherwise, well, if it's not perfect, why should I care?

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

Heh. Checking for mistakes doesn't necessarily mean you correct them without further ado. If the homework comes in perfect because mom and dad tell the kid "Hm, you may want to look at that sentence again", and the kid then pays closer attention to the sentence and thus finds the mistake on his or her own, I think that's perfectly fine. Of course that's theoretically the teacher's job, but at least in my experience most teachers don't check every single student's work, but just have one kid read her result out. If that result isn't correct, a correct solution will be offered, and perhaps the teacher will ask for other kids' suggestions; but on the whole the teacher may not even find out about some mistakes because the teacher doesn't look at that particular kid's homework.

But of course correcting mistakes for your kids (or your nieces, or what have you) - especially without explaining why those are mistakes - defeats the point of homework a little.

Perhaps some parents are afraid that if their kids show up with homework full of mistakes, people will think the parents didn't catch those mistakes and thus assume that the parents are stupid? Which is ridiculous, but I could imagine that some people think like that.